Planning Board approves gas station waivers, advances chicken and flood bylaws

NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH -- June 4, 2026, North Attleborough Planning Board advances gas station waivers, backyard-chicken bylaw, and floodplain update in one busy night. The board voted 4-0 on each of three waivers for Route 85 Realty Corp.'s proposed Imperial Gas Station and Country Store at 563 South Washington Street, clearing a wheel-stop exemption at a dumpster-access parking space, a reduction of the northerly driveway width from 56 feet to 40 feet (waiving a 30-foot bylaw maximum), and a partial waiver of the required 10-foot vegetated Route 1 frontage buffer in favor of a new sidewalk with dense plantings; a final permit vote is set for June 25. The board also sent a positive 4-0 recommendation to the Town Council on a backyard-chicken general bylaw, Chapter 108, Animals, Article III, developed with input from the animal control officer and Board of Health over five months, which would allow hens by right in all residential zones subject to licensing, inspection, and lot-size-based flock limits, with roosters barred everywhere except R-40 zones. A separate 4-0 vote recommended a FEMA-driven update to the town's Floodplain District zoning, Section 290-6, covering four Flood Insurance Rate Maps whose adoption is required for continued participation in the National Flood Insurance Program.