Planning Board approves Hartwell Avenue subdivision to lock in 2024 zoning rights

LEXINGTON -- June 24, 2025, Lexington Planning Board unanimously approved a new definitive subdivision plan for 131 Hartwell Avenue to freeze 2024 Village and Multifamily Overlay District zoning rights for eight years. Attorney Frederick Gilgun, representing 131 Hartwell Avenue LLC, told the board the applicant has no intention to actually build the proposed three-lot subdivision, calling it a legal mechanism to preserve development rights under the zoning bylaw in effect as of February 11, 2025. The board approved 24 conditions, granted three waivers for deferred soils testing, driveway sight lines, and an owner maintenance agreement, and voted to rescind a prior July 2022 subdivision approval once the appeal period on the new plan expires. In a separate action, the board continued to July 16 a public hearing on sweeping amendments to its site plan review regulations, with debate unresolved over whether the word "reasonable" should appear in the criteria for disapproval of a by-right use, board member Robert Leon arguing it is not the board's role to judge its own regulations, and Chair Charles Hornig countering that courts require good-faith efforts to condition rather than deny approvable projects.