The Planning Committee opened a public hearing on the Both Locks mixed-use application for 117/119 and 121 February Avenue and heard a presentation from counsel and the project team on May 13.

Applicant presentation
Charam Godley, land-use counsel for the applicant, said the project was revised down from 30 dwelling units to 24 (13 one-bedroom units and 11 two-bedroom units) and now proposes seven internal commercial spaces plus nine commercial spaces off-site under an executed lease. The applicant said they provided a response-to-comments memo, site and landscape plans, lighting plans, sewer-permit reports and a revised traffic and parking study that reflected coordination with the Department of Transportation and National Grid. The submission also included sign-off from code enforcement and the fire marshal on fire apparatus access.

Parking and lease term questions
Board members and commenters focused discussion on the nine remote parking spaces the applicant identified for commercial tenants. The applicant said the executed lease is for 10 years; some board members questioned whether that length satisfied an earlier expectation of a 15-year commitment or a life-of-project obligation. Developer Luke Burrow told the board negotiations were ongoing and that the project team expected to secure lease options or, failing that, to buy spaces.

Planning staff and the applicant noted a mechanism to tie remote parking to site approval: the board can place a plat note or a note on the approved plans and include a condition in the resolution that would make the availability of those leased spaces an enforceable condition of approval. The applicant suggested plat notes and resolution language could require the commercial spaces to be available for the “life of the project” and that code enforcement could issue notices or citations if requirements were not met.

Board action and next steps
The board opened the public hearing and did not vote on project approval at the May 13 meeting. The applicant requested that any minor outstanding items be included as conditions; the board asked for clarified language tying remote parking to the approval, and for any draft resolution to be posted prior to the next meeting so the public could review it.

Context and outstanding items
The board and applicant also discussed coordination with DOT on curb cuts, ADA-compliant curb ramp design, a revised sewer design and a trash-pad detail requested by the Department of Public Works. The board asked the applicant to provide final lease documentation and proposed plan notes tying parking to the project before a final decision.