Cambridge Planning Board Continues Crumble Cookies Permit Over Alley Transparency Dispute

CAMBRIDGE -- February 28, 2023, Cambridge Planning Board unanimously continued a Crumble Cookies franchise permit over alley window transparency, while approving a rear-yard dwelling project 7-0. Attorney Gregory Richard and franchise owner Joseph Opetizano presented plans for a 1,500-square-foot Crumble Cookies location at 425 Massachusetts Avenue in the Central Square Overlay District, where formula businesses require a special permit. Board members objected that opaque pink vinyl graphics on alley-facing windows violated the city's ground-floor activation standards, with member Tom Senevich calling for the applicant to "reverse the plan" and put the open kitchen facing the alleyway. Member Catherine Preston Connolly argued the applicant must return to the board rather than resolve the issue at staff level alone, saying otherwise staff would be put "in an untenable position." In a separate 7-0 vote, the board granted a special permit to Tagore Hernandez for a new detached single-family structure at 23 Reed Street, after the applicant reduced parking from four spaces to two and revised tree-preservation and landscape plans; the board also extended the decision-filing deadline to April 30, 2023.