Lanesborough Planning Board Endorses Goodell Road Subdivision, Eyes Spring Zoning Changes

LANESBOROUGH — November 17, 2025 — Lanesborough Planning Board unanimously endorses a Goodell Road subdivision and opens debate on short-term rental rules, ADU limits, and outdoor recreational zoning. The board voted to approve a Form A plan submitted by surveyor Jim Seidel of State Design Group on behalf of landowner Dean Shaw, carving a 3.3-acre lot with 261 feet of frontage on Goodell Road from an 8-acre parcel on Billings Street; both resulting lots conform with the RA zone's 200-foot frontage and 2-acre minimum. Planning staff reported that a proposal to convert Donnybrook Country Club into a glamping resort will go before the Zoning Board of Appeals, likely in December, after the building commissioner determined the ZBA holds jurisdiction. On short-term rentals, staff explained that Massachusetts law authorizes a rooms tax up to 6 percent and an optional 3 percent community impact fee on investor-owned units, but that a tiered tax structure does not yet exist under state law; staff will request a Department of Revenue address list of Lanesborough properties remitting the rooms tax as a baseline. On ADUs, staff said the existing bylaw — capping detached units at a maximum of 1,200 square feet — must be updated to comply with 2024 state regulations removing special permit and parking requirements, and members discussed raising the size ceiling to 2,400 square feet for spring town meeting.