Licenses and Permits Committee

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the October meeting of the Licenses and Permits Committee of the Somerville City Council. My name is Willie Burnley, Jr., And pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Act of 2025, this meeting of a city council committee will be conducted via remote participation. We will post an audio recording, audio-video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. Clerk, can you please call the roll to establish quorum? This is roll call, Councilor Clingan.

Present.

Councillor Burnley. Present. 203 present. We have a quorum. Thank you. Just actually, Councillor Davis. Just for formalities. All right. That is a quorum.

Thank you. Yes. Councillor Davis is busy doing a essentially award meeting right now. He sends his regards. We have a number of public hearings to get to. But first, we have establishment of the previous agenda. I'm going to leave it to the clerk to read the item. So, clerk, can you read item number one?

All right. Item number one, committee minutes. Approval of the Minutes of License and Permits Committee of June 25th, 2025.

Wonderful. Do any members of this committee have questions or comments about that? All right. Seeing none, those are laid on the table for approval, and we can move on to our first public hearing.

All right. Item 2.1, new fund was licensed POAH Clarendon LLC, 20 Stevenson Amman Street, storing 1,001 gallons.

Wonderful. I will declare this public hearing open. Can the applicant please raise your hand using the raise hand function in the chat? I see one person with their hand raised. If that person can be, yes. Now you have access to speak. You are muted on our end. You're muted on your end. Before you speak, I'll just note that, you know, this is an application for some flammables, 1001 gallons. But I believe as well that this is for specifically generator use in case of emergency, if power goes out, et cetera. But if you can unmute and introduce yourself and speak to what the purpose of this application is for.

Hi. Yes. Thank you for having me. My name is Jamie Carroll. I'm a senior development associate here at POA working on the Clarendon Hill development. This application is for the flammables license for backup fuel for the generator at this project.

Wonderful. And I will say what I said to my colleague and to the clerk previously. Apologies, I'm wearing sunglasses. They are prescription sunglasses. They help me see. I'm not just trying to look cool. So with that, I will ask if any of my colleagues have any questions about this application. All right. Seeing none, just for the record, I already stated it, but this 1,001 gallons is strictly for a generator in case power goes out. Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct.

Wonderful. And are there any other flammables on the property? If so, we would have likely already approved them, but I just want to ask.

No, not to my understanding.

Wonderful. All right. Seeing no other questions from my colleagues, if any member of the public has any concerns or questions, they can also raise their hands and we can get those into the record. Seeing none, I will, oh, wait a second. Well, I see someone raising their hand, but I believe they're a separate applicant. So I'm just gonna hold that for now, thank you. And I will declare this public hearing closed. and move for approval of item 2.1. And can we get a roll call on this for recommendation for approval?

On the motion, Councillor Davis, Councillor Clingan? Yes. Councillor Burnley? Aye. Two in favor, one absent. The motion is passed.

Wonderful and i'll i'm going to repeat this a few times tonight, but. Though you are not able to act on this license until it is in hand all of these licenses will go before the full city council. Tomorrow and once they're voted on by the full city council and in hand you're ready to go, but please do not act before that, thank you.

And with that, we will move on to the next item.

All right, this is item 2.2, new garage legends. Roman Auto Repair, LLC, 45 Mystic Ave. Sorry, my thing's coming right. Five vehicles inside, four vehicles outside. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. Sunday, closed.

Wonderful. I will declare this public hearing open. Are there any representatives of the applicant here today? If so, please raise your hand and we can promote you to be able to speak. Okay, I see one hand raised. If you wouldn't mind, I think you lowered your hand, but that was... There we go. If you wouldn't mind introducing yourself, your relationship to the this application and say what it is for.

Yeah. My name is Michael Abruzzese. um i'm having a business right next door 55 mr gavin romanine works and i purchased this building and they used to be um out or repair before and i i'm a secret uh my secret license if it continue to you know to have a beer here on 45

Thank you for that. And I believe that we have the ward counselor available for this. Is that correct? If there's any questions from any of my colleagues, I'll defer to them first before moving forward. Okay, seeing none. Just for the record, Mr. Abuse, Abuseze. Abuseze. Have you had a business in Somerville previously?

