Somerville Planning Board 10-01-2026

Good evening, it is 6.02 this is the October 1st 2026 meeting of the Somerville Planning Board with me I'm Vice Chair Amelia Aboff chairing tonight's meeting With me are our clerk Jahan Habib and members Coralie Cooper, Lynn Richards, Michael McNeely, and Luc Schuster. Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the Somerville Planning Board will be conducted via remote participation. A video recording of the proceedings will be available at the City's website's Meeting and Events page or by emailing planningboard at somervillema.gov. For members of the public who are dependents, if you wish to share a comment, please state your name, street of residence and city of residence for the record at the beginning of your testimony. We have a number of items to take up tonight including the approval of some minutes, two cases and a joint hearing with the land use committee at 6 30. I would like to take

222 Broadway first, which is continued from our previous meeting in the hopes of getting through that item before we have to drop for land use at 630. But if we are unable to make it in that timeframe, we will need to resume after the land use committee. So is the applicant of this already been read into the record? I believe. Thank you. So we will jump right in. If the applicant has a presentation they would like to review.

Good evening, my name is Nicole Sullivan I work for the Pace Network. My address is 72 Junction Square Drive and that's Concord, Massachusetts 01742 and I actually have somebody else that's on. I hope she's on, Gio who is our vice president of operations for the company. Gio are you on? I don't know if you guys can see if she's on.

It looks like we have an attendee named Gio raising their hand. Aboff, could you make them a presenter please?

Yes, he has been promoted.

Can you hear me Nicole?

Hi Gio.

Hi, can you guys hear me? We can. Okay, so I'm Gio. I'm the Vice Operations for President for Operations for Tash Network. I oversee all the locations in Somerville and I'm here on behalf of the company to... Testify, whatever you guys want to call in our behalf. The store I wanted to say I have a diverse team over there. I also work with you guys at 154 Highland Avenue and 504 Broadway. and I've been with you guys for about three years now. And then take care of all the stores, and I be visiting once a week and I know we had a problem in the past. I don't know if it was recently, but since we bought the store, the trash situation and trash on the parking lot has been cleaned The store has immaculate clean.

The staff is great, and I hope this comes out of good to start there and try to open overnight.

I have a presentation just to address some of the last items. I'm going to do the request now to share my screen if I can.

Nicole, this is Albert from staff you should be able to show.

Perfect. Can everybody see that? Yes. Okay, sorry I have multiple screens up so you can see the correct slide right this has improvements since 8-11 meeting So there were several issues that were brought to our attention. We have a ton of illegal dumping that happens pretty frequently, not only at this location but across the board in all of our locations in Somerville and you know there was a lot of trash there that we had hauled out so I have a before and after of that. There was also a neighbor that had mentioned feeling unsafe because of this bench that was here We had that bench removed. We also had some people that were using these newspaper stands as garbage, we've had them removed so we've done a lot of improvements just based on that August meeting

and then we have also in all of our Somerville locations been working really closely with Colin Ziegler, and more recently Gabe Rodriguez. and they've had us install these metal lids to all of our dumpsters to help with the rodent issues that we all face there. And, we also have improved this dumpster wall I don't know if it was from the snow, but regardless that's been repaired. And we've also gone to bi-weekly service with Ecolab who is our pest provider as opposed to monthly. Let's see. The only thing that we do have pending from that August meeting is obviously our parking lot repair. That's a larger process in Somerville. We've actually been trying to do it since we bought the store

But the landlord didn't have a property survey, so now we've kind of essentially got to start all over while he obtains a survey.

And that's it. Thank you very much. We have received a lot of written comment about this application prior to this meeting and we will take public testimony tonight Before I open it for public testimony, do any members of the planning board have any items to raise or questions for the applicant team? Okay. Then I will... Open it up to public testimony and ask for raised hands from anyone of our attendees who wish to speak in favor of the application.

Seeing none, I will ask for raised hands from any attendees who wish to express concern or questions about the application. If you raise your hand Alvaro we'll unmute you one at a time And Alvaro, let's run a timer if you don't mind just because we have... Thank you.

