Millis planning board approves special permit for 16 Lavender Street office renovation

The Town of Millis Planning Board on Tuesday approved a special permit with standard conditions to allow renovation of the existing building at 16 Lavender Street into office space.

The board closed a continued public hearing and voted to approve the special permit after the applicant and their designer described revisions requested by the planning board. The application, submitted by Santiago Santos of Santos Hardwood Floor, seeks site plan approval under the Millis zoning bylaw provisions for mixed-use developments and services.

The applicant’s representative, Nick Kelling of Lehi Design, told the board the updated site plan adds curb stops for all parking spaces, repairs or replaces the wooden rear fence as needed, and adds an externally mounted, non-illuminated freestanding sign that conforms with local sign regulations. Two rear building-mounted signs will identify employee parking. A photometric plan shows motion-sensor building-mounted lighting designed to avoid light spill onto adjacent properties.

Kelling said Beta Group (the town’s peer reviewer) completed a review and that the applicant had addressed comments in Beta’s July 11 letter. He said the Board of Health and the fire department had no outstanding issues. The project team also submitted a special permit application to the Zoning Board of Appeals; that matter will be heard later this month, Kelling said.

After discussion, Chair Richard Nichols moved to close the public hearing; a second was recorded and the board voted in favor. The board then voted to approve the special permit subject to the planning board’s standard conditions; the approval will be signed and returned to the applicant. The decision and associated documents were to be delivered to the applicant following the meeting.

Why it matters: the site is a conversion of a previously institutional building to office use in Millis’s mixed-use zone. Approval clears the primary discretionary local land-use approvals the applicant needs to proceed to permitting and building‑permit stages, subject to the planning board’s standard conditions and any Zoning Board of Appeals actions.

Planning staff note the approved plans and the endorsed decision will be filed with the town clerk and posted on the planning board webpage as required under the notice for the public hearing.

What’s next: the applicant said they will follow up with the town by email, and the project may proceed to building permitting and the ZBA process as noted in the decision.