Yes, I have a business, Romanine Works, right next door, 55 Mr. Avenue.

Yes.

I've been in that area for 55 years.

55 years, great. And just... to uh make sure that you know we're all being good neighbors here uh have you recently had any uh complaints from the city from city residents uh any tickets issued to you by the city for uh anything that might be applicable to this uh license no you never got anything in on okay great I'll just note as well for the record that quickly. I know we already said five vehicles inside, four outside. This is for mechanical repairs. It is open to the public. Please, this is an issue that has come up with other applicants in the past. Please do not park the outside vehicles on the sidewalks. um or block any uh public access uh through this application um that would be my request because that would put you outside of the realm of this application uh and counselor clean do you have something in that yeah I just you know I don't know if anybody

watching this are interested. Yeah. So I was just looking. So this is the, um, this is an award one. It's the, the old hillside service center, um, assuming this applicant purchase it. So it's been used, same use, um, new owner license. Uh, but yeah, I, I don't see any issue here. Like you said, other than just please be a good neighbor, even though you're, you're, you're your own neighbor on one side. Uh, and then of course, you know, we've had issues in the past, but enterprise and they're some of their, um, behavior, but I know that's not related to you. So, yeah, happy to approve.

Okay. With that, I'm not seeing any more comments from my colleagues. Well, first, again, if there are any members of the public who are here who would like to speak on this application, I'm going to just give you a second to raise your hand while the public hearing is still open. All right. Seeing none, I will declare this public hearing closed. And I see and heard a motion to approve, recommend for approval from Councillor Clingan.

Thank you.

This is a roll call. On the motion, Councillor Davis? Councillor Clingan? Yes. Councillor Burnley? Aye. Two in favor, one absent. The motion is approved.

Wonderful. And just as I said previously, please wait until you have the license in hand before acting upon it. Thank you to everyone. Thank you, sir, for your service to the community.

Have a good night.

Wonderful. And with that, on to the next item.

This is item number three, new dog kennel license, pup yard, 321 Somerville Avenue, 30 dogs, maximum commercial boarding slash training.

Wonderful. And if the applicant can have their hand raised so we can promote you to be able to speak, seeing one right now, if you can introduce yourself, explain your relationship to this application and what it is for.

Hi, how are you? My name's Gregory Turco, and then my business partner, Terry Bonner, is also here. So yeah, I've had a dog business for around eight years now. I'm trying to open one in Somerville. A lot of my customers are already in the area, and I've had to take them to places like Gloucester and Peabody in the past of the places I've worked. So I'd like to do something a lot smaller that's, I guess, locally owned. grandfather, who was an Italian immigrant. My dad, also an immigrant. Both came to Somerville when they were in their twenties. Both opened businesses here as well. One on Medford Street. It was a convenience store at the time. Yeah. And I also worked with the Everett Animal Control. I've volunteered for other dog businesses and rescues in the area in Peabody called Sweet Paws Rescue is another one. Yeah, I'd like to keep running my business and hopefully do that in Somerville.

Thank you for that. I certainly appreciate new business coming to Somerville and also the support that this type of business will have for pet owners, pet companions throughout the city. I certainly want to have a public conversation about this because during my tenure as chair of this committee, we have had some issues with previous kennels that have led to some unfortunate behaviors from business owners and necessary disciplinary actions from this committee. So just wanted to have a public conversation to set expectations. So I'll start by just saying, you've mentioned that you are already a business owner in this space, that you've worked with dogs before. just want to make sure and say for the record, it is in the application. This is not an overnight license. No dogs will be allowed to stay overnight in this space. And to ask a question to the applicant, you would be prepared to make sure that this space is completely habitable for the animals. Warmth in the winters, enough staff in order to manage 30 dogs, et cetera.

