SAUGUS — Scott Cameron of the Morin-Cameron group approached the Planning Board to represent Chris and Paul Kourkoulis, the owners of the former Continental Restaurant and the land known as 266, 266R, and 268 Broadway.
Cameron last approached the Board on Nov. 6, 2025, to present the parking lot expansion on the site that would support the new tenant of the restaurant.
“We left that meeting with a contentious component that we had on the plans in the form of some utility connections that we had proposed out to Broadway for water, sewer, and potential future extension of the site,” Cameron said.
Due to no current future plans for development of the site, it has been decided to remove that aspect from the project plans.
He stated that the application for the stormwater permit has been submitted, and the engineering department is working on getting estimates for a peer review.
“We have also been working on MassDOT and some FEMA-related work associated with the project… The other piece of it, there was an issue when we were doing some utility investigations, the existing sewer service from the building had collapsed,” he said.
Cameron said they are looking to replace or restore the sewer service.
One issue that arose during the meeting was that the Board did not have the updated plan, which is why they had not yet commented on the current plans being presented.
It was also noted that the Conservation Commission will need to be involved in looking at the site, to which Paul Kourkoulis said they’ve been in contact and have met with the Commission.
Board Chair John O’Brien said the Board had been notified of a recent flood at the property.
“That was the tenant. I guess they have to redo the entire sprinkler system at the restaurant, and I think they turned the valve to clear the system, and they refilled it. I think they left the valve open a little bit, and water was leaking out to Route 1,” Kourkoulis said.
Town Engineer Kevin Hallion said, “It seems to have happened twice after there’s been rain, so I don’t know if it’s a change, if it’s always happened that way, or there’s something between the clearing or the work inside.”
O’Brien asked if the site had been dug down on the interior.
“No, they actually filled the middle small dining room… it was actually dirt floor, and they filled it in… there’s been no excavation, there’s been fill,” Kourkoulis said.
The Board noted that the peer review would look into all of this, especially with the wetlands.
“They are shallow. There’s no doubt about it… They’re shallow now. We have a flood plane we’re balancing, so we’re doing flood plane management… we’re creating more flood storage with part of this,” Cameron said.
He noted that it was a known area that floods.
At the end of the meeting, the Board voted to obtain Tetra Tech to do a peer review on the project, which was unanimously agreed on.
