Townsend Planning Board Approves Depot Street Modification, Halts Second Hearing Over Quorum Violations

TOWNSEND — June 22, 2026 — Townsend Planning Board approves a condo open-space modification and then discovers it lacks a legal quorum on two other active hearings. The board voted 4 to 0 to approve a modification to a December 2024 special permit at 1 Depot Street Extension, allowing applicants Kevin Smith and Kenneth Kelly to retain roughly 21,054 square feet of open space without placing it under a permanent conservation restriction — a requirement that proved impractical for a parcel of this size. Minutes later, an interim administrator filling in for the absent town administrator informed the board that most members are disqualified from voting on the Three Wheeler Road and 22 West Meadow hearings due to missed sessions and failures to file the Mullen certification required under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40A Section 23D, which Townsend adopted in 2006. "The only person left that can vote on Three Wheeler Road or 22 West Meadow is Carol," the interim administrator told the board. The Three Wheeler Road hearing was continued without testimony to July 13, with a likely procedural restart — meaning new applications and re-presentation of all evidence — considered the cleanest path forward by the landowner's attorney, Chris of Dillis and Roy.