Yes. Um, so I, uh, sorry, I forgot to mention that. So I tried to go by the Ollie's law, uh, I guess, uh, requirements, but I believe, uh, so when I looked at them, they kind of seemed like very like below, I guess, the bar that I usually handle. Um, I do usually want, uh, only groups of five to 10 per, uh, of dogs per group. So it's much, much scaled down on the average doggy daycare. Um, the place is also a lot nicer. I'm more than happy to either give you a tour or send you pictures.

um but yeah it's uh it's a lot uh less of dogs compared to the the amount of space we have uh did your partner or did your partner have anything to add to that uh my name is taylor so i own a gym in everett so i know greg for about five years And he's a wonderful man to work with, so I would be glad to take this endeavor with him. That would be a great blessing for us. And we are dedicated to do everything we need to do for the well-being of the dogs.

Okay, good to know. I mentioned that question specifically because understaffing in this space can be very problematic for yes the safety of the staff uh for the safety of the dogs and want to make sure that we're you know that's our priority that's our priority yes um counselor clean did you have a question or a comment yeah so thank you mr chair through just to the applicants um real quick so just looking at the property so looks like there's a storefront on the bottom and then um would the kennels primarily be upstairs

Uh, in terms of, oh, sorry. No, I was gonna say in terms of your, in terms of the layout, are you planning on keeping a little retail downstairs or it's a whole place going to be, uh, accountable?

Uh, everything's going to be for dogs. Uh, we will offer like very small retail, but it's be like pictures. I want to maximize the whole space for the dogs. Um, so yeah, the whole, uh, the whole square footage will be for the dogs.

Okay. All right. Yeah. I mean, let's hearing you, you both talk, it sounds like, you know, putting safety first is the name of the game here. And, you know, as a dog owner, dog parent myself, you know, I take this stuff very seriously. I know it's, you know, everyone, we want you to be able to make a living, but also, you know, give a great service for the community and keep everybody safe. So everything sounds good to me, Mr. Chair, happy to support this license.

Good to know. And just on the previous point of the applicant, I'm certainly happy to take a tour of the business before it opens just to get the layout and make sure that, you know, it's absolutely staffed. But also, you know, happy to also just show up on opening day and be part of it.

That would be great. You're welcome. You're welcome.

All right. So assuming everything is above board, this has been checked out by a number of departments and I have gotten assurances from the applicant that, this will be adequately staffed and that the dogs in particular will have supports during some of the more testing months. I'm thinking particularly during winter when it gets quite cold and during summer when it gets quite hot. As long as their safety and the safety of the staff is prioritized, I see no reason why this application should not move forward. So unless there is a comment from the public, And if there is, please raise your hand. Okay. Seeing none, I will declare this public hearing closed and move for approval.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Good luck.

I saw my, Jesse, I see my favorite pizza place behind in your background.

Oh, yeah.

Early on, yeah.

Yeah, literally my favorite. Thank you again. Good luck.

Take care.

Thank you.

We haven't voted yet, just to be clear.

On the motion. Councilor Davis? Councilor Clingan?

Yes.

Councilor Burnley? Aye. Two in favor, one absent. This item is recommended for approval.

Wonderful. Make sure to send out those invites for opening day, but don't start operating before you get the license.

Yes. Definitely. Thank you so much.

Thank you. And finally, we have our last item.

And if the clerk can read into the record. All right. Item number four.

New extended operating hours license. Mint Indian Eatery 868 Broadway for in-store takeout and delivery services until 4 a.m.

All right. If the applicant can raise their hand. Seeing it now, if you can introduce yourself, your relationship to this application, and in particular, why you would like the extended license to go until 4 a.m.

Hi, my name is Rajesh Thapa, and I recently bought this store, and we are located right next to the Tufts University. And as being an Indian restaurant, none of the Indian restaurants are open after 10 a.m., 10 p.m. So if somebody has to order the food, they have to either order from Cambridge or Boston. So I think, like, it's the best opportunity for us, plus the city of Somerville, so we can have, like, the people not ordering through Boston or Cambridge. I used to run a pizzeria in Cambridge, which we used to open till 4 a.m., and I can see a lot of takeout. Like, especially we're going to be focusing more on the deliveries through the third-party delivery companies. The students are awake till, like, late night. They'll be studying. They'll be awake. So I think, like, That's the main reason we want it to open till 4 a.m.

