Planning Board endorses Farm Road lots, opens rare common driveway special permit hearing

Planning Board · Meeting of February 3, 2026

Sherborn Planning Board opens its first common driveway special permit hearing in recent memory, continuing it to February 24. The board voted unanimously five times February 3, endorsing an Approval Not Required plan reconfiguring four lots at 65 Farm Road and opening a special permit hearing for a shared driveway that would serve three of those lots — a configuration that triggered the special permit process for the first time the town's digital records, going back to 1995, could document. Town Planner Heidi Doyle said she found no precedent decision to guide the drafting of permit conditions and noted that Sherborn's driveway bylaws offer "very little" guidance compared with neighboring communities.

Abutters Mary Moore and Brian Moore of 49 Farm Road pressed the board to locate any prior decisions and to consider whether updated stormwater, environmental health impact, and septic standards adopted by other town boards since the project was first proposed roughly six years ago should inform conditions. The hearing will resume at a special February 24 meeting after town departments submit comments by the February 18 deadline.

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Source: the Planning Board meeting of February 3, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.