Foxborough Planning Board Forwards Neponset Avenue Overlay District and Three Zoning Articles to Town Meeting

FOXBOROUGH — March 26, 2026 — Foxborough Planning Board unanimously forwards Neponset Avenue overlay district and three other zoning articles to Town Meeting. The board voted 2-0 on each article at its March 26 meeting after a series of public hearings, with the most contentious discussion surrounding the proposed Neponset Avenue Overlay District — a homegrown framework developed by an all-volunteer working group led by Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Barnett Overt. The overlay would divide the roughly 57-acre Schneider property into five parcels allowing a maximum of 81 single-family homes and 92 multi-family units, plus approximately 10 acres of dedicated open space, while blocking industrial uses currently permitted under existing zoning — warehouses, gas stations, and manufacturing facilities. Fort Pond Avenue resident Danielle Ballou challenged the density head-on, presenting research showing that Parcel B's proposed minimum lot size of 8,000 square feet is roughly half the 0.4-acre neighborhood average on surrounding streets; a working group member called her point "well taken" while noting the property's assessed value has fallen from approximately $14 million in 2025 to just over $4 million. The board also forwarded a zoning definitions cleanup article — including a late-added correction to an accessory dwelling unit cross-reference Overt credited to an inadvertent resident email — a Design Review Overlay District enforcement fix, and the town's first master plan update since 2015.