Thank you for that. I certainly have a few questions, but I do want to open up to my colleagues first. So, Councilor Clingan?

Yeah, so, I mean, Mr. Chair, I've approved these in my ward in the past. I, you know, I fundamentally am not against extended hours. I'm curious, so the The residents, the building that's being built next, I might be looking at an old, this was from 2024. I'm assuming that that building is occupied now?

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, so as far as flyering, that would have been in the catchment area, but, you know, there's nobody necessarily there. All right, that's neither here nor there. I just wanted to see if, you know, If it was occupied, you know, because really, other than that, I mean, I don't, you know, it's in a row of other establishments you have. I mean, yeah, I mean, this area, again, I don't see any hands up in the audience. And this area lends itself, I think, fine to an extended hours location, this little business district here. So, you know. I'm happy to approve it this evening myself. I'd like to hear if you have concerns, Mr. Chair, but I don't know if, I know we don't have a ward counselor down there right now to speak of, except, you know, Counselor Estrezzo has been sort of covering de facto. But me personally, again, just looking at the situation and looking at the surrounding area, I'm okay with this unless I hear something really, you know, egregious. and an answer if you have questions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. And I'll kind of pick up where you left off, Councilor Clingan. You know, obviously. This committee in the last four years or so, I can only speak for my tenure. We've approved a number of extended licenses I will say the latest I remember extending to was 3 a.m. That is the choice of the applicant, of course. My main concern is always when it comes to these things, the impact on neighbors, potential for traffic congestion. The latter concern I don't think is a big problem for this space at that hour. There are some residence is across the street, I believe. So I certainly want to just make sure that this venue is not overly noisy or loud past midnight or past, especially 1 AM or 2 AM when people necessarily will be needing sleep. Can the applicants speak to the potential of noise complaints at all?

I recently took over the place, and I do see there are some residents in front of us, but nighttime, I believe it's mostly, I don't think there are going to be a lot of walk-ins. It's mostly going to be for delivery guys, like the third party. We're not going to have our own delivery. We're just going to focus on the third-party delivery companies, and at nighttime, I don't think There's any traffic or like there'll be a problem with the parking. So I don't think like, and we don't play any loud music. It's a tiny takeout place with like 18 seating. So hopefully like it will be sound and peaceful and none of the neighbors will complain about it. That's what my plan is. Like, we're not going to make it like too loud. We're going to make it like as, I'm like, we cannot handle more orders as well. So we'll see as we go. I don't think it's going to be that crazy busy. So people will be congested. The drivers will be hunking. Because looking at the daytime and the nighttime sales, we're just trying to get some more businesses because daytime, it's like two competitive markets nowadays. And nighttime, I see like kind of few potential where we can uplift ourselves. That's why we're trying to do it like till 4 a.m. So we'll see down the road how it's going to go. But I don't think it's going to be that crowded that the neighbors will be complaining about it.

Yeah, certainly. As I mentioned before, there are no businesses in this area that would be also open that late. So there would, as far as I am aware, would be no competition for, you know, parking from the space, you know, other, you know, delivery drivers trying to get in and out of other spaces. Of course, the city, just to say for the record, does have a noise complaint ordinance. If you do get this application or this license and there is a series of noise complaints that come out of it, we will be back in this meeting to talk about that. We can adjust. And the reason I asked about the hours is not just simply because of the hours, but because as the applicant, you asked for 4 a.m. for both delivery and in-store purchases. I went to college. I can certainly imagine being a college student who's hungry at 3 in the morning and don't have a place to grab food. We just want to make sure that all business that is done in this establishment, even into the late hours, is commiserate with the the values of our community and that we're not, you know, causing any havoc for anybody. But, you know, I think we should lead with grace and, you know, readiness. So I certainly Don't have any more questions. I see Councilor Clingan has another question or comment.

