Stoneham Board of Appeals Votes 4-1 to Uphold Sober Home Building Permit at 26 Broadway

Board of Appeals · Meeting of July 30, 2026

Stoneham Board of Appeals votes 4-1 to uphold a building permit for a women's sober home at 26 Broadway, rejecting a petition to overturn the building inspector's decision. The board, chaired by Tobin Shulman, denied the appeal brought by petitioner Gary Lombard and represented by Attorney Bill Heaney, who argued the facility operated by New Chapter Living Foundation lacks the educational component required for Dover Amendment protection and that the permit appeal was filed well beyond the 30-day statutory window. Vice Chair Robert Saltzman, Esq., argued that Stoneham's zoning bylaw imposes no numerical limit on unrelated persons in a household, distinguishing the case from the 2025 SJC ruling in BAK Realty v.

City of Fitchburg, and that the facility qualifies as a single-family residence under the town code; Member Raymond Michael Dufour voted no on jurisdictional grounds, saying "it's not in our jurisdiction to vote on this." Only Member Eric Rubin voted in favor of overturning the permit. The board also unanimously approved variances for residential additions at 69 Pleasant Street and 11 Stevens Street, and received a briefing from Town Counsel Bob Galvin on July 9 amendments to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40A, which replace the "substantial hardship" variance standard with a more flexible "practical difficulty" test and extend nonconforming use protection periods from two years to four.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
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Source: the Board of Appeals meeting of July 30, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.