972 Main Street Special Permit and Setback Reductions
Proposal to reduce rear setback and allow tandem parking raises concerns over residential buffers, sidewalk impacts, and prior commitments to neighborhood protections.
The 972 Main Street special permit request seeks tandem parking and a reduced five-foot rear setback. The board first questioned whether design revisions were significant modifications on May 12 and later continued the June 9 hearing after concerns over buffers, sidewalks, and prior commitments.
The 972 Main Street proposal first surfaced at the May 12, 2026 planning board meeting when the board examined whether revisions to a previously approved special permit constituted significant modifications.
Applicants maintained that reductions in balcony sizes and setback adjustments were required only to satisfy building department lot coverage rules and were not material.
Board members instead concluded that the architectural design had changed so substantially that the project appeared to be an entirely different building.
On June 9 the board took up the special permit and site plan review for tandem parking and a five-foot rear setback abutting a residential district.
The applicant offered to meet accessibility standards while preserving the previously approved architectural style.
Residents and board members raised questions about tandem parking viability, sidewalk width reduction from twelve to eight feet, the requirement that the buffer remain paved, and whether the five-foot zone violated earlier commitments to protect residential buffers.
The board continued the hearing to June 16 to allow the applicant to address these parking and buffer concerns.
The applicant is expected to return on June 16 with revisions addressing tandem parking and buffer solutions.
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