Stoneham Board of Appeals Approves Greenhouse Shed and Central Street Townhouse Variances

STONEHAM -- October 30, 2025, Stoneham Board of Appeals unanimously approved two variance applications and stepped back from a long-running stormwater dispute at its October 30 meeting. The board voted 5-0 to grant variances to Burton S. Visnick of 2 O'Grady Circle, allowing construction of a two-story greenhouse shed with a 300-square-foot footprint and a height of 24 feet, 7 inches, both exceeding limits in Stoneham Town Code Chapter 15. The board also voted 5-0 to approve a variance at 72 Central Street, allowing applicants to replace a vacant, deteriorated building with a three-unit residential townhouse roughly 30 feet tall in a Central Business zone that requires ground-floor commercial use; approval was conditioned on remediation of Japanese knotweed encroaching onto an abutting property and photographic documentation of the existing structure before demolition. Chair Tobin Shulman noted his reservations about the commercial zoning waiver, "I'd rather see the full-blown to the property lines commercial on the first floor", but joined the unanimous vote, citing the property's three-year vacancy and physical deterioration. In a separate discussion, the board formally acknowledged it had exhausted its jurisdiction over a flooding complaint tied to the Weiss Farm weir-and-pump system, directing the neighboring resident to bring the matter to the state Department of Environmental Protection.