Woburn Committee Advances Gym, Dog Kennel Permits; Holds Senior Housing Plan

WOBURN -- May 11, 2026, Woburn's Special Permits Committee voted to send two new business permits to the full City Council and held a contested three-family rebuild and a senior housing expansion in committee at its May 11 meeting. The committee approved favorable reports for a change-of-use from dry cleaner to private gymnasium at 102 Main Street, operated by Jimmy Delafano of Boston Museum Jiu Jitsu, with eight conditions including 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. hours and no outdoor classes, and for a dog daycare and overnight boarding kennel by A Better Companion Dog Training, LLC at 41 High Street with 12 conditions including a cap of 15 dogs and a six-month Animal Control Officer status report. The 20 Franklin Realty Trust petition to raze and rebuild a fire-damaged three-family at 20 Franklin Street was sent forward for full council action amid unresolved neighbor concerns about parking and a resident's assertion that voter registration and building permit records suggest possible gaps in the property's three-family occupancy history dating to the 1970s and 1980s. The Cummings Foundation and NHC Realty plan to add 20 units, reduced from 26, to the New Horizons senior campus at 21 Warren Avenue remained in committee pending a department head meeting and draft conditions, with the average current monthly rate at the 113-unit existing facility running approximately $3,400, inclusive of meals and services.