Erving Planning Board Unanimously Approves PUD Overlay, Advances Zoning Map

ERVING -- September 16, 2021, Erving's Planning Board unanimously approved a planned-unit-development overlay and advanced a draft zoning map on a 3-0-1 vote at its September 16 meeting. Chair Jacquelyn Boyden presided as the board moved to place a PUD overlay over the IP mill area on both sides of Route 2 and formalized boundary changes that reclassify several village-center parcels from Rural Residential to Central Village or Village Residential. Member Debra Smith and the town planner defended a proposed reduction of the minimum Central Village lot size from half an acre to a quarter acre, noting that many existing lots in that district already fall at or below that threshold, while a dissenting member warned the change could allow a two-acre parcel to be subdivided into as many as 24 lots. The board voted unanimously to request a joint meeting with the Select Board on October 4 to begin formal review, and the town planner outlined a backward-mapped deadline requiring all changes to be finalized by late October to make a March 5, 2022, special town meeting.