610 Lincoln Street (ZB-2026-059)

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions plus the posted agenda; names, figures and vote tallies may be misheard.

What: Zoning Board of Appeals petition ZB-2026-059 for 610 Lincoln Street, a used car dealership in a vacant commercial building.
Where it stands: approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals 5-0 on 2026-07-20: special permits for the used car dealership and for parking and landscaping relief, with four waivers and staff conditions (per auto-captions).
Next: closing or screening the eastern curb cut and marking parking away from the sidewalk; the abutter's easement dispute is a private matter with city inspectors reviewing the stairs and deck history.

Petitioner: Hasan Almaola.
Present use: vacant commercial building with associated parking.
Zone: BL-1.0 (Business, Limited) and the Water Resource Protection Overlay District (GP-3).
Purpose: operate a used car dealership and make associated site improvements.

Special Permit: motor vehicle/trailer/boat sales, rental use in BL-1.0 (Art. IV, Sec. 2, Table 4.1, Business Use No. 15).
Special Permit: to modify the parking dimensional, layout, and/or landscaping requirements, loading requirements, and/or the number of required parking spaces (Art. IV, Sec. 7.A.2).

Applicant (Hasan Almaola, as heard) and a team member: sales-only dealership for 12 vehicles by appointment, Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., two employees, no repairs, downward lighting. The site was a restaurant until about 2017; an earlier dealer operated without a permit and the applicant leased the lot believing it was approved.
Staff (Amy Beth, surname garbled): relief needed for the landscape buffer (pavement to the lot line instead of 5 ft), driveway design, and a curb cut of 36.8 ft where 30 ft is the maximum. The applicant agreed to close the eastern curb cut and mark a no-parking area in front of the sidewalk; the board accepted large planters (or a removable chain) rather than a fence.
Abutter: the owner of 608 Lincoln Street said an easement for a three-tier stair serves as emergency access to his home and asked that parking not block it, noted utility pipes beside the building, and said the prior illegal dealer blocked access. The applicant said it would cooperate.
Staff and board: the stair and deck began as an encroachment on a past plan, are a private easement matter, and the city does not enforce private easements; an Inspectional Services official said the department will revisit the long-standing issue. The chair said the board's only role is that this application does not obstruct the easement.
Waivers: four, granted. Vote: 5-0.

Approved 5-0 on 2026-07-20 subject to conditions on pages 3 to 4 of the staff memo.
The easement and stair dispute with 608 Lincoln Street continues outside this case.

About 32 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-07-20 - Zoning Board of Appeals	32

2026-07-20 - Zoning Board of Appeals - Public hearing. Used car dealership special permit and parking special permit approved 5-0 with four waivers. An abutting owner raised an easement and stair serving 608 Lincoln Street; board treated it as private but asked the applicant to keep access clear, and staff said Inspectional Services will revisit the old stair and deck. Public hearing deadline was 8/30/2026.