Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Development Gorham topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Developers present 6‑unit Gorham Street plan; planning board continues review to May 5 after staff concerns
Summary
LML Investments and its engineer presented plans for two townhouse buildings totaling six units at 558 Gorham Street. Staff from multiple city departments flagged concerns about drainage, parking, curb cut width, snow storage and fire access. The applicant agreed to address comments and the board continued the matter to May 5.
LML Investments LLC and its engineer introduced a proposal April 7 to build six residential units in two townhouse buildings at 558 Gorham Street; the Lowell Planning Board continued the special-permit and site-plan application to May 5 to allow the applicant time to respond to multiple department comments.
Casey Ferreira, senior civil designer with Howard Stein Hudson Associates, said the site totals about 10,340 square feet (roughly one-quarter acre) and currently contains a 1,447-square-foot building and approximately 5,659 square feet of pavement. The proposal calls for two buildings: a four-unit building to the north and a two-unit building to the south, for a total of six units. Each unit is shown with a two‑car garage under the building except Unit 4, which would have no garage, and the applicant showed five additional surface spaces for a proposed total of 15 spaces (the UMU standard noted a 14‑space requirement).
Staff concerns cited in an April 1 review and discussed at the hearing included drainage design and the ownership of an offsite catch basin; practical access and protection of proposed snow‑storage areas; unclear snow‑storage shield and planting conflicts; fire-department access (sweep-path analysis not yet provided); curb-cut width shown at 32 feet where the UMU maximum is 25 feet; the siting of two parallel spaces that appear to block garage access for Units 5 and 6; and potential coordination with a planned MassDOT roundabout at the end of the connector.
Ferreira said the team will work with city departments and resubmit revised plans and reports that address each comment. "We will be submitting revised plan sets, revised reports that respond to each and every one of these comments," he said. He told the board he would coordinate with stormwater, transportation, fire and engineering staff and examine alternatives for the curb cut and the two parallel spaces; he said the team did not intend to request variances, but would revise the plans so they do not require them if city departments find the current layout unacceptable.
Board discussion and public comment
Board members expressed design and siting concerns, including how the facades will read from Gorham Street, whether the buildings look like a sideways insertion into a single‑ and two‑family neighborhood, parking layout and the desirability of additional street trees or fronting landscaping. Several members said they would like colored elevations and a more residential street-facing treatment if the applicant keeps the building orientation proposed.
Several departments’ written comments were read into the record and summarized by the chair; Ferreira acknowledged the list and agreed to return with revisions. The applicant also said he would contact MassDOT to determine whether the proposed roundabout work would affect sidewalk and curb construction on Gorham.
Board action
At the applicant’s request and with the board’s agreement, the board voted to continue the matter to the May 5 Planning Board meeting so departments could review revised plans and the applicant could provide additional analyses (sweep-path, drainage clarifications, revised curb cut, landscaping and snow-storage details).
