East Longmeadow Planning Board approves two restaurant special permits in single session

EAST LONGMEADOW -- May 5, 2026, East Longmeadow Planning Board clears two new restaurants and flags urgent industrial zoning risk near the rail trail. The four-member board voted 4-0 on each of three separate motions to approve Special Permit SP-2026-01, allowing Robert Cicero to open Onus, a 30-seat made-to-order restaurant at 55 White Avenue, the former Stacy's Cleaners building, with conditions including downcast lighting, a designated ride-share delivery space, and a customer street-parking ban. The board then voted 4-0 to approve Special Permit SP-2026-02 for Anthony Nguyen to open a reservation-based, 36-seat Vietnamese fine-dining restaurant at 51 Prospect Street, a property Nguyen owns, with conditions adding a six-foot fence along the property line with 79 Prospect Street and restricted trash-pickup hours. Chair Russell Denver committed the board to formally asking the Town Council for no-parking signs on White Avenue and on William Street. In old business, Planning Director Robert Watchilla warned that a parcel currently zoned Industrial along the rail trail is for sale and could be developed as a two-story industrial building by right, urging the board to move quickly on the proposed Town Center Mixed-Use Zoning Bylaw, with public hearings now targeted for August 2026.