Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. Happy 2026. I'm going to violate the Larry David rule and wish everybody a happy new year after the seventh of the month. I am Mike Capuano. I'm the Chairman of the Planning Board. With me tonight is Amelia Aboff, our Clerk Jahan Habib, and Michael McNeely. We have four people. We have a quorum on this beautiful, freezing January Thursday. And so we have a number of items on our agenda tonight. But first, pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the Planning Board will be conducted via remote participation. A video recording of the proceedings will be available on the City's websites, meetings, and events page, or by emailing planningboard at SomervilleMA.gov. This meeting is being recorded. So we have a number of items on the agenda tonight. Some are more administrative and some are hearings. So the first thing we're going to do is move through some continuances. We have a request for continuance. Actually, was 379 already continued to February 5th? Alvaro, do we need to continue it?

I can double check. Give me one second.

a few weeks since our last meeting.

This one was continued to this meeting, to January 15th. So we have to continue it.

That's fine. We've got a request to continue this to February 5, 2026. Chair so moves. Seconded by Amelia. We have a roll call, please.

Hi. Michael Magnilli.

Hi.

Amelia Aboff.

Hi.

Michael Capuano.

All right, that agenda item is continued. Same with 44 White Street. Did they continue to today or did they ask for February?

That one was continued to February 5th.

Okay, so we don't have to further continue it. Okay, we have a number of administrative items, meeting minutes. So we have the minutes from November 6th, 2025. Does anybody have any suggested revisions? to the draft meeting minutes of November 6th. Seeing none, the chair moves to adopt those draft meeting minutes. Seconded by Amelia, can we have a roll call?

I. Michael McNeely. I. I. Michael Capuano.

I. We have meeting minutes for November 6th, November 20th. Does anybody have any suggested revisions? Seeing none, the chair moves to adopt those draft meeting minutes, seconded by Amelia. Roll call, please.

Johan Habib. Aye. Michael Marinelli. Aye. Amelia Aiboff. Aye. Michael Capuano.

Aye. Okay, we have November 20th meetings, December 4th. Anybody have any suggested revisions? Seeing none, the chair moves to adopt those draft meeting minutes, seconded by Amelia. Can we have a roll call, please?

Jahan Habib.

Aye.

Michael McNeely. Aye. Amelia Aboff.

Aye.

Michael Capuano.

Okay. I think that might have been the last meeting in December, so we might be through with 2025. That's great. Okay, so I'm going to take some items on the agenda out of order, and I'm going to take up some hearings. Let me take a quick look at who we have and what needs to be read in. Let's read in 201B. You know what? Nope, nope, nope. I'm going to move along to a different one first. I think it was 152 Broadway, actually, B-Tone Fitness. If we can have that read into the record, please, Mr. Clerk.

Absolutely, Mr. Chair. 152-158 Broadway. Michael LaRosa, representing Beton Fitness, proposes to establish fitness services used in a ground story commercial space fronting a pedestrian street in the Mid-Rise 5 MR5 zoning district, which requires a special permit. ZP25-000111. Okay.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to ask the applicant and any person on their team to be unmuted and shared and have the case planner also join us as needed.

Nice to see you again. Mike LaRosa, how you doing? Attorney for the applicants, we were actually in here last, about a month ago, to have this same business approved as a formula business. We had to come back in because the use of a Pilates studio, which I assume would fall into fitness services, because this particular location fronts on a pedestrian street, which is lower Broadway, we had to come in for a second special permit under 4.3.13.B.1.B. The use is otherwise allowed in an MR5 district, but specifically because we front on lower Broadway and it's a pedestrian, we need an additional special permit and PPZ staff had us file a second application for that as opposed to letting it go on the same application as the original. I can waste your time with the same presentation we did a month ago, but it's going to be the exact same information, same applicants. Well, we already gave you the permit for what you're trying to do.

So I think the board is okay with a presentation unless anybody feels particularly compelled. Okay. Um, okay. Um, I'm, I'm more than happy to just throw it into public testimony. Um, unless there's anything else that you guys need to address with us, um, or staff.

I don't think there's anything in particular. The applicants are on here in case we need them and I'm here for questions, but I, like I said, there's no point in wasting time. It would be the exact same presentation from last month.

I appreciate the, the, the efficiency. So, um, What I'd like to do is open it up to public testimony for anybody that would like to speak in support of the application. Please hit the raised hand button and I'll call on you. Once, going twice, seeing none, I'm going to close that portion of the public hearing, open it up to anybody that wants to speak in opposition to the application. Please raise your hand. Once or twice seeing none and close that portion of the public hearing, bring it back to discussion by and between the planning board and the applicant and staff as needed. Does anybody have any questions for anybody? Okay. Well, then following public testimony review of the submitted materials and deliberations of the required considerations and findings outlined by the zoning ordinance. I move to approve with conditions laid out in the staff memorandum the request to establish a fitness services use in the ground story commercial space fronting on a pedestrian street in the MR5 zoning district, seconded by Amelia.

Steve, can you please call the roll?

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just running on the habit there. It's all right.

Mr. Chair, before I respond, Madam Vice Chair also had her hand raised, so I'm not sure.

I was looking at the other one. I did not see you.

I apologize, I had a question for the applicant, but it can wait until after the votes been taken.

um no let's let's ask the question.

I was just wondering i'm i'm sorry that you're in this circumstance of having to come before us again and that's delayed things is there anything that we should be aware of process wise that would. How could we improve this so that you were aware of the second permit requirement at the earlier stage.

