SAUGUS — The Planning Board held a public hearing regarding 24 Broadway, where a cannabis store is set to be located.
Project Engineer Ian Ainslie of Meisner Brem Corporation and Attorney Jonathan Stark-Sachs of Johnson and Borenstein represented the applicant.
Ainslie noted that the applicant has already received the special permit needed from the Board of Selectmen to open a cannabis retail store.
“Right now, the existing site has a house that was removed to the foundation about four or five years ago. So there used to be a single-family house there that was removed,” Ainslie said.
He said the current proposal is to construct a 3,000-square-foot commercial building. To do this, they would need to install a new two-way curb cut on the north side of the property.
“We have two-way travel throughout the site, so it’s a 24-foot-wide access way all the way through, so cars can back up and travel in both directions. We’re proposing to have shared parking with 30 Broadway,” he said.
The abutting property at 30 Broadway is the Army Barracks.
Chair John O’Brien asked if there was a letter from the abutting property owner allowing this. Ainslie said there was no letter, but that the owner was actually at the meeting.
Ainslie continued that the site had sufficient parking for the project and that when speaking to the abutting owner, there was interest in creating the cross-access to the properties.
A Lynn waterpipe is also located on the property. Ainslie said the property’s design allows them to stay away from the pipe.
“We have the building outside of that. We have any utilities outside of that. We have some paving on top, so there are some parking spaces and travel ways that are on top of that. We expect to be talking to Lynn Water and showing this to them and making sure they’re OK with it,” he said.
An underwater chamber system has been designed to meet the Massachusetts Stormwater Standards, and the property is below the Town’s threshold of an acre for the stormwater permit.
Due to a wetland being in the back of the property, the group will need to go to the Conservation Commission for a permit. Approval is also needed from MassDOT for the driveway being put in.
Ainslie went into the history of the property, saying that the last project that was supposed to happen there was for a 5,000-square-foot building that was set to be a flooring company. He said that the project had received site plan approval and conservation approval, and that they were attempting to follow that plan.
“The last thing I’ll say is when we were approved by the Select Board (Board of Selectmen) for the special permit, they included a condition. There was a lot of talk about the access in the curb cut in the front that was just a point of concern for some of the Selectmen. So they conditioned the special permit to require peer review and to have the appropriate departments in peer review look at that access and make sure it’s safe and up to engineering standards,” he said.
O’Brien asked if there was a turnaround radius for the fire department yet, and Ainslie said they would get it done. O’Brien also asked if the situation was still in land court, and Ainslie responded that they were out of land court, as that had been for the special permit.
“I would say we were about to go back to land court over the zoning variances, and then we wound up settling with the Zoning Board. And then they voted to grant the variances,” Ainslie said.
Stark-Sachs explained that the zoning case was closed out and that the Zoning Board voted to grant the variances at their last meeting.
“We’re waiting on the written decision and the appeal period to run to finalize the variances. I’ve been in communication with the zoning clerk, and those should be forthcoming,” Stark-Sachs said.
O’Brien said that decision would help the Board so that they “don’t get into it down the road.”
Ainslie said the hope is to work with each board to make the necessary decisions so everything is properly approved.
O’Brien said the one thing they needed before moving forward was a letter signed from the abutting property owner to ensure there is an agreement between the two properties.
