Licenses and Permits Committee

Welcome to the Licenses and Permits Committee meeting of the Somerville City Council on April 8th. I'm Emily Hardt, Ward Counselor from Ward 7, and we're joined tonight by Clerk Michael Pottier. and other members of the committee. I will read the notice pursuant to chapter 2 of the acts 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 of the city on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. Thank you. All right. Clerk, can you please call the roll to establish quorum?

Absolutely. Councilor Davis? Here. Councilor Wheeler? Here. Chair Hardt?

Here.

You have a quorum.

All right. Thank you so much. So the first item on the agenda is approving the minutes from the last meeting, which was March 25th. Are there any comments or questions about those minutes? Okay, seeing none, we'll lay those on the table for approval at the end of the meeting. We do have a very short one item agenda tonight, and it is a public hearing. It is for a new used car dealer class 2 license. Is there someone here who is the applicant or representative to speak on this item?

Madam Chair, I do see a hand raised.

Excellent. Is it she, Mr. She?

Hey, how's it going? Hi, I'm Alan.

Hi, Alan.

Can you guys hear me?

Yes.

I'm not sure why it's not allowing me to like talk I don't or I don't think the camera or anything's coming on sorry about that

No problem. We can hear you.

Okay, perfect.

If you'd like to tell us a little bit about your application and your business...

Absolutely. So this is a car rental business that I basically started two years ago around my sophomore year of college and now I'm a senior in college just finishing up. and really just looking to do car rentals and have a car dealership from the same location basically turn one customers into two since they're pretty related to each other and we do have a big enough space so this I guess it's just another thing we want to tackle on.

Okay, all right. So are there any, before I open the public hearing, other committee members, do you have any questions? Yes, Councilor Wheeler.

Hi, I'm excited to hear about this and welcome. Just to sort of clarify, so I'm seeing here, this is talking about 45 vehicles outside the Yep. I have not heard anything from anybody who lives around there about, ah, there's so many vehicles outside or whatever. Yeah, this map is very helpful. I just wanted to get a little clearer on these are all on your own lot. They're not parked on the street.

No, no, absolutely not. So we actually have 93 vehicles as is right now. They never sit because they're rental vehicles. They're always out on the road. So we have never have to use. All the parking spots, not even half of it So this 40 car outside is mainly just for the dealership inventory And that also ties along with our rentals because they could be used for both things a customer could come back from a rental booking and want to buy this car and we could take care of it for them thanks so much absolutely thank you okay great

Great. And how long have you been operating the rental business?

So I started this back in 2024, April 26, April 26, 2024.

Okay, wonderful. Have you had any... Go ahead.

No, no, no, nothing.

I was just going to ask, have you had any complaints from neighbors or... or customers or other folks in the city for that?

No, never. We actually have one of the highest five-star ratings at all car rentals in the area. And if you know the Abtoro, we're rated number one in New England. across 147,000 businesses so that's where we usually get most of our customers but we also rent direct off our site to avoid Toro's fees Toro is basically like an Airbnb for cars it's an app

Yes, wonderful. Well, congrats.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Yes. Okay, well, so if there are any members of the public here who would like to speak to it, I declare the public hearing open. So please just raise your hand and your virtual hand and you will be recognized to speak.

Adam Chair seeing no hands.

Okay, all right. So I declare this public hearing closed in that case. And is there any discussion from the committee? Okay. All right. So I think this sounds great, and I'm in favor of recommending this for approval. and motion that we recommend it for approval. And so Clerk Poteer, can we vote on that as well as the minutes?

Manager, absolutely. Before taking a vote, I'll just read the item into the record. Thank you. This is item two, referred for recommendation. New used car dealer, class two license, Zillux Auto Group, 20 Cummings Street, Zero vehicles inside, 45 vehicles outside. Hours Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Sunday closed. Calling roll on the minutes and item number two. Davis, Yes, Councilor Wheeler, Yes, Chair Hardt, Yes. Those minutes are accepted and this item is recommended to be approved.

Okay, thank you so much and congratulations, Alan. And just a reminder that this is not the end of the approval process. It has to be approved by the full council and signed by the mayor and you'll be notified when the when it's finally approved.

Perfect. Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it. And I really appreciate all your time and everything. Thank you guys.

Thank you. All right. And do I hear a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

Thank you.

On adjournment, Councilor Davis. Yes. Councilor Wheeler. Yes. Chair Hardt.

Yes.

This committee is adjourned.

All right. Thank you all.

Thank you all.

Bye-bye.