I very much appreciate that question. So our original application did list that we were requesting both permits. And then we were informed after it had been advertised for the December meeting that we needed to submit a second application for the permit where before you now, even though it was included on the original, I was told that it's the preferred process now that a separate application has to be submitted to staff for each and every relief sought. So if you have three special permits or in this case two for the exact same business with the exact same application materials, you still have to submit apparently two separate applications under two different numbers, two different fees, two different advertisements with all the same stuff. which I was not aware of at the time, to be honest, it's, it's kind of unique, I think to Somerville and it's fine. We did what we had to do, but we weren't, it wasn't apprised of it until after the deadline had passed and the advertisement went out for the original meeting. So as you can imagine, the applicants were a little put off by it, but the ISD staff actually worked with us and, to give a temporary CO based on the original approval so that it would not hold them up any more than it already has, which was great.

I have to thank you very much for that explanation. And maybe I can suggest if the chair agrees that we add this process topic to a discussion for a future agenda, if it's absolutely.

I'm kind of wondering why we would have separate applications for separate relief requests for the same project. It also sounds, at least from what I just heard, that it would engender multiple application fees as well instead of one global application fee, which seems maybe a little bit unfair.

I'm just thinking we just did away with the requirement for the pre-submittal meeting, and would this have been the thing that was resolved by that?

We actually did a pre-submittal meeting, and it didn't come up. So we're fine. It is what it is at this point. But I'm very glad you asked. Only reason being, as I said, the exact same language from the narrative. Submission materials, everything was exactly the same. It was literally filing under a separate application for the second relief, which, as you just noted, is basically you approved us in December, and this is like a formality. So it would be very much appreciated if you looked into it because it just adds a lot of, never mind fees, but paperwork that most people I don't think are expecting because when you upload on CitizenServe, it does have a parentheses S as if you can apply for multiple services. Permits and check boxes and things like that. So you wouldn't know until, you know, basically.

Figure out that I think Amelia and team. If there's a reason that we do it this way. I don't know if this is something that's just a legacy type of application or if this is something that can be. Modified and modernized. I see Lexi trying to get on. I do not see.

I was going to say, if I could also note, I was told that there are certain things that can't be done at the same time. Like you can't submit a plan at the same time as a request like this or not a plan. Some sort of plan approval can't go through the same time. But I don't know. It would be great if they can streamline it. But again, it is what it is. We're here. So we thank you for your time.

I can kind of explain it a little bit. Each permit, like each different hardship variance and permit has to be under a separate citizens are of case because us ISD different special permits have different departments that review them. If they're this, this one, like they're, so similar it wouldn't be as complicated but we have to have each one in citizen serve with a separate plan case because it has different review requirements so isd reviews like all of them and then planning but certain permits as have different reviews but we have to have them on um separate plan cases through citizen serve so i think it's just the software at this point why we have to do it that way and because it doesn't give the option to have um multiple permits applied for with the same application. But I can ask Dan what he thinks about this as well next time I talk to him.

Because I'm imagining that other municipalities also have a similar issue where different approvals and different permits need to go to different departments. And if we seem to be an outlier in making this a multiplicity type of thing, that doesn't seem to be the most efficient way of doing it. We might want to look at, um, changing the software that, that we, we use, even though it might cost some, some bucks.

Yeah. I think if we, we kind of are having like a turnover because Sarah White retired, who was doing everything in citizen serve. So now Dan is assigning the cases, but, um, I can ask them about this if we can do it. It'll definitely have to be a separate case number because it's a different, totally different permit. But I'll ask them maybe if we could have something where it's the same application, but you have multiple permits and then we just process it and make it into two in the server. But I'll bring this up at our staff meeting then.

I think some of the logistics are interesting to know because it's not something that we see on our side. It's something that, you know, you on the staff side see and the applicant and their team see it and maybe some of the other relevant city departments. And if the whole intent is to try to make things a little bit easier for people coming for a permit granting authority, we might want to look at ways of doing that. And if that's one, we might want to consider making that recommendation.

All right. I'll bring that up. Thanks. Thank you.

Um, Amelia, are you, are you good? I'm sorry. I didn't see him before I had the screen on the, on the agenda.

I'm sorry for delaying the vote, but I'm glad we got to talk through that. I think that was useful and I'm sorry to, um, have made your application an example, but thank you for letting us learn.

No, thank you for even asking. I appreciate it. Because as the chair mentioned, you folks don't see what planning staff or I see. Planning staff doesn't see what I see. I don't see what you see. So it's kind of odd. Like when you log in, there are checkboxes where you can apply for multiple. So then I know on their end, they would need to know that there are different ones for different review. But on the user end, you don't know that until basically you're told after the fact. So I appreciate it.

Yeah, I only saw that side of it when I had an applicant share the screen with me because we have no way of seeing it from their end. And I think we're working on updating the submittal requirements manual so that it has like screenshots and imagery that helps guide because the submittal requirements right now is kind of wordy and hard to navigate. So we're in the process of updating that.

Okay, let's see where we wind up after that. Thank you. Anybody else? We have a pending motion. And do we have a second? Amelia, did you second it? Do you want to?

Seconded.

Okay. Alvaro, could we please have a roll call vote on motion?

Yes. Jahan Habib? Aye. Michael McNeely?

Aye.

Amelia Aiboff?

Aye.

Michael Capuano?

Aye. Congratulations. Good luck.

Thank you all very much. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next up is 366 Broadway, please. Can we please have this read into the record? It has not yet been opened. Okay.

