Ashburnham Select Board Unanimously Opposes Three-Unit Butler Road Motel Project

ASHBURNHAM — March 1, 2021 — Ashburnham Select Board votes 3-0 to oppose a three-unit motel proposed on Ashby Road at Route 119, citing zoning concerns. The board, chaired by Leo Jansons and joined by members Rosemary Meister and Bill Johnson, directed staff to consult town counsel before submitting a formal response to the Planning Board ahead of a March 8 comment deadline; Building Commissioner Sarah Culgen had already written to the Planning Board arguing the three-unit structure appeared to be a residential apartment building, which is not permitted in the town's business zone. The meeting also produced a disclosure that the town's Department of Public Works has used a competing work-order platform, PeopleGIS, for roughly a year at $5,000 annually — a system the board had not previously been briefed on — even as it was receiving a presentation from SeeClickFix, a 311 platform that would cost $10,000 to $15,000 per year. DPW Director Randy Williams said his department had opened and closed more than 1,100 work orders on PeopleGIS since implementation. The board voted unanimously to appoint Eva Sibley to the Cultural Council, authorized overexpenditure of the snow and ice account, and scheduled a joint town administrator review and FY2022 budget working session for March 11 at 11 a.m.