Westminster Planning Board Continues 32-Unit Apartment Hearing, Backs Chapter 61 Land Preservation

ASHBURNHAM — May 12, 2026 — Westminster Planning Board continued a 32-unit apartment hearing and voted to recommend conservation land stay in Chapter 61 status. The board continued the public hearing for State Road West 88, LLC — proposing three nine-unit buildings and one five-unit building in an R1 district — to May 26, pending peer review by Tetra Tech; the applicant reduced visitor parking from 18 to nine spaces and submitted seven regulatory waivers, none of which were voted on. In a separate action, the board unanimously recommended that a large Linda Drive parcel abutting Hager Park remain in Chapter 61 forest conservation status, calling it "egregious" that three roughly one-acre building lots had been carved out before the land formally exited the program — with bare lots estimated at $150,000 to $200,000 each and a 120-day right-of-first-refusal window running from April 29. During a planner's update, the board signaled support for a blanket prohibition on data centers in all zoning districts and a special-permit process for battery energy storage in industrial zones only, with both measures targeted for the November special town meeting.