Cunningham proposes dual parking decks
Published on August 16th, 2006
Stoneham, MA - An attorney for the Love's Furniture redevelopers aired a proposal before the town's Planning Board last week that would tack an additional two-decks onto a planned parking garage at the mixed-use property.
According to Burlington-based Riemer and Braunstein attorney Mark Vaughan, who appeared before the special permit authority to tweak the former 82-spot parking authorization granted over a-year-ago, he expected that local developers Joseph Cunningham and Patrick Keohane would file an application for an amended special permit within the coming months.
In a unanimous vote, the Planning Board agreed last week to allow the Residences at Stoneham Square builders to reconfigure their previously approved parking arrangement to allow for a mix of satellite and on-site parking.
"What we are proposing is to have a parking garage that would be in the rear of the property along Spencer Street. This would compose of a total of 66-spaces," said Vaughan, explaining that 39 of the spots would be located at grade-level, with the remaining 27 resting on an attached parking deck.
"The proposed satellite spaces would be provided here," the Burlington attorney added, pointing to the adjacent RCN building, another Cunningham-owned property where 16 parking spots would be slated for the residential component.
In the special permit originally approved by the Planning Board, the pair had been allowed to proceed with either an 82-space parking garage or an off-site arrangement within 600-feet of the structure.
However, the authorization included a stipulation that if a mix of both garage and satellite parking was to be utilized, the Planning Board would need to weigh-in on the matter.
The Residences at Stoneham Square, which has ground-level retail facilities topped by 48 luxury condominiums, has been heralded by local officials as a marquee feature of downtown Stoneham - especially given the property's former notoriety as the "ugly" Love's Furniture building in town.
Despite that praise, some Selectmen and neighboring residents have raised concern about a perceived shortage of parking at the property, specifically since additional spaces would have been mandatory if the pre-existing structure didn't benefit from grandfather exemptions in the zoning code.
According to Vaughan, his clients were aware of that shortcoming, and were in the process of finalizing a proposal to attach two more parking levels onto the approved garage.
"Our desired end-result would be that this structure be built in such a fashion so as to accommodate for a vertical expansion of two additional levels of parking," commented the attorney, predicting that a total of 153 parking-spots could be contained within the garage. "I think in the months to come, you'll see an application before you to do this."
According to Planning Board Kevin Dolan, he considered any additional parking at the site to be a benefit for the redevelopment and Stoneham Square area as a whole.
But the 153-spot total struck Dolan as far exceeding any parking demand for the property's uses.
"I agree with you. You can't have too much parking in the Square. But I'm guessing that those 153 spaces can't be just for Loves," the Planning Board member opined. "I think if anything, it's an improvement to our approval."
"Their is also the thought for expansion [of the residential uses]. There's the RCN building next door, but it might not always be so," responded Keohane.
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