Berlin Planning Board Unanimously Endorses Randall Road ANR Plan, Reserves Zoning Rights

BERLIN -- March 24, 2026, Berlin Planning Board endorses ANR plan for 140 Randall Road with a legal reservation attached. The board voted 4-0 at its March 24 meeting to approve a January 8, 2026 plan drawn by Dillis and Roy for Black Pearl Development Group, reconfiguring lot lines to create lots B1 and D1 from existing lots B and D as recorded in book 71765, page 257. The motion explicitly reserved "any determination as to the application of Section 730 of the Zoning By-law to the project that the ANR is a part of," keeping alive a legal dispute between the town and Black Pearl's counsel, attorney Christopher Alphen of Blackman, Bobrowski, Haverty and Silverstein, who attended by Zoom and said he agreed with the board's procedural approach while maintaining "a big disagreement" on the underlying Section 730 question. Member Thomas Andrew, who moved the vote, acknowledged that a prior delay in endorsement stemmed from his own misreading of the plan as creating a sixth lot. The board also authorized Andrew to contact town counsel on two related legal questions: whether a road in a 40B project can be accepted by town meeting, and how to interpret the town's inclusionary zone bylaw.