Needham Planning Board Pulls Two Zoning Articles, Continues Chabad Hearing to June

NEEDHAM -- April 28, 2026, Needham Planning Board continues Chabad center hearing, unanimously withdraws two zoning articles from Town Meeting warrant. At its April 28 meeting, the board continued a public hearing on the proposed Chabad center and rabbi's residence at 1195 Central Avenue to June 2 at 7 p.m., setting a statutory decision deadline of July 28, after hearing competing engineering testimony on stormwater management. Civil engineer Brian Nelson of Metro West Engineering, retained by abutting neighbors Rob and Gina Bradley at 1177 Central Avenue, identified a less-than-five-foot setback between an infiltration pond and the building foundation, less-than-two-foot separation from the pond floor to seasonal high groundwater, and a drainage pipe running roughly three feet from the northerly property line with limited frost cover, findings he said conflicted with MassDEP stormwater policy. The applicant's engineer, Carlos Scolte of CEC, said the team was redesigning the system and would comply with the town's updated stormwater bylaw once it takes formal effect. Members Justin McCullough and Eric Greenberg called for detailed vehicle-count estimates across small, medium, and large events before any decision, noting the application's own materials reference a need for 82 parking spaces against 10 on-site spots backed by a non-binding letter of support for use of the adjacent Newman Elementary School lot. The board also voted unanimously to withdraw Articles 10 and 11, a neighborhood-averaging front-yard setback formula and a building height article, from the special Town Meeting warrant, citing unresolved policy concerns about unintended consequences of the averaging approach.