WOBURN, Mass. — The Woburn City Council on Oct. 21 accepted a working draft of special-permit conditions for a proposed rental, repair and storage facility at 210 New Boston Street, added a requirement naming the site plan of record, and continued the public hearing to Nov. 18 after discussion about pending U.S. Environmental Protection Agency review.

Attorney Tony Hawk and Ethan Flinkstrom (spelled in the meeting transcript as Flinkstrom) spoke for Milton Real Properties; councilors pressed for clarity on environmental review before granting final municipal approvals. Councilor D'Amambro moved to adopt the working draft of conditions and later proposed a 17th condition making the permit contingent on submission of the EPA approval letter and any EPA-required conditions. The petitioner's representative said they preferred not to make the special permit itself contingent but agreed that issuance of building permits could be conditioned on EPA approval. After further discussion, the council voted to add a plan-of-record condition (the site plan dated 06/12/2025 and amended 07/14/2025) and continued the hearing to Nov. 18 to await the EPA's final comments.

Councilors expressed differing views about the council's role when a federal agency is reviewing a capped or previously remediated site. Councilor Melissa Bowen said she would not vote to approve the special permit without the EPA letter; Councilor Towle urged caution and recommended either adding the EPA condition or deferring; Councilor Viola also said she favored waiting. Other councilors noted the building commissioner enforces permitting rules and that federal law could supersede any local action, but several members said they wanted the EPA's written input before signing off.

Flintstrom told the council the project team had received two rounds of comments from EPA staff and that EPA had recently asked for the estimated construction cost; he said the project was nearing final comments. The council's actions on Oct. 21 therefore were to formalize the working draft of conditions, add the site-plan record as an explicit item in the conditions, and hold the matter open until Nov. 18 so the EPA letter can be provided and reviewed.

The council's clerk will maintain the working draft and the referenced site plan for the Nov. 18 continuation.