We hope the commitment Sarah Narcus and Ellen Basch said Peabody city officials made to them will be kept on Sept. 9 when the daughter-and-mother business team go before the City Council to have some of their 16 conditions of operations modified.
Narcus and Basch operate Olio, a 43 Main St. business that won accolades from wedding and event planning industry publications within a year of opening in 2019. When COVID-19 sent their business into a nosedive in March 2020, the pair kept their business afloat, determined to remain on Main Street as a commercial presence.
They will ask councilors on Sept. 9 to amend their February 2018 council-approved special permit to allow them to operate events until midnight instead of 10:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and ask for other permit modifications including ones related to idling vehicles and smoking.
Narcus said Ward 2 Councilor Peter McGinn told her that operation conditions originally specified for Olio by the council could be reexamined “if we needed to.”
“We were told, ‘this is how it works in Peabody,'” Narcus said.
We hope the council follows through on that assurance and grants Olio’s request to modify conditions to, in Narcus’ words, “…put us in line with other downtown special permits.”
Peabody’s Community Development Authority committed $480,000 to help Narcus and Basch start their business. They combined that amount with $1 million from the Small Business Administration to turn a former vacant downtown building into a successful venue space.
Narcus and her mother sound like they are looking for nothing more than a fair shake when it comes to asking the council for permit modifications. We hope councilors, specifically McGinn, agree.