Yep, this is Alvaró I'll go ahead and allow to speak to Gail.

Thank you So as a reminder, please state your name and street of residence for the record. And we're asking folks to keep comments to two minutes so that we can get through things. Thank you.

Hello my name is Claudio Fideli I live at 238 Broadway and I've been living in this location since the 70s. So, I'm very familiar with the corner, with the traffic, with everything that goes on in this area I have no issues with expanding the business. I understand the model and stand you want to grow the business my concern is the 24-hour aspect of it There's nothing, I mean nothing in this area that stays open after 8.30, 9 o'clock Three gas stations on three corners they close at nine o' clock You cannot stop for anything. There's nothing here for anybody. Why can't this be an operation that closes at a reasonable hour like 8 p.m. or something that allows us residents to sleep at night?

I see the conditions have improved. Thank you for removing the park bench. There were a lot of drunks and people hanging out on that bench. It was not just an appearance issue, but again my concern is how this affects the neighborhood we already have A lot of cut-through traffic that comes down Melvin Street because people want to avoid that light. That also affects traffic going into your location. Every morning I look out my window and there's two light cycles before a car pulls into your parking lot. So, I cannot see the traffic benefit of any change that has occurred here that will make that any better. With that, I will end and say I'm pro-business but not with the 24 hours. No.

Thank you.

Okay, the next person that I see is Dale which I'll allow to speak.

Hello can you hear me? Yes. So hello, I'm Dale Rushton. I am a direct person living next to Dunkin' Donuts at 8 Melvin Street. I want to be clear, Opposed to Duncan operating as a business, my concern is specifically over the proposal of 24 hours a day, seven days a week and the impact it would have on the residents living directly by the side of it. My, even during the current operating hours, the location generally has significant activity and noise. There is loud music, vehicles shouting, cars coming and going and groups of people gathering at the property. at times the sidewalk is so crowded that we have to step on the road to get past there is also drinking in the parking lot and When I cleared my back garden, I found significant amount of alcohol bottles.

As a young woman living directly by the side of the property there is already times where i don't feel safe walking past the area Extending the business to 24 hours would bring the activity traffic noise to the early hours of the morning when residents are trying to sleep. There's a gas station opposite which closes at 9pm. Stop and Shop closes at 10pm. and the business would just change the level of this being a residential neighbourhood. I'm also concerned about the existing maintenance of the property. The fencing barriers and the border actually bend towards my garden We are already experiencing increased rat activity and during the winter months snow is not removed and it is a very unsafe area so for this reason I am against the 24 hours. Thank you.

Yeah, okay. And I see one more hand. I'll unmute Senthil.

Yeah, hi. Also, I'm the owner of a couple of units at 8 Melvin Street directly behind Dunkin Donuts and clearly This is a big problem to have Dunkin' Donuts operated 24 hours a day. It's a residential neighbourhood, people need to be able to sleep they need to feel safe at night and you know less you know so I cannot imagine how life for the residents will improve with that 24-hour operation right in the neighborhood. I'm very much against this 24-hour operation. I'm all for business, but you know, this is not at all convenient or acceptable for our neighborhood.

Thank you.

The next person I'll allow to speak is Krishna Kumar.

I am also a co-owner of the adjacent 8 Melvin Street property. Even though I do agree with all others in terms of the business, already this business is causing multiple problems for the property. and expanding the hours is not going to help that situation. And I don't even think it's gonna help the neighborhood as well. There is a lot of traffic, even if you go at Your current hours in the evenings, there's a lot of people there. A lot of cars going and coming. And definitely it's not gonna improve the neighborhood I don't support the 24-hour operations Thank you

And I'll give permission to speak to Matthew McLaughlin.

Councilor?

Hello, everyone. This is Matt McLaughlin, Ward 1 City Councilor. Thank you for the time. I'll see you all in about 10 minutes at our other meeting. Just want to weigh in and say that I had a community meeting about this and there was one person in support, and everybody else basically said what was said tonight about the unsightliness of the property. I will say, I went by this Dunks today on my way home and I felt like it was much cleaner than it's been in a while which is good but I do have the same concerns about How the property's been over the past several years. We still have some issues with trash barrels and trash bins that we need to address because it is a serious rodent issue. and it is a real hangout spot so I'd be concerned about it being 24 hours and having things outside of having coffee and donuts happening at the site but So I'm not ready to support this right now.

