Two new businesses, a veterinary speciality clinic and a wellness center, have been approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Bodhi Healing won permission to occupy the former Stonegate Gardens property on South Great Road. Owner Alison Zook had to go to the ZBA because the property is in a residential zone and the zoning bylaw allows nurseries and a few other specific commercial uses but not yoga/wellness centers. However, the ZBA determined that Stonegate Gardens was a preexisting nonconforming use, and a different nonconforming use would be allowed to operate there as long as it wasn’t “substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood” than the prior use.
At the June 4 ZBA meeting, Zook said her business would be less impactful than the nursery, since there would no longer be truck deliveries of plants and other gardening materials, outdoor storage of merchandise, and odors from mulch and fertilizer, as well as fewer customers per day. It would start the day a bit earlier (6:00am vs. the nursery’s 7:00am) and usually operate until 8:00pm.
The board also denied an appeal of an approval by the building inspector to have a veterinary clinic operate in a building on Minuteman High School’s Mill Street property. Ally Specialty Veterinary Center was initially given the OK because they claimed the business constituted an educational use, which is permitted under the state’s Dover Amendment, because although Ally is a for-profit business, it will also serve as a hands-on clinical training site for Minuteman students studying veterinary sciences.
But residents including Bob Domnitz appealed Metivier’s decision to the ZBA, saying the educational use wasn’t the “the primary or dominant purpose” of the clinic. However, at the June 4 meeting, Domnitz asked to withdraw the appeal after successful negotiations with Custead’s attorney, but the board was advised by town counsel Robin Stein to deny it while stating the reason for doing so.
“The sworn statement from Dr Custead is what changed our minds,” Domnitz said.
In that statement, Custead explained that the Ally Vet/Minuteman partnership “creates a uniquely strong educational environment by allowing students to follow clinical cases across multiple stages of care rather than isolated appointments alone. Students engage with clinical workflows, diagnostic reasoning, and interdisciplinary collaboration in a manner that aligns with competency-based veterinary education. Ally’s operational model is intentionally designed to integrate structured clinical education, workforce preparation, supervised mentorship, and competency-based learning into the daily operation of the facility.” The statement also said that the partnership is “foundational” to the “success and integrity” of Minuteman’s Veterinary Science Program.
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