Sherborn Board Approves Four Farm Road Bedrock Disruption Permits, 2-0-1

SHERBORN -- May 20, 2026, Sherborn Board of Health approves four Farm Road bedrock disruption permits over abutter objections, with new member abstaining. The board voted 2-0-1 on both motions, Chair Julie Dreyfus and member Steve Constantine in favor, new member Boscoch Barackal abstaining, after six abutters urged denial at the May 20 meeting, citing the town's complete reliance on private wells and citing a 2021 board memo documenting prior groundwater impacts from ledge removal. Attorney and abutter Arthur Feno of 58 Farm Road argued the regulation's permitting requirements are "a floor, not a ceiling," telling the board it has "a moral and legal obligation to deny these permits." Dreyfus responded that the board's authority "stems directly from our regulations and how they're written," and that no provision in regulation 305-3.10 authorizes denial beyond the stated requirements. Seventy-six properties within the required quarter-mile radius were notified by certified mail; work may not commence before June 2. Neither applicant confirmed ledge is present at the foundation sites; both described the permits as precautionary, designed to avoid project delays should ledge be encountered during excavation.