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ZBA approves revised parking expansion at 19 Centennial Drive after planning-board sign-off
Summary
The Peabody Zoning Board of Appeals approved a revised plan to add parking spaces at 19 Centennial Drive, accepting a reduced landscape intrusion and an additional 11 parking spaces after the Planning Board concluded the new plan was substantially different from an earlier denial.
The Peabody Zoning Board of Appeals on Sept. 15 approved a variance allowing an increase in patient parking at 19 Centennial Drive after the applicant revised a prior plan to minimize intrusion into a landscaped frontage.
Attorney John R. Kelty, representing 19 Centennial Drive LLC, told the board the latest plan avoids removing landscaped buffers that run parallel to Summit Street, instead cutting into a smaller landscaped area on the curve of Centennial Drive. Kelty said the revision improves site distance by removing overgrown vegetation and yields an additional 11 parking spaces compared with the existing layout; the petitioner will have a total of 171 spaces plus five van/ambulance spaces under the new plan.
Kelty said he previously presented a different plan that the board denied; the Planning Board reviewed the revised design and voted that it was substantially different enough to allow the petitioner to reapply. At the hearing multiple board members said the revised plan addressed the earlier concerns and that they had no safety objections.
After public comment closed, a motion to approve carried on a roll call vote: Mister O’Brien, Mister Gilbert, Mister Osborn, Mister Bakula and Miss Golugy voted yes. The board’s approval authorizes the petitioner to reconfigure pavement and landscaping consistent with the plan submitted at the hearing; the decision will be filed with the city clerk and is subject to the normal 20-day appeal period.
The applicant and board discussed site distances at the Summit/Centennial curve and removal of vegetation that had been limiting sightlines; the board noted the revised plan avoids intruding on the larger landscaped strip previously proposed for pavement removal.
