Developer’s request to bypass new OSRD regulations rejected by Housing Appeals Board

Miami-based Star Mountain Properties, which proposed a 66-home “equestrian village” development surrounding the Shadow Fox Farm property on Burke Road in Peterborough, has been denied a hearing to appeal a decision by the Peterborough Zoning Board. 

On  April 7, 2025,  the Zoning Board of Adjustment denied Star Mountain’s appeal, which argued that what the town considered a preliminary review of the project was actually a design review, and that the project should be grandfathered under the town’s updated Open Space Residential Development ordinance.

Star Mountain then brought its appeal to the Housing Appeals Board.

“Star Mountain did lose their request to appeal the town’s decision, which claimed that their proposed project was grandfathered from new OSRD regulations,”  Peterborough Town Planner Danica Miller said Tuesday. “The Burke Road project is not grandfathered, because Star Mountain’s application was never completed.” 

According to Miller, the town’s counsel submitted a motion to dismiss the appeal based on the town’s findings.  In August, counsel informed the Planning Department that the State Housing Appeals Board had dismissed Star Mountain’s rehearing request.

“Star Mountain had claimed that their application to the Planning Board had been completed, but it was never completed. They were preliminary plans. We did not even have some of the basic information we needed at that point,  such as the full wetland delineation of the property, which we would have needed to determine how many units would be allowed,” Miller said. 

Last week, abutters in the Petersridge development off of Burke Road reported that Star Mountain had started clear-cutting the woods surrounding Shadow Fox Farm.

According to Miller, Star Mountain received a permit from the town to clear-cut 100 acres on the property across two lots. 

“The state protects logging,” Miller said. “If homeowners want to clear-cut trees and bushes on their property and they are near a wetland in particular, it is strictly regulated,  but if you’re clearing land for commercial logging, you can clear-cut almost anywhere. It is overseen by the town forester, but industrial logging is protected by the state.” 

In March 2024, Peterborough voters passed an amendment to the town’s OSRD ordinance that would have affected the Burke Road project.  

In August 2024, attorney Austin Mikolaities of Shaheen & Gordon, representing Star Mountain, argued that the developer should not have to change the design to meet the new OSRD requirements on the grounds that the application had already been approved and should be grandfathered. 

An Aug. 15, 2024 letter from the town’s Office of Planning and Building stated: “Had a formal application been submitted at any time prior to the date of the Planning Board’s final public hearing which moved the revised Open Space Residential Development regulations to ballot (Monday, March 11, 2024), the town would otherwise find the application grandfathered, however, no such application was made.”

According to Miller, the new OSRD regulations would have required  Star Mountain to re-design the equestrian village project.

“With the new OSRD regulations, they would have had to re-engineer the whole thing, and it probably would resulted in fewer units, but with the units clustered more closely together, the infrastructure costs, such as for roadways and electricity,  also would have been reduced,” Miller said.

Last week, abutters in the Petersridge development off Burke Road reported that Star Mountain had begun clear-cutting woods around Shadow Fox Farm.

According to Miller, the developer received a permit from the town to clear-cut 100 acres across two lots.

“The state protects logging,” Miller said. “If homeowners want to clear-cut trees and bushes on their property and they are near a wetland in particular, it is strictly regulated, but if you’re clearing land for commercial logging, you can clear-cut almost anywhere. It is overseen by the town forester, but industrial logging is protected by the state.”

In March 2024, Peterborough voters passed an amendment to the OSRD ordinance that would have affected the Burke Road project.

In August 2024, attorney Austin Mikolaities of Shaheen & Gordon, representing Star Mountain, argued the developer should not have to change the design to meet the new requirements, claiming the application had already been approved and should be grandfathered.

An Aug. 15, 2024, letter from the town’s Office of Planning and Building stated: “Had a formal application been submitted at any time prior to the date of the Planning Board’s final public hearing which moved the revised Open Space Residential Development regulations to ballot (Monday, March 11, 2024), the town would otherwise find the application grandfathered, however, no such application was made.”

According to Miller, the updated OSRD regulations would have required Star Mountain to redesign the equestrian village.

“With the new OSRD regulations, they would have had to re-engineer the whole thing, and it probably would resulted in fewer units, but with the units clustered more closely together, the infrastructure costs, such as for roadways and electricity, also would have been reduced,” Miller said.