Zoning Board of Appeals, February 24, 2021

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

economic developmenthousinglegalplanning and zoningpublic comment

Present: Alfred Gravel (chair, remote); Lisa Normandin (board secretary, remote); James Spezikowski (member, remote); Hans Wintrup (member, remote); David Blatt (member, remote); Patrick Callahan (member, remote). Names are the caption model’s hearing and may be wrong.

Votes

1. ▶ 24:33Approve the special permit for the contractor's yard at 305 Leominster-Shirley Road, subject to conditions from the fire department and board of health. — moved by Jim (James Spezikowski), as heardpassed (roll call; four ayes heard plus the chair, who announced the permit granted)
2. ▶ 1:12:08Grant the special permit for townhouses at 711 Mass Ave, with a continuous stone wall in front, the one visitor parking space moved, and a note that no zoning relief is given. — moved by David Blatt, as heardpassed (roll call; ayes heard from all members and the chair, who announced the permit granted)

And 1 procedural: adjourn. (▶ 1:22:33).

The money

1. ▶ 7:53Financing of the property acquisition and rehabilitation (305 Leominster-Shirley Road)

   The applicant said financing for the purchase and improvements was in process. The purchase is contingent on the special permit.

2. ▶ 12:06Outstanding taxes on 305 Leominster-Shirley Road

   The tax collector reported real estate and personal property taxes due on the property.

3. ▶ 34:16Sewer privilege fees for the townhouse project

   The sewer department noted the site was assessed for three units and the plan is for eight, so additional privilege fees will be due. The applicant must go before the sewer commission.

Settled without a vote

• ▶ 25:57Special permit for the contractor's yard at 305 Leominster-Shirley Road granted, with the standard post-decision instructions read.
• ▶ 1:13:33Special permit for eight townhouses at 711 Mass Ave granted, with the standard post-decision instructions read.
• ▶ 1:08:04The applicant agreed to make the front stone wall continuous and to turn one visitor parking space parallel to the road for a bigger setback.
• ▶ 1:20:49The chair encouraged the abutter to bring screening and glare concerns to the Planning Board's site plan review.

Documents and exhibits

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. ▶ 24:12Chair asked for public comment on the contractor's yard petition; none came.
2. ▶ 1:11:26Chair asked for public comment on the townhouse petition; none was seen at that point.
3. ▶ 1:15:38After the vote, an abutter on Mass Ave said vegetative screening conditions on past projects were not maintained or enforced. He asked for follow-up enforcement and raised concern about headlight glare and the visitor parking space at the dangerous curve. — a speaker, abutter

Where the time went

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

• planning and zoning78 min · 93%
• housing47 min · 56%
• economic development19 min · 23%
• public comment11 min · 13%

The whole meeting, in order

1. ▶ 0:00Meeting notice, remote participation, roll call and hearing procedureinformational · 4:49 long
2. ▶ 4:49Reading of the contractor's yard application and department comments (305 Leominster-Shirley Road)informational · 7:58 long · planning and zoning, economic development
3. ▶ 12:47Applicant presentation and board questions on the contractor's yard: storage, hours, traffic, conditionsinformational · 11:25 long · planning and zoning, economic development
4. ▶ 24:12Public comment, motion and roll call vote on the contractor's yard permitvoted: permit granted · 3:35 long · planning and zoning, public comment
5. ▶ 27:47Reading of the townhouse application and department memos (711 Mass Ave)informational · 6:49 long · planning and zoning, housing
6. ▶ 34:36Applicant presentation and board questions on the eight-unit townhouse project: setbacks, wetlands, parking, glare, stone wallinformational · 36:50 long · planning and zoning, housing
7. ▶ 1:11:26Motion and vote on the townhouse special permitvoted: permit granted · 3:32 long · planning and zoning, housing
8. ▶ 1:14:58Abutter comment after the vote on enforcement of screening conditions and glareinformational; referred to the Planning Board process · 7:35 long · public comment, planning and zoning
9. ▶ 1:22:33Adjournmentvoted · 1:01 long

What the captions could not carry

• The exact roll call count on the contractor's yard vote was only partly captioned (ayes heard from several members).
• Whether the second roll call included all five members is inferred from the chair's announcement that the permit was granted.
• Some applicant statements about parcels to be acquired from an abutter were garbled in the captions.

Written 2026-10-28 by scripts/write_recording_minutes.py (sonnet) from sources/data/youtube-transcripts/zoning-board-of-appeals/2021-02-24-TggNH8X-A9A.json — 2,198 caption segments, sha256 1faf1d739ccf…. All recorded meetings.