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.