Chelsea ZBA approves Flatiron battery storage special permit with conditions

The Chelsea Zoning Board of Appeals voted to approve a special permit and related variance for an Energy Storage LLC project on Eastern Avenue after city reviewers and the applicant agreed on additional conditions.

Flatiron representatives John Poor and Alex Mathis told the board they had completed a peer review process (Jensen Hughes) and revised emergency-response and hazard-mitigation plans with input from Fire Risk Alliance and the city’s fire department. Poor said the team had advanced design work, reached a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with the City Council and was finalizing a host-community agreement with the city manager.

Planning staff told the board they were satisfied with the peer review, characterizing the consultant’s comments as clarifications rather than substantive objections. The planning department recommended approval with conditions that require final design review, DPW sign-off on public-work concerns, a recorded decision, and submission of a decommissioning plan prior to occupancy.

Members of the public including representatives from Ironworkers Local 7 and the Carpenters Union spoke in support of the project; Tom Ward of Ironworkers Local 7 told the board he would “follow this throughout” and that the contractor had performed due diligence. Hector Rivera, business representative with the Carpenters Union, said the union was “in full support of this project.”

Board members discussed remaining technical items and the timing of an option-to-purchase that the applicant said expires in December. The board made approval contingent on the articulated planning and public-safety conditions and adopted the motion by voice vote.

The decision requires the applicant to complete outstanding design and safety documentation to the satisfaction of the Departments of Permitting and Land Use and the Fire Department; the permit also carries the standard recording and successor-conditions noted by planning staff.