Absolutely, Mr. Chair. 366 Broadway. 366 Broadway Summerville LLC requests to change a condition of a previously issued special permit PN21-175 in the Mid-Rise 4 MR4 Zoning District, ZP25-000087.

Have the applicant and team join us. Let's have staff join us as needed.

Hello.

Hi, everyone. Hi. If you could introduce yourself for the record, please.

My name is Evan Stelman from Calls to Design with the business address of 17 Ivyloose Street in Somerville. So the reason why we're here tonight is... When this project initially went through the special permit process, this board placed a condition on the special permit that states signage must be provided to direct loading and unloading activities along Thurston Street. A site plan showing the location of signs and proposed signage language to be submitted to the relevant city departments for review.

So we did go through...

did go through the permitting process and the mobility division prefers that the loading and unloading occur on broadway so we're requesting to change the timing of the condition as recommended by city staff to before certificate of occupancy rather than before building rooms well

I get a practical explanation of what the timing change means for the purpose of your application and how we're looking at it. Because usually when it comes to changing things like the location of a loading zone, that's usually something that goes before the planning board as part of the application so we can have a fulsome review with a recommendation from mobility and things like that.

Yeah, I think, and Kit, if you're on, correct me if I'm wrong, I think the intention here is to go through the construction process, and then when we're further through the process, we'll work with the mobility division to determine the best location of that loading zone, and then we'll most likely be back in front of you to change the condition itself.

Okay, so that sounds, and this is no offense to you, Evan, this sounds backwards. I agree with you on that. Okay, this sounds like the reverse of what the planning board usually expects, and that delegation of decisions to various city departments are usually somewhat ministerial, like the color of paint and things like that, and not something kind of substantive as the way vehicles move in and around the project. So, Kit, I'm wondering if you might be able to give me some insight here on why we're flipping the script.

Well, I will read this one line from the staff report. It says, the loading zone change requires traffic commission approval, and it is best practice for that approval to occur shortly before the building is occupied rather than prior to construction. So I think that outlines staff's thinking behind requesting a timing change rather than a condition change?

Well, when the planning board reviewed the application, we had certain information before us that guided our position on the application and the conditions that were laid out therein. Right. And this seems to be more than just a ministerial change. And the timing, personally, I don't care when the timing of something occurs. It's more of a, this needs to be something that the planning board needs to look at with a little more critical eye than just, let's leave it to mobility to figure out what works, because I've got to tell you that this is going to be no surprise to members of the planning board. I don't really trust mobility in a lot of issues. So that's not something that I'm particularly comfortable with. But I do seek it.

Yeah. Hi. I also just wanted to add that I believe in the staff or sorry, in the narrative submitted by the applicant. This would just give them a little bit more time to coordinate with mobility on the location of the loading zone while the project is still able to move forward. In some regard, but I also mobility staff was unable to be here tonight, but I do have a statement on why they would prefer Broadway as the loading zone area. If you'd like me to read that from the mobility staff.

That would be helpful. Thank you. Okay.

Alright, so they have said that short term parking needs for deliveries or rideshare vehicles tend to park in the most convenient location for their destination and for continuing on to their next destination. Turning onto a one way street away from Broadway would be significantly less convenient than parking on Broadway in front of the destination address for the majority of these trips. There is parking on Broadway today in front of 366 Broadway, but it is for longer term parking, and if occupied when deliveries or ride hail vehicles arrive, could result in vehicles double parking in the bus lane rather than turning onto Thurston Street. We have not found signage directing vehicles to a loading zone to be particularly effective, especially when space is available in front of the destination address, even if it is not a legal parking space. And we acknowledge that a loading zone here could present challenges with future bike network plan implementation. However, there is a parking lane in this area today, and it should be responsive to the adjacent land uses. Mobility will resolve any conflicts with future bike network plan implementation at the time that it becomes an active project in a comprehensive way that accounts for parking and loading needs at this site, as well as for surrounding land uses.

I'm not going to spend the next 10 minutes talking about what I think that opinion by mobility will engender when they decide to reimagine the bike infrastructure versus parking and driving. Because I think I'm going to be very upset with what they miraculously come up with. But I do want to hear from other members of the board, and I do want to open it up to public testimony as well. So I appreciate that input from Mobility at this stage in the game, but I fully expect to engage with them more as this goes forward. Yeah, Amelia.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also am a little bit frustrated by this understanding that the ask is not so much actually about the timing, but about this change to the loading zones. I remember the discussion of this case and the discussion that led to the condition that is being potentially modified here. And it was exactly because of the concern that vehicles would in fact be stopping along Broadway for deliveries and rub-offs, given the size of the building and the residential nature of it. And that because there was a loading zone at that time, or sorry, the access points at that time were planned for along Thurston Street, that we discussed the addition of that signage so that vehicles would need to, in the hopes that delivery vehicles would adhere to it. in response to the many competing curbside uses along Broadway and the bicycle network plan. So I'm reluctant to move forward on this change without a more robust discussion of that, because I think the answer I'm hearing here is that mobility wants to have the loading zone on Broadway because delivery vehicles don't respect what we tell them to do anyway, which strikes me as one of these bigger picture. Okay. Like maybe we should try enforcement of some kind, um, types of problems, um, Making delivery vehicles have a more convenient time of it is extremely low on my list of priorities for the city. Creating safe pedestrian and bike infrastructure, on the other hand, is one of the top priorities I think the board is charged with. So I understand that Mobility is trying to respond to sort of on the ground conditions, but would like to have the opportunity to discuss if there's alternative solution other than just like acknowledging car is going to do what car is going to do because that's not a way to run a place. And of which reflects poorly on Mr. Stallman. So I apologize.

