Shrewsbury Planning Board deadlocks 2-2 on Greenbrier Drive subdivision modification

SHREWSBURY -- May 7, 2026, Shrewsbury Planning Board deadlocked 2-2 on a Greenbrier Drive subdivision modification and continued three major development hearings to June 4 at a marathon May 7 session that ran past 10:30 p.m. The board's most pointed exchange came over 335 Maple Avenue, where Spectacular LLC is seeking a Lakeway Overlay District special permit for 270 residential units and roughly 20,000 square feet of commercial space; member Steve said he sees "nothing integrated" about a site where the grocery store and apartments are separated by a 50-foot grade change and a 2,100-foot accessible ramp, and questioned whether the commercial-to-unit ratio justifies the scale of residential development. Attorney Damian Berthium, representing abutter Angela Mancini of 110 Oak Street, told the board the special-permit height-relief criteria have not been met and committed to submitting a formal letter before the June meeting. The board also continued the Patrick Subaru relocation hearing for 957 Boston Turnpike, where a 50,000-square-foot dealership on 16.3 acres requires a directional-drilled sewer connection beneath wetlands to Nursery Drive, pending a traffic study and resolution of 20 Graves Engineering peer-review comments. For MFJF LLC's revised contractor's yard at 703-715 Hartford Turnpike, the board unanimously waived both filing and peer-review fees after engineer James Tatro of Expedited Engineering explained that the town's own recycling initiative displaced the applicant's previously approved use, and it closed the public hearing for a June decision. The board also unanimously authorized $17,117.76 in peer-review bills and voted to re-recommend a zoning bylaw article adjusting accessory dwelling unit front-yard rules to Annual Town Meeting after a procedural re-hearing.