Planning Board Clears Path for Sixth Lot at Patricia Way With Minor Change Ruling

BURLINGTON -- January 15, 2026, Burlington Planning Board votes 5-1 to fast-track a sixth residential lot at Patricia Way, while a 400-unit mixed-use proposal for 300 Summit Drive heads to subcommittee. Attorney Thomas Murphy, representing applicant Robert Murray and Murray Hills Incorporated, persuaded a majority of the board that splitting Lot 5 of the approved 2018 Patricia Way cul-de-sac subdivision into two roughly 20,000-square-foot lots qualifies as a minor engineering change under Section 7.2.2.1 of Burlington's subdivision rules, avoiding a full amendment process, and the abutter notifications that come with it. Board member Joe Harrington called the outcome "a foregone conclusion" since the lot would qualify for an Approval Not Required plan once the road is built; only LaRue dissented. The board also unanimously approved dual special permits for Wind Street Donuts LLC, the new owner of the Dunkin' Donuts at 28 Wind Street, and directed a three-member subcommittee, Chair Barbara Sutherland, Jeremy Harrington, and Greg Ryan, to begin vetting the Gutierrez Company's proposal to rezone 300 Summit Drive for up to 400 residential units at 40 units per acre, with a statutory public hearing deadline falling at the board's first March meeting and a Town Meeting warrant deadline in mid-April.