Just Salad looking to come to Needham
A New York-based fast-casual restaurant chain plans to open its first Massachusetts location at 669 Highland Ave., the site formerly occupied by Three Squares restaurant that closed in 2020.
Just Salad, which has more than 60 locations nationally, applied to the town Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) for relief from certain parking requirements to facilitate operations. With a focus on “everyday health and everyday sustainability,” it will offer both dine-in and takeout services.
The ZBA will hold a public hearing on the request on July 20. Just Salad is seeking to waive “strict adherence with off-street parking requirements; strict adherence to parking plan and design requirements and any other applicable sections of the By-Law.”
The Planning Board raised no objections to the request at its Tuesday meeting.
Quiet Zone Working Group
In its initial meeting on Tuesday, the town’s Quiet Zone Working Group set the goal of bringing a recommendation to next spring’s Town Meeting on how to proceed — if at all — on a comprehensive plan to address noise and safety concerns at the six commuter rail crossings in town.
The group was established following a vote at Town Meeting (TM) in May. TM appropriated $100,000 to study the merits of creating a town-wide Quiet Zone, most of which will be spent on engaging a consulting firm.
At its Tuesday meeting, the committee laid the groundwork to send out an RFP (Request for Proposals) before the end of the month to hire an engineering consultant to update a Quiet Zone study the town completed in 2015. The goal is to have the consultant on board before the end of September.
The working group consists of Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick (an ex officio member) along with five others appointed by the Select Board:
- Marianne Cooley from the Select Board
- John Connolly from the Finance Committee
- Lars Unhjem from Safer Quieter Needham
- Justin McCullen from the Mobility Planning and Coordination Committee
- Duncan Allen, town representative to the MBTA Advisory Board
Planning Board makes four appointments to HoNe
On Tuesday the Planning Board made its four allotted appointments to the nine-member Housing Needham Advisory Group (HoNe).
Established jointly by the Select Board and the Planning Board, HoNe will lead the town’s community engagement process as it works to meet its Dec. 31, 2024, deadline to comply with the MBTA Communities Law. Among other things, the law requires the 177 communities in the MBTA service area to have at least one zoning district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right.
Two of the Planning Board-allotted positions were for its own members, and the board voted unanimously to appoint Natasha Espada and Jeanne McKnight – both of whom also represented the Planning Board on last year’s Housing Plan Working Group.
There were six applicants for the board’s other two appointed slots, which seeks individuals with the credentials of an architect, land use planner, land use attorney or real estate developer.
The board voted unanimously to appoint Ron Ruth, a former Planning Board member and real estate attorney. After considerable discussion on the merits of choosing either a land use planner or developer for the second seat, the board voted 3-2 to appoint William Lovett, executive director of real estate development at Claremont Companies, a Bridgewater-based real estate investment, development, and asset management firm.
The other HoNe members are:
- John Connolly from the Finance Committee
- Heidi Frail and Kevin Keane from the Select Board
- Michael Diener, citizen-at-large appointed by the Select Board
The Select Board has yet to appoint a resident who is a renter to complete the board composition and is still actively accepting resident applications for this seat.
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