I would like to see more expanded hours across the city, but I do believe that it should be when a business demonstrates Thank you, Councilor.

I see there's another comment from the applicant team, which I'm happy to hear if we have no other attendees wishing to testify. Okay?

Yes, Geo? Yes, I wanted to say, you know, we've been in Somerville for three years. And I understand everyone's concerned about traffic. It's always going to be a trafficking on the city. Everything that the town is asking us, even as a person that's been there with you guys for three years and serve your community I've been, we were willing to take care of Ryan a second and we've been doing so. 220 Broadway, we have two years that we've being in this location and every second we've be there And then it's mentioned to us from the town and then someone immediately take care of any problems. I'm going to say this like as a person that always been there, I have a 504 Broadway which is we have...

neighbors around it and there's never been a problem of being there we've been there for years and then this the store doesn't have no problems uh is no people hanging out drinking or anything like that if it was in the past uh was a long time ago prior to this company um but i'm gonna say one thing we do We do, I know everyone's concerned but like I'm gonna tell one little thing about us on a snowstorm. Every policeman was inside our stores. We served the community because there was no coffee to drink or something to eat, and then we were there to be able to serve them because we are the only place open overnight. and we're doing with the heart. And then, we're doin' this just to extend our hours to make some money obviously but to take care of the property more better.

We have people there that can be able to go to the parking lot and clean overnight. We have people there that can see if any problems and then maintain But I don't see it as a problem to open overnight because I have other locations that is open overnight on 504 Broadway and there's never been a problem. It's never been a problem. And I understand everyone concerned, and then I take very seriously everyone's concern, but I think if you give us a chance to show you guys that is not going to be a problem That is not going to be a problem. But I want to remain to that, that as on a snowstorm we serve all the community around when there was no power we served all the communities around and it will be able to do that because we open overnight

Thank you. I'm going to open up to discussion amongst the board at this time if we feel like we can resolve this in the next eight minutes, otherwise we may need to continue this after we reconvene after the Ladies Committee here. So I'll reserve my thoughts. I'd like to hear from other members of the board first on where feelings are on this. Yes, Luke.

Thanks. I'll try and be quick. I think this is the first time I've been on the board when we've handled a request like this so it's a big part of what's on my mind is just thinking through what should the criteria be and especially given the fact that There already are some places, especially the Magoon Square dunk and that's open 24 hours. So like what would be the justification to not let this one operate 24 hours when the other one already does? I certainly get the you know concerns about from the abutters um but also like the idea of if a business wants to be open 24 hours letting it and frankly, if there's anywhere in the city where it would make sense, like right on McGrath kind of does seem like it makes sense to me. So I'm kind of inclined to support it, but I'm curious what the logic would be for Why this is different? I guess just the fact that there's a history of people hanging out outside of this one a little bit more than the others. Is that the only thing? I don't even know what it would be.

I would ask Kit or Alvaro to expand on this, but I think that part of the issue here is that this is existing non-conforming use. And so the intention of The Neighborhood is the intention of the MR5 zone, which is really neighborhood serving commercial uses. And to the extent that this is more like a highway location and is serving a broader Community of transient users. That's not what we would normally look for if we were designing an MR5 from scratch. I don't actually know what the Magoon Square zoning is offhand, though. I don't know if Alvaro has the answer to that question.

This is Kit. Through the chair, I would say that I agree with you, Madam Chair, in terms of this. The request is really because this is an existing non- Conforming Use in that it's a formula business where they would need a special permit now to operate. That's the reason for the permit is because it's an existing non-conforming use but I can double check the zoning of the 504 Broadway location if you just give me one moment.

Luke, do you mind if we take Lynn's comment while Kit checks that for us? Thank you.

