Framingham Planning Board Meeting – September 5, 2025
Framingham Planning Board Meeting – September 5, 2025
The Framingham Planning Board convened on September 5, 2025, at 7:03 PM, chaired by Ted Cosgrove, to conduct public hearings and routine business. The board approved minutes, made appointments, endorsed an Approval Not Required (ANR) plan, approved a sign application, and deliberated on two major site plan reviews and special permit applications. The meeting concluded with a discussion of future zoning workshops and updates on city planning projects.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the minutes from the August 7, 2025 planning board meeting unanimously.
- Appointed Chair Ted Cosgrove as the planning board representative to the Community Preservation Committee (unanimous).
- Appointed Joe Norton as the planning board representative to the Metro West Regional Collaborative (unanimous).
Discussion Items
- ANR for 120 and 128 Warren Road: Applicant Brian Nelson (Metro West Engineering) presented a parcel swap between two existing lots to adjust boundaries without creating new building lots. The board endorsed the plan unanimously after confirming the lots meet zoning requirements for frontage and access. A note was added that endorsement does not confirm zoning compliance.
- Sign Application for Plia Bowls at 1 Worcester Road (Shoppers World): Lauren from Viewpoint Sign Company presented a proposed wall sign for a new tenant. The board approved unanimously, noting that signage at Shoppers World is governed by a prior master special permit requiring planning board approval.
- Major Site Plan Review and Special Permit for Drive-Thru at 7084 Worcester Road (Bank of America): The applicant team (Stephen Midows, Nick Dewhurst, and property owner Riley) presented revised landscaping plans after board feedback from the July hearing. Extensive discussion focused on the Route 9 frontage: removal of three parking spaces, replacement of wooden guardrail, addition of a pedestrian walkway, and choice of edging materials. The board requested a concrete or granite curb instead of steel edging to withstand snowplows, a grass strip with rolled berm in the three-foot strip along the sidewalk, removal of all wooden guardrail on the property, and a pedestrian walkway connecting the Route 9 sidewalk to the bank entrance (subject to MassDOT approval). Chair Cosgrove agreed to assist with MassDOT permitting. Additionally, a board member requested replacing a honey locust tree with an Eastern red bud for native plant support, which was accepted. The board approved both the major site plan review and the special permit for the drive-thru (financial institution) unanimously, subject to the conditions to be documented by staff.
- Major Site Plan Review and Preliminary Subdivision for 92 Concord Street (Adaptive Reuse): Owner Vios Darakis (VTT Management) proposed converting upper two floors of a 1920s building from obsolete office space into 21 apartments (one-bedroom and two-bedroom units) over time. The project aims to address vagrancy issues by adding residential presence. Key discussion points: parking provided across multiple VTT-owned lots with stickers for tenants; security measures including key fob access and patrols; phased construction as office tenants vacate. The board noted a reduction from the theoretical 70-office parking spaces to about 31-42 spaces for 21 units, but accepted the arrangement given the adaptive reuse and the owner's parking assets. Affordable housing requirement: 13% (3 units) with the first affordable unit to be part of the first 10 constructed. The board voted unanimously to approve 21 units with this condition.
Key Outcomes
- Approval Not Required (ANR) for 120 and 128 Warren Road: Endorsed.
- Sign application for Plia Bowls: Approved.
- 7084 Worcester Road (Bank of America): Major site plan review and special permit approved unanimously, subject to conditions including: non-steel curbing along Route 9, grass strip with rolled berm, pedestrian walkway, removal of wooden guardrail, and replacement of honey locust with Eastern red bud. All subject to MassDOT approval where required (Chair to assist).
- 92 Concord Street: Major site plan review and preliminary subdivision/adaptive reuse approved unanimously for 21 units, with condition that 13% (3 units) be affordable, first affordable unit within first 10 constructed.
- Other Business: Board agreed to schedule a workshop on future zoning adjustments (short-term and long-term) for the next meeting. Staff provided updates on the Millwood project bond, open space plan, housing plan, and trail developments (Bruce Freeman, Upper Charles, Chris Walsh).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments from non-applicant parties were recorded during the meeting.
Meeting Transcript
The Framingham Planning Board is comprised of five members. The board reviews the wide range of applications for commercial and residential projects. The mission of the planning board is to ensure the projects increase quality of life, contribute to economic development, and are consistent with Framingham's character. The Framingham Planning Board is also responsible for enforcing and revising the zoning bylaws and developing and implementing the city's master plan. The following planning board meeting coverage is brought to you by the government channel, a service of the city of Framingham. We're gonna get started here. First, let me see if I can get rid of this nasty echo. Okay, that should do it. Let me just do a little introduction here on the evening. Good evening, everyone. My name is Ted Cosgrove, and I'm the chair of the City of Framingham Planning Board. This is an open meeting to the planning board and is being conducted in person and remotely. The hour being 7 o'clock, 703, Mr. McDorn. We'll we'll begin shortly with the matters designated in the agenda. Please note that this meeting is being recorded and that some attendees are participating by remote uh by video conference. Accordingly, please be aware that other participants or viewers may be able to see and hear you, and anything that you broadcast may be captured by the recording. If you do not wish to be seen, please please turn off your video. All the supporting materials for the night have been provided to the members of this body and should be available uh to anyone in the public on the planning board uh meeting portal. And it's uh the link is also included in the agenda for this evening. Uh so what I'm gonna do is um there the first item we're gonna go right down the agenda here tonight. Uh the first item of business is the planning board meetings from August 7th. Did everybody get a chance to review them? And are there any uh concerns or motion? To approve. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Uh and actually, before I go too far along, let me uh introduce our new associate member, Alciana Shaka. Welcome. Pleasure to be here. We're glad to have you here. It's nice to have a fifth person sitting at the table. She has to hit the button on her uh oh so when you'd like to speak, um pushing that turns the light green at the base. That lets you know that it's being broadcast and recorded as well. Thank you. Yeah, good. Uh so the next item uh is appointment of the planning board representative to the community preservation committee. Uh when we left last week, um there was a little bit of uh discussion about that, and I did uh mention, I think after the meeting to some folks that I would be uh interested and willing to be that person. Uh so um motion to I'll nominate myself. All right. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All right. Okay. Uh now moving on to the appointment of the uh planning board representative to the Metro West Regional Collaborative. Uh do we have any I would do that? Joe would be interested in doing that. Anyone else? Somebody already representative or is this new?
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