Needham Zoning Board Unanimously Approves All Three Items at June Meeting

NEEDHAM — June 18, 2026 — Needham Zoning Board unanimously approves affordable housing permit change, accessibility variance, and two-family reconstruction at June 18 meeting. Acting Chair Howard Goldman led the three-item session, starting with the Needham Housing Authority's request to delete a single underground-utilities condition from its 1980 Chapter 40B Comprehensive Permit — clearing the way for a roughly $20 million renovation of 26 deeply affordable apartments at 22-46 Seabed's Way. The board was told that above-ground installation on five poles would save roughly $110,000, protect an existing maple tree canopy from trench damage, and keep an already-approved Eversource design on schedule; the Planning Board, which had initially raised objections, reversed course and issued a no-comment letter two days before the hearing. The board also waived the $200 application fee. Next, the board granted a variance reducing the front setback for a new attached garage at 58 Helen Road from 25 feet to 20 feet for the Supple family, whose daughter Delaney requires a power wheelchair and an accessible van — a setup made hazardous by the existing driveway's 13 percent slope and persistent winter icing caused by the shadow of Bird's Hill. Finally, attorney George Genta Jr. presented a century of assessor, census, and poll-tax records documenting continuous two-family occupancy at 74-76 Norfolk Street, winning a special permit for 74 Norfolk LLC to demolish the 1914-era structure and replace it with a code-compliant two-family and two detached single-car garages.