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ZBA continues 707 DuPont Street hearing after notification error; board to renotify additional abutters
Summary
The Board of Appeals continued the Feb. 11 hearing on a special permit for 707 DuPont Street (a gasoline station/motor vehicle service facility expansion) to March 4, 2025 after staff discovered some property owners within 300 feet were not included on the initial notice list; the board and applicant agreed to expanded mail notice.
The Board of Appeals continued a public hearing on Feb. 11 for an application by Norwood Gulf (case 25‑2) seeking a special permit to expand a preexisting nonconforming gasoline station at 707 DuPont (DuPont is recorded in the notice as 'DuPont / Ponsonp' in the hearing text) after community‑development staff identified a problem with the abutters list used for mailing.
Planning staff described the town’s usual practice of mailing notice to property owners within 300 feet of the subject parcel even though Massachusetts General Laws require notice of direct abutters and abutters to abutters; staff said the list prepared for the 707 DuPont case erroneously used only one of the property’s four parcels as the subject property and therefore omitted some of the additional 300‑foot notices the town customarily provides. The office prepared a corrected abutters list and recommended renoticing the additional 300‑foot properties; town counsel had advised that the board has discretion under its rules to treat all properties within 300 feet as parties of interest.
David Hearn, counsel for the applicant, told the board he learned of the error the day before and said the statutorily required abutters had been notified. Hearn said the applicant would accept a continuation to allow the town to renotify the additional parties. The board voted to continue the hearing to March 4, 2025 at 7 p.m. at the Norwood Senior Center with remote participation available.
No substantive testimony on the project’s merits took place at the Feb. 11 session because of the notification issue; the continuance will allow the community‑development office to mail corrected notices and provide the board and the public time to review the full list of interested parties.