Yeah, we don't we don't mind either location. We just we just want to build this. I think I do think further conversation would be beneficial, but we're just trying to get this thing out of the ground.

You just happen to be the person speaking to us. As Amelia said, this is not a you thing. This is another people thing. Yeah, Kit.

I just want to note that mobility staff just was not able to be here this evening, but mentioned to me that they could definitely be present at a future meeting.

Yeah, we're not going to be taking this up to a vote tonight. Anyway, so we're going to have more discussion on this building. Yeah, Michael.

Thank you. I would just like to echo a lot of the comments that have been said so far, so I'm not going to burn time saying the same things. The one thing I did want to say was I appreciated that there's creativity here and trying to find a way to make the project move quickly and maybe sidestep some seemingly administrative issues. So for what it's worth, love the creativity. I want more creativity like that to keep coming to the board. So two thumbs up for that.

There's a public hearing. So, I see Emily Lalka's hand. Is Emily part of your development team or is Emily a member of the public?

A member of the public.

Okay. Emily will have the opportunity to speak in about 10 seconds. I'm going to open it up to public testimony. And what I'm going to do is going to ask anybody that wants to speak in support of the application, raise their hand. And I'll call on you in the order in which I see you. And when I do call on you, I ask you to give your name and street of residence for the record. So I see Emily in Lauka. So if Emily could please be unmuted and provide her testimony.

I just allowed Emily to speak.

Hi, thank you all so much. My name is Emily Lolka. I live on Thurston Street. I appreciate all the thoughtful discussion happening here tonight about this. I tuned in because this project is happening right here on my street and I wasn't sure what the particulars would be about tonight with the modification proposed. I also appreciate the reflections and thought and discussion you're giving to, you know, is Broadway the better location as Thurston? What's the impact of this? As a resident of Thurston, I would actually, and a pedestrian and a cyclist in the city, you know, prefer to see it actually still stay on Thurston. There's that crosswalk right before you turn onto Thurston that's on Broadway. And if large vehicles are parked there or we have cars double parking there, it's going to block the visibility of people using that crosswalk. So I do have some mobility concerns that I'm going to flag there for people. And as a cyclist, I take that turn from Broadway onto Thurston all the time. And it's certainly safer for me if I'm not worried about a vehicle trying to get back across those lanes or some that's double parked having to go back into the main lane of traffic there. So I do hope that there is a way to keep the project moving forward and also find a creative solution for the loading zone. And I appreciate all the discussion tonight. So, you know, I don't have anything one way or another, but that is my personal experience. And I appreciate you opening this up to discussion tonight. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anybody else that would like to testify in support of the application? Going once, going twice. Seeing none, I'm going to close that portion of the public hearing and open up to anybody that would like to testify in opposition or otherwise express concern. Please raise your hand. Going once, going twice. Seeing none, I'm going to close that portion of the public hearing and bring it back to the planning board. I think the planning board is in a position where we would like generally some further discussion with mobility. I don't know if there's anything concrete that we need to do this evening now that we've had this pretty helpful conversation, but anybody would like to weigh in? Kit? Yeah. Steve?

I was just going to add, if you want anything concrete that I can take back to mobility, other than that, we can definitely get someone from their staff for a future meeting.

I think that's going to be beneficial. I think the issue, as I read my concerns, Amelia's and Michael's, is we want this to be well thought out instead of something that's kind of just left as an administrative issue. basically an administrative change and vote, something that could be fairly substantive. And we've got a member of the community who lives on Thurston and will be impacted and has spoken to the impact of moving. And I think that's helpful. But I also want to make sure that we have the appropriate level of dialogue on something that I think is not quite as administrative as it appears.

Yeah, I just wanted to comment that a lot of the conversation that I'm hearing is about the actual location of the loading zone. We're happy to have that conversation. We think it's a warranted conversation, a good conversation to have. Again, we're happy to put the loading zone on Thurston. We're happy to put the loading zone on Broadway. But we are just requesting the timing change now. We do have a foundation permit. The foundations are being poured.

we want to go vertical so um we need to sort out the timing of the conditions in order to go vertical so um would the board be the problem is that the the way that the timing works impacts the way that the building functions on the street um so I think we want to make sure that we are looking at this holistically Okay. Because if we leave it to mobility to figure it out later, that's a problem.

It's my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong, Kit, that we still have the same condition that it'd be on Thurston Street. So we can change the timing, then come back and have those more warranted conversations when the building is more further developed, and then make the decision with the planning board and mobility staff and the community on the location of that loading zone at a further date. Because right now we're just trying to build a building. And please correct me if I'm wrong on that, because we're not changing the condition itself that says it has to go on Thurston Street. We're just changing the timing so we can buy a little time to go vertical and then continue those conversations about the loading zone.

That was my understanding as well.

Right. So I would love to come back.

Respectfully, I think two weeks to make sure that we're all aligned here is not going to break the world.

No, I completely understand. I completely understand that. But if we do those two weeks and then you approve the, because the application in front of you is for a timing change. So if we do those two weeks, you approve the timing change, we're still going to have to come back to change the condition itself. Right, Kat? Okay. I'm just making sure I have a proper understanding of the process. Okay.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to continue this agenda item until the meeting that we have on February 5. So moved. Seconded by, unless there's any other discussion between the planning board. Seconded by Amelia. Alvaro, can we please have a roll call?

Jahan Habib. Aye. Michael Magnilli.

Aye.

I'm Emilio.

Hi.

