Urban Affairs Committee approves two special permits, sending both to full council

MARLBOROUGH -- February 9, 2023, Marlborough Urban Affairs advances Mechanic Street machine shop and 12-unit Lincoln Street project. The committee, chaired by Councilor Laura Wagner, voted 4-0 to recommend a Section 6 special permit allowing Octo 48 LLC, doing business as Action Precision Machining, to convert a pre-existing nonconforming warehouse at 269 Mechanic St. to a tool-and-die shop with six to 12 employees, after amending the draft to bar Saturday deliveries. A second 4-0 vote sent attorney Terrence Morris's 12-unit multi-family permit at 272 Lincoln St. to the full council after the committee struck "instead of the addition of a sidewalk" from a Cashman Street widening condition, tightened crosswalk-repainting language to occupancy-permit issuance, and tied billboard removal to the demolition phase. Members declined to codify a public "pocket park" at Lincoln and Cashman after Council President Michael Ossing and Wagner warned of liability exposure: "Once you start putting things in writing, it gets to be a complicated morass," Wagner said. Both items are slated for a final council vote Feb. 27.