Select Board Votes to Back FAA Drone Review

Select Board · Meeting of October 21, 2026

HOPKINTON — The Hopkinton Select Board voted 5-0 to authorize Chair Shahidul H Mannan to sign a joint letter to the Federal Aviation Administration seeking additional environmental review of Amazon's proposed drone delivery program, joining a coalition the board said totaled 16 Massachusetts communities. Member Brian Herr noted Westboro's town meeting had just approved drone-restricting bylaws by a vote of 510 to 13. The board also voted 5-0 to authorize the chair to sign a local-initiative-program application creating six affordable units at the Main Street Crossing development at 50 Main Street, with Vice Chair Matthew Kizner stressing the units carry "no additional costs to the taxpayer." A 4-1 vote approved a special alcohol permit for a children's Trunk or Treat event over Kizner's objection that it "challenges the values that we hold as a community." The town closed on the $1.8 million purchase of the former Carboni's restaurant property October 15.

In the full story:

• Public Forum: Private Way Costs and a Police Commendation Request
• Consent Agenda: Permits, Appointments and a Return of the Trunk-or-Treat Alcohol Debate
• Commission on Disability: Four Years of Accessibility Projects
• Pine Island Road Minor Repairs
• Elmwood Reuse Committee Appointments
• Local Action Unit Application: 50 Main Street Affordable Housing
• Annual Appointment: Town Counsel
• Town Charter Review Discussion
• Special Town Meeting Preparations and Proposed "State of the Town" Remarks
• Town Manager Report
• Liaison Reports
• Executive Session
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 3,342 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of October 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.