Michael Kaplan.

Hi. See you in a few weeks. Thank you. Thank you. Who else do we have?

Who else do we have? I guess Mike.

We got 201 B Highland Ave. Red into the record, please.

Absolutely, Mr. Chair. 201B Highland Ave. Ellen Mills, owner of Danger Wizard LLC, proposes to establish a recreational services use in the MR3 zoning district, which requires a special permit, ZP25-000107. I see ZP25-000107.

One person from the applicant and potential team, if there's anybody else that I think needs to be shared, please do so. If not, please introduce yourself for the record, and happy to hear you.

Thank you. My name is Alan Knowles. I'm the owner of Danger Wizard LLC, and I'm here to apply for a special permit for the brick-and-mortar location that I'm looking to open on 201B for Ohio DEV.

Can you explain a little bit about the nature of the application and what you're looking to do?

Yeah, I'd be happy to.

We know. We've seen the materials, but there might be people in the public that don't know.

I do have the presentation ready to go if you guys want to take a look at that. If you need a full presentation, go for it.

If not, we're happy to just hear kind of what you're looking to do.

That's fair. I'll go ahead and I'll share my screen just because it always helps to have pictures go along with the story. Yeah.

I appreciate that. I'm a big picture book guy.

Oh, yeah. All right. Let's see. All right. Can you guys see the presentation? Yes. All right. Cool. All right, so like I said, my name is Alan Knowles. I'm the owner of Danger Wizard. We are a professional dungeon master service. We've been operating in Somerville for the last almost three years now. We've been working with the schools. We do after school programs for both out of school time and after school. We've been running programs primarily out of the armory over school breaks of February, April, and summer vacations. It's been going great. We work primarily with kids in like grades 3 through 8th, but we also do events for adults as well. We do classes, painting workshops, campaign nights. We do a lot of work with the community. We have a lot of fun professionally, I'd like to say. But my beautiful wife saw this space just a stone's throw away from the armory. It's been vacant for a while, so we reached out to the landlords to see if they'd be interested in doing a sublease. They were, so we run some programs through there and it's been working out great. We've gotten a big response from a very positive response from the community and the parents and the families that we serve. So we would like to stay long term, hence where we are now. The narrative is pretty much what I just said, but I'll go along here to get some pictures of people having a good time. all ages, all walks of life. Again, the adults, the kids, it's a 900 square foot space. So there's two points of egress, one in the front, one in the back that goes up to a little patio area. We have a setup. So we have about like four tables in there. We can run games with, you know, We typically try to keep it to like six to eight players or so, plus a dungeon master, someone who runs the game for the kids. And this game is also, I feel this is important to say, it's all completely analog. It's all, you know, familiar Dungeons and Dragons, just dice, maps, miniatures. We have no screens. We don't have Wi-Fi in there right now, and it's just fine. We have a bunch of books, though, and painting materials and maps and everything else that the kids need to just let their imaginations go wild. So we do also have a basement down below, but we don't, that's not open to the public. But yeah, so that's the point of the verse there. Yeah, facade elevations. We don't plan to have anything up on the brick or on the marble. We're just going to go with vinyl stickers if approved with the business name on there. Our better context analysis is that we love our neighbors, that we share a wall with Highland Butcher Shop. They're wonderful. spend way too much money getting coffee and muffins over at Wicked Cafe. We bring the kids in sometimes, and they always have a blast getting all sorts of weird combinations of hot chocolates. There are residential buildings next door and across the street. We have had no complaints. In fact, we've had people come and play games with us. We've had a guy who wrote a little blog about us because he was one of our neighbors. He was like, this seems really cool. It is made of brick, the building itself, so it does get soundproofed or it is well soundproofed, which is good because the kids will, you know, shriek when they get a nat 20 on one of their dice rolls. And yeah, there's also the foot traffic is really great, too, because we have. You know, we're on Highland Avenue. So there's a lot of residential area right there. There's a bus that goes through. The Green Line is like less than half a mile away. So it's it's great for that. And there is street parking available. In summary, I'll just kind of paraphrase this. This has been a wonderful experiment so far. We've had, again, just incredibly positive response from the community, from the families. Working with the schools, working with the armory, and working in clients' homes, that has been fantastic, but It's a dream I've had to have like a solid base of operations, basically a place where we can keep all of our stuff, but also provide like regular scheduled events for kids to have something to look forward to during the school break years. It's something that's in person. They get to play with their friends or make new ones. You know, again, kids from all walks of life are encouraged to attend. They can hear about it at schools. They can hear about it from friends. And, you know, when I was a kid myself, I was always interested by Dungeons and Dragons, but trying to learn the rules was like trying to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics and then also finding a group of other like-minded kids to play with. That was just a bridge too far for me. So now, at least here, this has been a great way for getting kids and adults to connect, to interact face-to-face, make these connections, make these memories, and have a ton of fun doing it the whole time. So yeah, that is the long and short of Danger Wizard and what we are hoping to do with a special format.

Thanks very much, Alan. Sounds like a cool little spot. Does anybody on the planning board have any questions or comments? Yeah, Michael. Mike, you're on mute.

And then I left it on mute. I was saying it was a quick draw. I didn't get my hand up, and then I forgot the mute part. So first, I always love to point out when an awesome application comes in, I thought this was very thoughtful. I think you focused on very important things around the community. So thank you for making a really good presentation, first and foremost. Second is, you know, as we've been continuing to reflect on summer vision as our lens for looking at projects like these, I've increasingly worried about there's there haven't been a lot of projects that have been extremely substantial to support after school programs and communities and families. And this is like one of the best applications I've seen for this specific feature within the things that we're trying to support. So I love this project. I want to do everything we can to support you. Thank you for coming in to see us. I wish it was just an automatic approval at this point.

