WOBURN - Massachusetts General Hospital's highly-regarded autism unit will be coming to North Woburn after the City Council this week approved a special permit allowing the "Ladders" program to occupy space in a building on Gill Street.

"This is a great thing for the city," said Ward 4 Alderman William Booker. "I want this in Woburn."

The council also passed a related zoning change that would allow future medical and dental offices larger than 5,000-square-feet to occupy space in the city's industrial zoning districts, rather than by special permit.

"A lot of these uses don't want to come before us. They take the easy road to (other towns) that don't require a special permit," said Booker, who sponsored the zoning change. "We don't realize what we're losing out on."

The vote to approve the special permit was unanimous, though City Council President Paul Medeiros opposed the zoning change, who said he didn't think the special permit requirement is "cumbersome" enough to drive potential medical uses to other communities.

"If we take away the special permit process, we lose any and all control," said Medeiros, who represents Ward 5, much of which is industrially-zoned.

"We shut out the abutters, who won't have any say," he added. "It's their neighborhood. It's not ours."

Ladders

Ladders (which stands for "Learning And Developmental Disabilities Evaluation and Rehabilitation Service"), according to Mass. General Hospital's website "cares for patients with Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD), language and learning disabilities, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and seizure disorders." A majority of patients carry a diagnosis of autism/pervasive developmental disorder or Asperger's syndrome.

"Other patients with less common conditions include sleep apnea, dysautonomia, Tourette's syndrome, agenesis of the corpus callosum, hypomyelination, Rett syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, Angelman syndrome and other genetic and metabolic conditions."

Ladders intends to move its facilities from Wellesley to a space of about 15,000-square-feet in a building on Gill Street owned by Cummings Properties, according to attorney Susan Brand.

She said the larger space will ease what is already a "substantial waiting list" for Ladders services.

The Ladders facility will be "entirely inside the building," and there will be no changes to the entrances, exits or exterior lighting. No medical waste will be generated.

Hours of operation will be weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with occasional Saturday mornings. The busiest times will be after-school hours, according to Brand, when there could be 35-40 people in the building.

Former state Rep. Carol Donovan, a Place Lane resident, and Woburn Business Association Director Paul Meaney Sr. both spoke briefly in support of the petition.

Ward 6 Alderman John Ciriello, whose district includes Gill Street, said he "fully supports" the proposal.

No one spoke in opposition. Most of the discussion was procedural, since it came after the council had already adopted the zoning change allowing medical uses by right in industrial zones, which officially becomes part of the city's zoning code when it is signed by the mayor.

Ward 3 Alderman Scott Galvin asked Brand if she wanted to withdraw the petition so Ladders could proceed immediately, rather than wait the 21 days required before the special permit is issued.

Booker said he would prefer to proceed with the special permit, in case an alderman on the prevailing side of the vote on the zoning change had second thoughts and filed for a reconsideration.

Zoning change

Booker noted that the zoning change was initially proposed three years ago by former Ward 7 alderman Stephen Braese, and Booker voted in favor of a compromise that set the special permit threshold at 5,000-square-feet.

He then relayed a story from four years ago, when his son broke his arm and traveled to Boston to have it set. The entire process lasted about 13 hours before having it set, and then had to follow up with seven more trips to Boston.

Last year, his daughter broke her leg but she was able to get all her care at a facility that had subsequently opened in Woburn, which he said was a tremendous advantage.

"We're a big league city," said Booker. "We have to lose the village mentality. I made a mistake three years ago."

Booker noted there are many areas of the city where a medical use would be preferable to manufacturing.

"We can take a lot of the flatbed trailers and replace them with BMWs and minivans," said Booker.

Every alderman who spoke on the zoning change was in favor until the discussion got to Medeiros, who took the customary step of leaving the president's chair to join the debate.

"While I respect (Booker's) intention ... all these (industrial zones) abut residential neighborhoods, and these uses could be 24 hours, seven days," said Medeiros.

In addition to the WBA's Meaney and former Rep. Donovan, Woburn School Committee member Margarette Masotta and Dennis Clarke of Cummings Properties spoke in favor of the zoning change.

"Not only will it be an asset, it will be a convenience," said Masotta. "We owe this type of service to the community."

Clarke said the special permit process presented an "obstacle" to commercial real estate ventures at a time the market is "soft ... with no sign of improving any time soon."

Medeiros challenged the need for a by-right use in the industrial zones, claiming potential occupants are "not knocking down (Cummings') doors" for space in office park zones, where medical and dental facilities are allowed by right.

Clarke replied that the selling point is usually a certain location that might be appealing, as is the case with Ladders.

"This (Gill Street) is the building that best suits their needs," said Clarke. "It makes sense to take away those obstacles."