Planning Board unanimously endorses firearm-business zoning controls for Town Meeting

SUDBURY -- April 10, 2024, Sudbury Planning Board unanimously backs firearm-business zoning controls heading to Town Meeting. The 4-0 vote endorses a Select Board-sponsored amendment shifting firearm uses from by-right to special-permit review, capping such businesses at two, imposing a 250-foot setback from schools, daycares, parks and rail trails, and barring sites abutting residential use. Select Board member Charlie Russo, presenting for Town Manager Andy Sheehan, said the article is modeled on a Giffords Law Center template adopted in eight nearby communities including Acton, Newton and Littleton, after a full ban was defeated at the 2023 Town Meeting. "Some control is better than no control," member Anuraj Shah said. The board separately voted 4-0 to recommend Article 31, a zoning recodification stripped of the fee provisions that sank it last fall, clearing the way for the town to move its bylaws onto eCode360. Member Kirsten Roopenian was absent.