Thank you.

Yeah, John.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also want to echo what my fellow planning board member, Mr. McNeely, has said. I think this is an excellent project. I want to thank the applicant for the presentation and the fact that it involves the community as well as school age children. I do have a quick question regarding the kitchen. I understand it's a kitchen space. I just want to better understand what the plans are for the kitchen use both now or sometime in the future. So I'd love to hear some thoughts from the applicant on that.

Yes, so the kitchen, that's a remnant from when it was a dog grooming and pet retail supply store. I think that was just a place for them to... They actually had a basin for washing animals in. They removed that. Thankfully, because the kids would just jump in there. But right now the plan is we don't really use that other than storage. We have like our cleaning supplies back there. We don't have a bubbler and we also, you know, we don't, we don't serve food or snacks, but like if kids need water, we give them a cup and they can drink from the tap. Otherwise, like we wash our paintbrushes in there and we have a little mini fridge in case a kid has like either medication or a lunch or something like that. But that's the extent of our use and plans for use with that space.

That's wonderful. Thank you so much for clarifying. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yeah, Amelia. I just wanted to add that this is the best use change permit we've ever seen, I've ever seen, in like six years of this. Thank you and good luck.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. You couldn't just be another weed store. Yeah, no, that's passe, you know. Got to be an individual.

I share my colleague's enthusiasm for your application. It is a public hearing, so I'm going to open it up to public testimony. For anybody that wants to speak in support of the application, please raise your hand, and I'll call on you. Calling once, calling twice. Oh, I see Emily Larka.

Hi, my name is Emily Lalka. I live on Thurston Street. My son does your in-school programming, and I'm really excited for the space to be added to the community in this way and to continue growing. So I just want to say thank you, and thank you for sharing the presentation again tonight. And my kids have frequented, you know, the Armory when smaller, you know, startups like this have come out of the Armory and used the spaces in there, and I'm so excited to see you grow into a space in the neighborhood like that because I've seen it go the other direction before and I'm really glad to see this thrive and be successful and be an opportunity for so many kids to engage in something off screens. So thank you for the thoughtful presentation and I'm really excited for the opportunities in the community like this.

Thank you very much, Emily. And thank your child for attending our programs, too. I hope they're having a great time.

They are. Thank you.

Thank you, Emily. Is there anybody else that would like to testify in support of the application? Going once, going twice. Seeing none, I'm going to open it up to anybody that wants to speak in opposition to this application or otherwise express concern. Once, twice, closed. Okay. Seems like you have a fairly supportive planning board here. So I don't think there's any further discussion. Let me just make sure I'm at where I need to be at. So following public testimony, a review of the submitted materials and deliberation of the required considerations and findings outlined by the ordinance, I move to approve with the conditions and staff memorandum the request to establish a recreational service use in the MR3 zoning district, seconded by Amelia Alvaro. Can we have a roll call, please?

Dr. Habib? Aye. Michael Magnilli?

Aye.

Amelia Aboff. Michael Capuano. Congratulations. Good luck.

Thank you very much. When we're all set up, please swing by anytime. I'll have to show you guys around. Great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I believe the last case on our agenda is 248 Elm Street. So if I could please have that applicant and any team, be unmuted, shared, the whole thing.

You can raise your hand.

Mr. Chair? Yes. Does this need to be read into the record?

Yes, it does. Very good point. I usually have it done well in advance, but we took a bunch of things out of order for a bunch of kind of smaller cases, and you're very, you're on the ball, John. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. 248 Elm Street, Somerville BBQ Incorporated seeks to establish a formula of business principal use in the mid-rise for MR4 zoning district, which requires a special permit, ZP25-000101. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

I see a number of people from the applicant team. So if you could please introduce yourselves and we are happy to have a presentation on your application. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My name is Attorney Russell Chin, 400 Hancock Street in Quincy, Massachusetts. I'm here representing the applicant, Somerville BBQ Inc. And I may be joined by Mr. Wei Zheng. I can't see him on my screen, but I believe he may be joining us. Okay. So we're here before you in application for a special permit for a formula business. Somerville BBQ Inc. is looking to take over the restaurant space currently occupied by the Boston Halal Restaurant. And this is located in the area Davis Square section of the city central business district. It is not in the overlay district. Some of the BBQ is a franchise. This would be this particular applicants eighth or ninth location in Massachusetts. And as such, we are before you because we need the special permit to proceed. The applicant has been operating, as I said before, several similar restaurants. It is a formula. It is a franchise. It is governed by the franchise agreement in terms of color, menu, logo, design choice, etc. Before we applied I was looking at the history a little bit. And this is the former Diva Lounge, which you may or may not be aware. This was the same 1,200 square foot storefront in Davis Square. And that applicant applied for a special permit before this board, which was granted in 2004. And then subsequently another entity, I believe, called Amsterdam Falafel Shop, also applied for a permit and was granted that in 2012. Nothing really has changed in terms of the parking. It's the same as the other two applicants who were before you that were granted special permits. The size is the same. It's 1,200 square feet. The front dimension is the same. It's approximately a 15-foot entryway. But the only things really that would change would be signage in the front and then the interior would be pursuant to whatever the franchisor is requiring of us. That franchisor is a Korean franchisor. It's out of South Korea. They have over a thousand, I believe, locations throughout the world. And Mr. Wei Zhang, who's the president of the applicant corporation, You know, as I said, he's successfully run eight. This may be his ninth. I'm not quite sure. They seem to pop up pretty regularly. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have rather than go on.

