What was said

Zoning Board of Appeals, October 10, 2018

the recording · 1:38 long, about 12,792 words spoken · captions carried this meeting moderately well

lunenburgbudgetproject.org — written by the Lunenburg Budget Project, an independent tool for residents. Not affiliated with the Town of Lunenburg, the School Committee or the school district. The data this page is computed from: /data/recording-minutes/zoning-board-of-appeals/2018.json

The town published an agenda for this meeting. No minutes have been published; the recording is the only record, and what follows is a guide to it.

The short version

  1. ▶ 1:12:10The Zoning Board of Appeals granted a special permit for two-family use and a dimensional variation at 944 Mass Ave, with sewer and septic conditions.
  2. ▶ 44:30The board approved a village center special permit for a single-family house at 31 School Street.
  3. ▶ 1:35:24The board granted a dimensional permit for driveway slope at 406 Lancaster Ave, conditioned on emergency and commercial access before the house is built; the vote was not audible.
  4. ▶ 10:55The board granted a side-yard setback exception for the garage at 15 Woodland Drive.

Why it matters — our reading

  • The permits add a house and a two-family home in the village center, and abutters raised drainage, noise and notice concerns at the 31 School Street hearing.
  • The sewer and driveway conditions set what the owners must build before or alongside the projects, and the Lancaster Ave driveway repair may be a cost shared with a neighbor.

housingplanning and zoningpublic commentpublic safety

Present: Al Gravel (chair); Lisa Normandin (board secretary); James Betty Kazuki (member); Hans Winthrop (member); Paul Doherty (member); Pat Callahan (member). Names are the caption model’s hearing and may be wrong.

Votes

  1. ▶ 10:55Grant special permit for a ten-foot side-yard exception at the back corner of the garage at 15 Woodland Drive.passed
  2. ▶ 44:30Approve special permit in the village center district for a single-family home at 31 School Street.passed
  3. ▶ 1:12:10Grant special permit for two-family use in the village center district and a dimensional special permit at 944 Mass Ave, with condition of sewer connection and decommissioning the old septic system.passed
  4. ▶ 1:35:24Grant dimensional special permit for driveway slope at 406 Lancaster Ave, conditioned on the driveway being suitable for emergency and commercial use before building the house.not audible

The money

  1. ▶ 28:22Engineering costs at 31 School Street

    The applicant's representative said money had already been spent on engineering for the lot.

    as heard:ten fifteen thousand dollars

  2. ▶ 1:26:28Driveway repair cost at 406 Lancaster Ave

    An applicant described a paving estimate and a possible cost share with the neighbor who owns the driveway.

    as heard:$20,000

Settled without a vote

  • ▶ 1:12:51Board agreed to condition the 944 Mass Ave permit on connecting to municipal sewer and properly closing out the old septic system.
  • ▶ 1:32:35Board agreed to condition the Lancaster Ave permit on the driveway being suitable for emergency and commercial access before the house is built.

Documents and exhibits

The town’s minutes

The town has not published minutes for this meeting.

Heard in the recording

  • ▶ 1:45application for a special permitapplication or permit, shown
  • ▶ 4:16letter from the building inspectorletter or email, shown
  • ▶ 5:38abutters list and site planplan or drawing, shown
  • ▶ 21:14memo from the health agentmemo, shown
  • ▶ 1:19:05fire chief letter and photographsletter or email, shown

State law asks minutes to list the documents and exhibits used at a meeting (M.G.L. c.30A §22(a)). Names from the recording are the caption model’s hearing; the two sides are matched by name, by script, so a document named two different ways can be missed. A place to look, not a finding.

Public comment

  1. ▶ 31:16Spoke in favor of the 31 School Street house, as a resident, not as a selectman. — Robert E ever sold, 94 Main Street, as heard
  2. ▶ 32:02Asked where the 31 School Street lot is and whether it was separately titled. — David Devraj, 82 Highland Street, as heard, resident
  3. ▶ 33:06Neither for nor against the house; asked the board to consider the effect on future use of the old primary school. — Cohen Dwyer, 76 Main Street, as heard, architectural preservation district representative
  4. ▶ 34:31No objection to the house but concerned about drainage off the property damaging driveways. — Dave, 72 Leominster Road, as heard, abutter
  5. ▶ 37:17Concerned about property value, drainage, noise and not having been notified earlier. — Ana Clemente, 42 Leominster Road, as heard, resident
  6. ▶ 1:05:55Supported the 944 Mass Ave two-family as a resident, not as a selectman. — Robert de Brazil, 94 Main Street, as heard
  7. ▶ 1:06:35Supported the 944 Mass Ave renovation. — Bill Tyler, Graham Street, as heard, Historical Society member
  8. ▶ 1:07:37Supported the applicant's respect for the house's history. — Chuck Venezia, 1402 Mass Ave, as heard, Historical Society member
  9. ▶ 1:08:20Supported investment in the 944 Mass Ave property. — Jay taki, 72 Leominster Road, as heard
  10. ▶ 1:09:24Supported the permit and expected it to raise value. — David Wright, 950 Mass Ave, as heard, neighbor across the street
  11. ▶ 1:10:06Supported the plan to make the rear addition consistent with the historic house. — Cohen Dwyer, 76 Main Street, as heard, architectural preservation district commissioner

Where the time went

Minutes of recording by subject, from the topic spans below. A topic with two subjects counts toward both.

The whole meeting, in order

  1. ▶ 0:0015 Woodland Drive: garage side-yard setback special permitvoted; granted · 13:00 long · planning and zoning
  2. ▶ 14:3931 School Street: single-family house in village center districtvoted; granted · 31:51 long · planning and zoning, housing
  3. ▶ 47:04944 Mass Ave: two-family use and dimensional special permitvoted; granted with sewer condition · 27:26 long · planning and zoning, housing
  4. ▶ 1:15:25406 Lancaster Ave: driveway slope special permitvoted; granted with driveway condition · 22:35 long · planning and zoning, public safety

What the captions could not carry

  • Individual vote counts were not captured for any of the four votes.
  • The Lancaster Ave vote result is not clear in the captions, only 'all those in favor'.

These are ours, and they are not the record

OUR MINUTES OF A RECORDING, written by a language model from machine captions. Two derived layers stand between this file and the meeting. Cite the video at the timestamp, never this file. Figures are as heard and may be wrong; names may be wrong; where the town published minutes, those are the record.

Written 2026-11-05 by scripts/write_recording_minutes.py (sonnet) from sources/data/youtube-transcripts/zoning-board-of-appeals/2018-10-10-Y5WwBxO3xWs.json — 2,121 caption segments, sha256 1d1540be5232…. All recorded meetings.

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What changed

Version 15 — updated September 20, 2026