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.