Yeah, I have a question. My only real question here is where are the other Are they in Somerville? Are they in neighboring communities?

Yes. Good question. None of them are located in Somerville. They are located in Cambridge. There are two in Cambridge, I believe. One is in Central Square, which I think is the closest one to you. Boston has two, I believe. Quincy, Austin, Jamaica Plain, Randolph, and Malden.

So generally local, but not, you know, three in some of them already? No.

Okay. There's no more than two, except in Boston, I believe.

That's helpful in the way that I look at an application like this, so thank you. Sure. Yeah, Emilio.

Can I ask how long the applicant has been operating the current franchise locations? I just took a quick spin through Google Maps before meeting at some of the locations that were listed, and a lot of them look like they're more recent than the Google Maps street views, which doesn't mean not very long, but I was just curious to get a feel for it.

Yes, and I've been representing this particular applicant for a number of years, and I think the first one we opened was in Kenmore Square. That was probably five years ago. He's opened several since then through my office. So Mr. Jung may be able to tell you in more specific detail exactly how long he's been operating.

That's very helpful. Thank you.

Hi, yes, my name is Susie saying his, his wife, we operate together. So, Kim Morris was our 1st location, November 2021 and then we open Quincy the year after that. And then subsequently a year after that, we open Cambridge. So that was in 2023. And then after that, I believe was Jimmy China town, which is also in Boston. and then Jamaica Plain in 2024, another one in Quincy Center the same year, and then the most recent was Malden that we opened in September of 2025.

I think you also have Randolph in there somewhere, right? Or is that coming up?

Yes, Randolph is soon open, yes, and towards the end of this month, yes.

Anybody? Jahan, yes. I'm sorry, Amelia, were you through? Do you have any? Okay. Jahan?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a brief question for the applicants. I just wanted to better understand what the plans are in terms of space, whether there's going to be reconfiguration or additional construction, interior construction that's going to occur. Based on the applicant materials, it seems like most of the layout, most of the setup is going to be fairly consistent. I understand that there's already a restaurant. operating in that space. But I would love to hear a little bit more on that. So if the applicant team could elaborate, I'd really appreciate it.

Yes, so the space, we're mostly doing cosmetics, cosmetic layout, we're pretty much stay the same. It's a quick service painting service type of food, we follow the guidelines that the franchise headquarters sends us over, they send us a design guideline. We go by that if you visit any of our stores, they're pretty similar in the color scheme and the design wise of what we do, but the layout will be the same. It's nothing drastic in that space that will change.

Wonderful. Thank you so much for clarifying and thank you. Mr. chair as well.

Right. Anybody else have any questions for the applicant? Okay. Seeing none, I'm going to open up the hearing for public testimony for anybody that wants to speak in support of the application. Once, going twice. Seeing none, I'm going to close that portion of the application and open up testimony for anybody that would like to speak in opposition to the application or express concern. Okay, go once, go twice. Seeing none, I'm gonna close that portion of the public hearing and bring it back to the planning board. Does anybody have any further questions for the applicant or of staff? And I see we're joined by an alternate member, Eden, hi. Does anybody have any further questions? Following public testimony review of the submitted materials and deliberation of the required considerations and findings outlined by the ordinance, I move to approve with conditions outlined in the staff memorandum. The request to establish a formula business principal use the MR4 zoning district, seconded by Amelia. Laura, can you please have a roll call?

Jacqueline Habib. Hi. Hi. Michael manually. I mean they both. Michael cap one.

Congratulations good luck. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, thank you very much members of the board have a good night. You as well thank you thank you.

Quick scroll to make sure I'm not missing. Anything at this point. Okay, so what I'm going to do, so we have two other matters of general business slash other business. One is the election of the annual election of officers or the planning board. And the second is a matter of other business that I'm going to take up briefly now, if people are okay. So as you may have been... Hi, Kristen.

Hello. Hello.

As you may be aware, there is a potential application for a 40B project in Davis Square. I and Amelia have separately been in communication with planning staff, seeing where our role lays as the planning board, as well as certain other aspects relative to a potential application. What we're going to have, hopefully sooner rather than later, is a presentation by planning staff. It may be a Slightly repurposed similar presentation that has been made to the planning board for a different application on all of those attendant issues, because it will be a quite a notable application. If it comes down to the, and we, as the planning board under state law, we do have a role to play. And so. I'm not going to get into too much deeper of a discussion on that. I just want to put it on people's radar that this is something that is probably going to engender quite a bit of discussion. And it is something that the planning board can and should have at least some supporting role in, even if the application ultimately goes to the ZBA. So this is something that the planning staff and I agree. and Amelia are working towards making sure that we're all well informed about what the process is going to entail and what our role in that process will be. So that's it. Only because this is now made the news a bunch of times and there have been announcements by certain people such that we've been looking as a planning board at Davis Square for quite a while. both in a neighborhood plan sense, as well as specific applications for specific projects that those permits may no longer be necessary. So I just wanted to keep you all kind of updated on that in a formal way through this other business bullet point on our thing. Amelia, what am I missing?

I wonder if for a future meeting we could request a short update or just an email from staff with an update on where we are in the Davis Square neighborhood plan refresh cycle. which I know may be premature to think about in relation to this application, but I think is a valid question for the planning board to be aware of. Regardless, I know that the commercial area plan was adopted a number of years ago now, and I believe that there was a more comprehensive neighborhood plan being completed, but I admit I've lost the thread of the timing of that.

