Planning Board

The Planning Board meeting addressed several property and development matters. The Board approved an ANR plan for 8 Noel Street, with staff and DPW confirming frontage requirements and the created lot recorded as non-buildable. The Board voted to send two City Council bills back with positive recommendations: Bill 2026-106 (to record a drainage access easement) and Bill 2026-107 (a utility maintenance easement). The Board approved the site plan and special permit for 84 Congress Street with two conditions: that garage/driveway access cannot be blocked by parked cars and that the final landscape/buffer planting plan be approved by OCED prior to installation.

Significant continued hearings and project discussions included 29 Water Street (wetlands/floodplain and historic preservation special permits), where staff recommended a payment-in-lieu approach for the locally-required affordable unit equating roughly to 4% of average sale prices; the Board asked staff to work with the applicant and return with a draft covenant and more refined proposal. The Board also continued review of the large redevelopment project at 9 and 9RR Oakland Street (historic preservation, affordable unit percentage request to reduce from 15% to 10%, parking waivers and peer-review findings) and continued several other applications including 30 Lake Attitash Road and an ADU proposal at 12 Oak Street. Public comments included requests for more detailed landscape plans and staged approvals for 84 Congress Street and general support for the 12 Oak Street ADU proposal.