Needham Planning Board Declines Comment on Private Kendrick Street Fitness Facility Application

NEEDHAM -- May 6, 2026, Needham Planning Board votes no comment on private fitness facility, prepares for Town Meeting ADU articles. The board voted unanimously Wednesday to offer no objection to a Zoning Board of Appeals application for a private indoor athletic facility at 60 Kendrick Street, a proposed conversion of roughly 10,500 square feet of former warehouse space, previously occupied by Excel Gymnastics, into a closed fitness facility for a small group of families with occupancy capped at 20 people. Chair Eric Greenberg and members found the site's 80 existing parking spaces adequate given the limited use, despite a code requirement of 139 spaces. The ZBA will hear the application May 21. The board then ran through anticipated public questions on ADU and affordable housing articles headed to Special Town Meeting, focusing on the 10 percent affordable unit requirement, state preemption limits on local ADU regulation, and the distinction between dimensional rules for new-construction ADUs versus additions to existing built-out properties.