Tyngsborough Planning Board orders new denial decision for Middlesex Road special permit

TYNGSBOROUGH — May 21, 2026 — Tyngsborough's Planning Board approved a floodplain special permit, continued a contested subdivision, and voted to redraft a court-ordered denial decision at its May 21 meeting. The board unanimously approved a special permit under section 10.3 of the town's zoning bylaws for a new single-family home at 137 Pawtucket Boulevard, where owner Mark Firmanian plans to raise an existing structure and extend the 100-year floodplain to allow Merrimack River access. The board continued the public hearing on a proposed seven-lot, 16.49-acre open space subdivision at 25 Ingalls Road to July 2 after abutter Jason Drickey told members an earthen berm holding an estimated 40,000 gallons sits "within 15 feet of my lot line" at a height of 12 feet. Attorney Melissa Robbins presented a conceptual 44-unit, 55-and-over mixed-use 40B project at 352 Middlesex Road that its proponents say would generate roughly $196,000 in net new annual taxes and place 23 units on the town's subsidized housing inventory. The board's final action, taken without Chair Pamela Berman who recused herself, was a 4-0 vote authorizing Town Counsel Adam Costa to draft a revised denial decision for 130 Middlesex Road after a Superior Court judge found the board's 2024 parking-based denial insufficiently explained — with member Kristen Keegan calling the applicant's three-spaces-per-establishment parking interpretation "outrageous" given the existing restaurant tenants on site.