Council Officially Opposes Domino's Plan

The Charlestown Neighborhood Council has officially declared that it will not support Rob Rivard’s .

The council voted 9-4 against supporting the proposal at Tuesday’s meeting—the last meeting of the full body until September—and then voted unanimously to communicate that vote to any city boards that Rivard or his company may appear before in the near future.

Tom Cunha, the council’s chairman who also ran on the matter, echoed residents’ concerns when he said that he thought Rivard and his team could have tried to find an address outside of the town’s main business district.

“Main Street is a thickly settled area with cars parked on both sides of the street,” Cunha said.

That stance worried committee member Paul Clausen, who said he had “a problem with the neighborhood council telling somebody what their business model should be,” but his dissent was overwhelmed.

The vote filled a void left by Thursday’s hearing. Normally, neighborhood council subcommittees make a recommendation and the council votes to uphold or reject it, but Cunha said he felt uncomfortable holding a vote at the hearing. Despite strong public participation, Cunha was joined by only one other voting councilor at the hearing. Two others were present, but had recused themselves due to their personal involvement in the issue.

Cunha told the council that he wanted the group to vote on the matter because the residents who spoke out deserved to have their voices carried to the city.