Committees and commissions in brief

Board of Survey and Planning

The Board of Survey and Planning meeting on Wednesday got off to a late start, as it was delayed 20 minutes to wait for board member S. Anthony DeVito, who ultimately arrived in the last eight minutes of the meeting. In their sole decision that night, the board moved to deny an Approval Not Required permit for the property at 1432 Main St. Mike Connors of Connors & Connors LLP represented the permit applicant.

The permit was to combine two parcels of land into one lot, abandon the interior lot line between the two and build a five-story lab building on that land in addition to the two-story building already on the property. Connors argued that due to an exemption in zoning law, the parcels could be combined. Board member Brian E. Moroney argued that in order to qualify for this exemption, the lots would have had to be both purchased before 1953. There is no legislation supporting this assertion.

Connors did not answer repeated questions from board members about when the smaller of the two properties was purchased. In addition to this, City Engineer Robert S. Winn asserted in written comments to the board that the property did not have enough combined frontage to qualify for the permit. Due to this and Moroney’s comments, the permit was denied.

Conservation Commission

The Conservation Commission met Thursday night. In attendance was Julia Abbott, the city’s newly hired conservation agent. The commission moved to continue the discussion of the demolition of one single-family house and reconstruction of two single-family houses at 125 Marlboro Road as well as demolition and reconstruction of a razed single-family home at 94 Hardy Pond Road to wait for Engineering Department comments. They also requested adjustments to stormwater mitigation systems at 94 Hardy Pond Road in response to wetlands buffer zone violation concerns.

Additionally, the commission discussed a site visit to a property on Copeland Street where new construction violated existing city conservation code. Commissioner Lisa Limoncello cited concerns about whether the homeowner understood what the violations were due to a language barrier. Commissioner Gerry Dufromont wasn’t convinced that there was a communication issue. 

“Might only have a language barrier when he doesn’t agree. Once you start talking about their money, suddenly they don’t speak any English at all,” Dufromont said.

 There will be a follow-up property visit scheduled in the coming weeks.

City Council Committees

Licenses and Franchises Committee

• The committee unanimously approved a new extended hours permit for McDonald’s at 789 Main St., allowing the establishment’s drive-thru and food delivery walk-up window to remain open from midnight to 2 a.m. all week.

• The committee unanimously approved an extended hours permit renewal for CVS at 12 Harvard St., requesting the business post signs reflecting changes in both retail and pharmacy hours of operation set to take effect in 2026.

Public Works and Public Safety Committee

• The committee referred a request to excavate a recently paved area in front of 88 Hammond St. to the Committee of the Whole. Ward 6 Councilor Sean T. Durkee opposed the move, citing a recent repaving of the street. According to Durkee, a repaved street should ideally remain untouched for five years.

Ordinances and Rules Committee

• The committee requested Middlesex Integrative Medicine file its request for a special permit extension by noon on Nov. 6 and submit its updated plans reflecting feedback from City Solicitor Katherine D. Laughman by Nov. 10 to allow enough time for decision before the applicant’s original permit expires on Dec. 12.

• The committee voted unanimously to table the Noise Ordinance Amendment Resolution after hearing Laughman’s findings about which departments have jurisdiction over different noise violations. Ward 9 Councilor Robert G. Logan requested that representatives from the Police Department, Building Department and Health Department attend the committee’s Nov. 17 meeting to review the matter.