Thank you all. And like Luke, I do think that this is an interesting case in terms of what are the criteria I guess for me, and this goes to Ms. Sullivan's presentation to us was She referenced everything that was said at the community meeting and everything that the business did to respond to what was done at the Well, okay. So you yourselves didn't see that there was a problem and needed to be fixed? Like I'm just kind of wondering why you took action Only after there was a community meeting because you wanted something from the city. Would you have done all of those improvements on your own had you not been trying to go 24 hours?

and to me that goes to what Councilman McLaughlin was saying is kind of a history of being a good neighbor. And from what I could tell with your presentation, like you took action to clean up and to address issues with your property only because you were told during a community meeting because you were asking for 24 hour. And so I guess I'm asking you all of, can you itemize even briefly to me changes and cleanup of your property that you did prior to the community meeting or, say last year. because again it keeps coming back from all the community neighborhood members we've got 26 pages of comments

that the business was not an asset to the immediate surrounding neighborhood and it seems like only now you took action.

I just want to say thank you for that, Lynn. I don't think I formally closed the public hearing section – the public testimony section of the hearing, so I just wanted to note that we've done that. Sorry, I'm not normally the chair. It's a little clunky.

Yeah, I thought we were into board discussion.

Yes, we were. I just forgot to say that. Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Okay, did you ever... Yes, the zoning for 504 Broadway is MR4. But I don't have information on when that was established.

So they're also likely sort of existing non-conforming but they might have been doing that 24 hour operation prior to the MR4 zone coming into being in 2019 so there hasn't been a Similar hearing to assess the appropriateness of that, for instance.

I would need to double check the exact timeline but that sounds right.

um it sounds to me uh sorry no one answered my question we need John can you please take over as chair I need to step away for a moment. One moment, thank you.

Sure, absolutely. So in light of the timing it is 628 p.m., We should see if the applicant team, GEO on the applicant can provide a succinct response to Member Richards' A question because we will need to move into recess and join the land use committee meeting so Gio from the applicant team please provide a response.

I just wanted to reply to... We did a priority to clean all the maintenance in the parking lot. We did landscaping there, we cut trees that were hanging We did fill some of the holes that was in the parking lot that it didn't got approved yet to do the paving over there. We did took out the trash barrels that was around it by previous owner. that was around the fence to not create more trash over there and that's why you see the trash barrel around our dumpster for to be able to the dumpster people to come and get it. That's when you see that picture. and then that's when we remove it. Yes, we've been addressing the situation since we bought over there. A year ago, by the way. We have people that did it Yes, a year ago. So, a

You can go previous two years on those border health inspection that I have a previous zero violation with the town. But also all those trash bags that you see around the dumpster was a previous trash bag that we took out from the fence and then we were waiting for the dumpsters people to come and grab it.

I'm so sorry to cut this conversation short and I appreciate your responses in the dialogue so much. We need to move to the land use committee hearing at 630 now, so what's going to happen is we're going to put this meeting in recess and Alara will put up a screen that says we are putting the meeting in recess, and we will reconvene When that meeting ends, I do not have a specific time when that will end because there are a number of items of business there. So I do apologize to the applicant team if you preferred to have us continue this to resume at a future meeting We could, but otherwise we will continue our discussion this evening when So with that, I am putting the planning board meeting into recess as of 631. Please everyone join the land use committee link. Thank you.

I understand.

This is Amelia Aboff, chair for tonight's meeting. With me are Clerk Jahan Habib and members Luc Schuster, Michael McNeely, and Coralie Cooper. We are reconvening the ongoing meeting of the Planning Board Committee As of 8.40 p.m., and note that Member of the Richards is no longer joining us for this portion of the meeting, at the time that we went into recess we were discussing our open item at 222 Broadway At this time, I'd like to resume discussion amongst the planning board on that case.

Hi, so Gio had to get off the phone obviously just because of we weren't planning to have you know a long time in between. Of course I'm so sorry about this before and we had to drop. Yeah, and I wasn't aware that I had to ask to continue while everybody was still on the phone. You know, and then everybody kind of jumped off so I was going back and forth with Kit. Is it possible that we could do that?

Alvaro, where are you on? I just want to confirm the protocol for continuing a case verbally during a meeting because it's not something we normally do, but I think that should be allowed.