I don't believe it was finalized or voted upon. I think it was a broader neighborhood plan, but something that we've been working on since pre-COVID.

It was drafted in 2018 or 2019, and then the commercial area plan was prioritized instead as a direct COVID response, as I recall, and then I'm not sure whatever happened to a more general neighborhood plan after that.

Yeah, we may want to loop in staff and also the board council.

That'd be wonderful. So just asking that that'd be something we bring up at a future meeting as an agenda item if that's appropriate.

Yep, absolutely.

Thank you.

Anybody else? I mean, not that I can answer any questions at this point. But is there anybody who has questions that we can raise when we do have a more fulsome discussion with staff?

All right.

Good. With that in mind, does somebody have a hand raised? I do. You do. Okay.

Yeah. You know, as someone who hasn't seen a 40B application, it would be helpful to me if maybe part of that staff update, we spent like one or two minutes just reviewing, like, this is what this means. This is how the board plays in all that stuff. That would be really good. And I think also importantly, I would love to understand where we are as a city in meeting the affordable housing goals and stuff like that. So if the staff is able to provide some numbers on that at the next meeting, I think I'd really appreciate that just so I know where we are.

Not that this is a surprise because it is public realm already, but there are memoranda issued by the city back in 2022. In my memory, the only other 4DB project that I've been on the planning board that has happened, which is Winter Hill. And we do have, at least as of 2022, a formal opinion and position by the city. So I'd be curious to see if and how that is modified the last three and a half years. It also, by the way, Michael, gives a very nice – it is a memorandum designed to be read by and directed to the public so that the public can understand what the process entails and be able to follow all the things that you ask. There is a document out there. It is from 2022, so I'm sure that between now and the next time we talk about this, some information may be updated, and we'll see where we are. Okay. With that, it is time to do board elections. Right now, I will be very happy. John, how do you like being the clerk? I'm in favor of it. Is it cumbersome?

No, no, it's perfectly fine. You need a race? What's that? You need a raise? No, I'm perfectly fine.

I think you've done a wonderful job being literate and erudite, and I am going to move to have John remain our clerk for 2020.

Far more than being literate, also process expert. Did you not see him correct you earlier? That was very smooth. You know what?

I appreciate the whip crack.

I thought it was well done.

Stay in line.

So I am happy to nominate John to remain as clerk for 2026. Do we have a second? Michael has seconded. Alvaro, can we please have a roll call?

Sorry, just one clarification. Would I have Jahan vote on this?

It would fall in the same order. Jahan can vote on it if Jahan wishes.

Okay. Jahan Habib.

I'll abstain.

Michael McNeely.

Aye.

Amelia Eboff.

Aye.

Michael Capuano. Aye. Congratulations. We have a clerk.

Thank you very much.

Um, I also have always, I say it every year and every year it gets more and more heartfelt. I am so thankful for the wisdom and support that Amelia brings to this board and to me personally, both as a member and having the opportunity the leading of these, these meetings, sometimes they, they can get a little bit, um, overly detailed. Sometimes I might be able to get a little overly mad. Um, and, and I, and I think Amelia always does a wonderful job in bringing her perspective, her deep knowledge, um, and her kind of placidity to cool me when I'm about to get a little hot. And hopefully I can do the same for you. But I'm really thankful for everything that you are able to contribute to us and have been just an awesome team media, so. I'm really, really excited to nominate you, if you'll take it, to be the vice chair for 2026. Do we have a second?

Second.

Seconded by Jahan. In that case, Alfar, could we please have a roll call?

Jahan Khabib? Aye. Michael McNeely?

Aye.

Amelia Abel.

Abstain.

Michael Catalan. Congratulations.

Thank you very much. Those are very kind words. I appreciate it.

Don't say things unless I mean them.

I in turn would like to nominate Michael to continue as chair for 2026. I am always grateful for his unfailing professionalism in the face of many conversations that I would not be able to maintain such professionalism for, and his even keel and deep institutional knowledge. Thank you for all of your leadership of the board in the last year, and I hope that others would also like you to continue.

By the way, in the background for half of these things, Amelia, I'm really doing this

You do a great job cropping the view so we can't see it.

I'm like Wilson in the cool time, just hiding behind the fence. Dated reference, sorry. I appreciate the kind words, Amelia.

Do we have a second?

Second as well. Go ahead, Michael.

Seconded by Michael. Could we please have a roll call of our...

Thank you all very much. It's been a wonderful 2025.

I can't wait to tackle this year with everybody. with some new folks who we can engage with in the city and see where we're at in the next few months. So with nothing further on the agenda at 7.14 p.m., the chairman moves to adjourn, seconded by Amelia. Can we have a roll call, please?

Jahan Habib? Aye. Michael Magnili? Aye. Amelia Aboff, Michael Capuano. Thank you, everybody.

Have a nice night.

Can I add one quick thing for Alvaro, real quick?

On the record?

Yeah, just I know you were thrown into the role as our liaison on short notice. And I am very grateful for how much you've picked that up and sort of very, without really missing a beat, jumped into that role. for this year. So thank you for your work in that. I'm really grateful for it. I know we all miss Steve, but you're doing a great job. And thank you.

Thank you. I will second that. I also want to say, I'm sorry for calling on Steve for two seconds. I did call Steve Risa for about a month and a half. So you're in good company.

No worries. Those are great shoes. So I don't mind at all. Great. Wonderful. Thank you all very much. Have a good night. Have a good night.