East Longmeadow ZBA Approves Firestone Variance, Continues Prospect Street Case

EAST LONGMEADOW -- April 27, 2026, East Longmeadow's Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved two variance petitions and continued a third at its April 27 meeting. The board voted 5-0 to grant variances for Zaremba Group, LLC's proposed eight-bay Firestone car service facility at 546 North Main Street, approving an approximately 17.6-foot relief from the 100-foot residential buffer requirement and an eight-foot relief from the 25-foot setback from the unaccepted Londergan Place right-of-way, an improvement the applicant achieved by rotating the building parallel to Londergan Place and increasing its clearance from six feet to 17 feet since the March 16 hearing. The board also voted 5-0 to grant an 8.5-foot front-setback variance to Courtney Brown of 5 Susan Street for a proposed attached two-car garage, with Clerk James Channing calling it "the perfect prototypical case" for why the variance statute exists. A third case, ZV-2025-03, covering a request to build a single-family home on a substandard lot at 0 Prospect Street, was continued to May 18 while the applicant continues negotiations with Eversource over a major easement and the board weighs whether a new state housing law may render the variance petition unnecessary entirely.