More comment, Mr. Chair. I just want to be on record. I hear what you're saying, and I agree. We approved one falafel king up at the corner of Main Street and Broadway. I'm knock on wood. I haven't had any complaints. I'm happy to do whatever we can to help our small businesses So, yeah, I just that's been my experience with two two different late night ones. We opened in Ward four and I haven't heard anything. So that's a that's why, you know, it's a good sign. Hopefully this area feels the same way about the late night. And but, yeah, happy, happy to. I hear you on on your cautiousness and concerns. Absolutely. But with my historical so far, the little history I have with the situation, it's been good.

Thank you for that. That's the other application that comes to mind for me as well. That is a 3 a.m. license in store until 3 a.m. And I can say from personal experience, you know, I've walked in there between the hours of 2 and 3. It's been fine. There's not a lot of noise. The workers are friendly and kind. And although we did have some concerns from residents at the time of that application, I have certainly not heard anything about noise spilling out or causing anyone harm. Councillor Killeen, did you want to add something else?

I was trying to remember what the dumpling place, I know we, was that also just indoor eating or was that, I thought that was delivery also.

That was also delivery. But I think they're, the one you're talking about, I think they had later deliveries than they had in store. Versus Falafel, which was 3 a.m. for both. And this one, which is 4 a.m. for all three different.

Gotcha. All right. Yeah. I'm still happy to go forward with this and see how things work.

I agree. I think similar to the Falafel Place, which is the actual name, the Falafel Place, it is in its own kind of corner where there aren't a lot of abutters directly near it. Uh, and so as long as the applicant keeps the noise levels reasonable, I don't see any reason why this would be a problem. So, uh, with that, I'm going to move for approval. Uh, wait, actually, first I will ask for the record, if there are any members of the public who have comment or concern that they would like to raise about this seeing none, uh, I will declare this public hearing. Oh, there we go. It took a second, sorry. If the clerk can, okay, Mr. Ocorino, you are unmuted and you please introduce yourself and your relationship to this application and state your question or concern.

Hi there, my name is Ari Ocorino. I live in Ward 7. I'm frequently by this area. I'm definitely in support of more late night options and applause. the business owner for seeking this. I guess I just questions around not so much noise that your particular establishment would produce, but rather delivery drivers who you don't necessarily have control over. What's been your experience with delivery drivers potentially blasting music even during the daytime? And how would you be handling that at the hours of, you know, 1 to 4 a.m. ?

Okay. So I used to run a pizzeria back in like a recent, like for four years in Cambridge area. I don't feel like the delivery driver at nighttime, like this should be mindful about it because it's a quiet neighborhood. So I don't think like they will be blasting a music, anything like that. And as I said, most of the establishments will be closed. So the parking space will be available easily. So it will be quick grab and go. I don't think like we're going to have a lot of crowd at late night, like the 10 or 15 delivery driver will be lined up because it's just an Indian store. We're just trying to just like do a little better than what we're doing right now. But I don't think it's going to be too crowded that the delivery driver will be hanging out or have to wait for a long time outside. So it's going to be quick grab and go. The parking space will be there. The food will be ready soon. We're going to minimize the food items as well. So it's going to be like pretty quick grab and go. So that's what my experience is like. I don't think like the delivery driver will be hanging out in the area for a longer time, maybe just to pick up the food and just grab and go. So that would be my idea.

Got it. Thanks for explaining that. I appreciate it.

All right. With no other members of the public here, I will now declare this public hearing closed and move for approval.

On for motion on the item. Councillor Davis. Councillor Clayton. Yes. Councillor Burnley. Aye. Two in favor, one absent. The item is recommended for approval. Thank you so much, guys. I really appreciate it.

Thank you, sir. And just please don't open before you get the license. Definitely. All right. With that, we have no more items for us. I see Councillor Clingan looking down into the adjournment box. So on the motion to adjourn.

On adjournment and taking up the minutes from the June 25th, 2025 meeting. Councillor Davis. Councillor Clingan. Yes. Councillor Burnley. Aye. With two yes and one absent, this meeting is adjourned. The minutes are approved.

Thank you, everybody. See you next month.

Thank you.