Yes, if the board is okay to allow the continuance they may do so.

Great, so the applicant has requested a continuance to our next meeting which I believe is October 15th? That's correct That is reasonable to me, so I move to accept that to continue this item until our meeting on the 15th seconded by Jahan. Alvaro could you please call the roll?

Jahan Habib Aye Luc Schuster

Aye.

Coralie Cooper?

Aye.

Michael McNeely? Aye Amelie Aibo?

Aye Thank you very much and Ms. Sullivan I'm sorry for the long evening.

No, no worries.

Thank you. Okay, thank you. Bye. I believe we had one other case for this evening. I don't know if the applicant team is still online. This was for six Wheatland streams. This has already been opened and read into the record, so we will just take up this item now if Attorney Dash is still available to provide us with an update.

Madam Chair, he has been... Can you hear me?

Yes. Hi. Yeah, Attorney Adam Dash representing NPO Properties for Six Wheelers. As you recall we were before you last time and you were ready to vote but for the fact we didn't have sign off from mobility regarding the bike parking which we now have. And you saw that corroborated by the staff report there were some conditions that were placed on it by mobility which my client is fine with and we would hope that you would vote to approve site plan approval in the special permit this evening thank you for the updated submission and the updated staff memo um are there any

Comments or discussion amongst the planning board on those updated materials? Okay. Any comments from You all borrow a staff planner on this item?

No, Madam Chair.

Okay. So with that Following public testimony, review of the submitted materials and deliberation of the required considerations outlined by the Somerville Zoning Ordinance, I move to approve with conditions the site plan... Oh! We've got two motions for this. I'm sorry. I went on a border. The site plan approval in the mid-rise four district with the recommendations as listed in the staff memos dated July 31st, 2026 and supplemental memos of August 28th, 2027. And September 30th, twenty 26 seconded by Jahan Alvaro. Can you please call the roll?

Rehan Habib?

Aye.

Luc Schuster? Aye Coralie Cooper? Aye Michael Magnulli? Aye Amelia Aboff?

Aye And following public testimony, review of the submitted materials and deliberation of the required considerations under the Somerville zoning ordinance I move to approve with conditions the residential special permit in the mid-rise... Uh oh. One of these says mid-ride three and one of them says mid rise four This website, when approval should have said mid-rise three. Do we need to take that? Yes, that's correct, Madam Chair. Okay. That's a Scrivener's error that you can correct? Yes. All right. So I move to approve with conditions the residential special permit in the mid-rise three district with recommended conditions as listed in the staff memos previously referenced. Seconded by Jahan.

Jahan, come here.

Aye.

Luc Schuster? Thank you. Sorry for the late night.

No, thank you.

Thank you.

Yes.

Madam Chair, just to make the point that minutes were not voted before we went into recess so just to call that.

Yes I was just going to ask if people had the Have folks had the opportunity to review the meeting minutes from August 20th, 2026? And are there any comments or corrections? Seeing none, I move to adopt those as the minutes of the August 2026 meeting seconded by Jahan.

Michael McNeely. Aye. Amelia Aboff.

Aye And similarly, is everyone going to have the opportunity to review the September 3rd 2026 meeting minutes? Any comments or corrections? Okay, seeing none I move to approve those as the minutes of the September 3rd meeting seconded by Jahan.

Jahan Habib Aye Luc Schuster Aye Coralie Cooper Aye Michael Manelli

Aye.

Amelia Aboff.

Aye. Okay, guys. What a night. And with that, I hope to adjourn tonight's meeting of the planning board.

An especially long night for Jahan.

Yeah, Jahan, that was truly masterful. Well done.

Thank you all. I did have a cup of coffee, so I will credit the caffeine.

That was amazing. All right. I move to adjourn tonight's meeting as of 847 p.m., seconded by Jahan.

Jahan Khabib. Luc Schuster, Coralie Cooper, Michael McNeely Hi. Amelia Ebel.

Hi. Have a great night, guys.

Great job, Madam Chair. Take care.

Thank you, Alvaro.

Thank