Dudley Planning Board approves private driveway modification for long-landlocked subdivision lot

DUDLEY — May 13, 2026 — Dudley Planning Board approves long-stalled private driveway modification and votes to seek state grant for zoning overhaul. The board voted 3-0, with two abstentions, to approve a modification to a subdivision plan originally approved around 1978, authorizing applicant Michael Conley to build a semi-permeable private driveway off Mason Road Extension to reach Lot 115 on G&S Drive, a parcel his family has held as a buildable lot for more than 30 years. The vote followed a procedural tangle: the public hearing had been advertised in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette for the April 22 meeting but was never opened that night and never formally continued, a lapse Town Planner Guy Langlois attributed to a last-minute agenda change. The board also voted 4-1 to support applying for a Community One-Stop Grant — estimated at $25,000 to $35,000 with a 10 percent local match — to fund a top-to-bottom simplification of Dudley's 164-page zoning bylaw and the town's first state-approved housing production plan, with Langlois noting Dudley's affordable housing inventory stands at approximately 2.3 percent, well below the 10 percent threshold that shields municipalities from 40B developer bypass of local boards.