Eurofins looking at big fines

The property at 349 Lenox St. came under major scrutiny by the Norwood Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) last week due to some unique circumstances.

Because of what has happened, the owner, Lenox Holdings LLC, which is managed by Hogan Park, is facing tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

The initial fine was set at $50,000, accruing since September of 2025, when a violation notice was first issued. However, Park’s attorney, Scott Wolf from Schlossberg Attorneys, said the notice didn’t go to the property owner, who lives out in Beverly Hills, CA, but to an onsite handyman/building manager who was working for one of the tenants, Eurofins MTS Consumer Product Testing US, LLC.

The issue was that a different tenant, Boston Audio and Sound, had incurred several violations for parking issues and noise complaints, and after reviewing those issues the Town found that there were enough parking and building issues to need a Site Plan Review from the Planning Board.

Wolf said the handyman had filed incomplete plans with the Town. Hogan Park apparently only became aware of the issue in May 2026.

“A tenant, of whom we have hired one of their employees as a property manager, took matters into his own hands, without the knowledge or consent of the owner,” Wolf said. “He started reconfiguring, to some degree, the parking at the site. It started with noise complaints with the previous tenant Boston Audio, and that triggered a larger review of the property as a whole where the Building Inspector discovered that some parking was either expanded or relocated; some might have been in the public right-of-way.”

Boston Audio is now no longer at the location. Wolf said Building Inspector Gary Pelletier issued an order for site plan approval to Calvin Long to file site plans, again without the consent or knowledge of the owner, back in September of 2025. Hogan Park was, apparently, not notified and the fines started at $300 a day 90 days after the initial notice.

Sheehan and the ZBA members conceded that the notification went to Long but not to Park, so it was conceivable that Park did not receive the notice and the bylaw requires that the property owner receive the notice. That would have been, as of the date of publication, more than $60,000 in fines.

As the fines are $300 a calendar day (not business days), since May 19, the property has accrued more than $26,100 in fines, with likely more on the way.

Basically, the ZBA is requiring the property owner to complete the site plan review and get a date with the Planning Board. When Lenox Holdings LLC has met with the Planning Board and submitted an acceptable site plan review, the fines will stop.

Sheehan seemed a little suspicious of there being no communication between the landlord and the building manager. According to Attorney Scott Wolf, it’s a bit complicated. Originally, Eurofins was owned by Hogan Park’s father. Park later sold the company, but Long stayed with Eurofins, and, as an employee of Eurofins, was hired by Park through Lenox Holdings to handle the day-to-day of the property; plowing, mowing, and general maintenance.

“Who told him to file the plans?” Sheehan asked.

“He went rogue,” Attorney Wolf said. “No one told him to file the plans. I believe he must have been... [sic].

“So out of his own pocket, he went to an engineer, gave $3,000, and said ‘File plans for me,’” Sheehan said. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

“Yes,” Wolf said. “Let me rephrase. I am telling you he did that, without the knowledge or consent of the owner.”

“That’s the only question I have,” Sheehan said.

Resident Cheryl Nardelli said the property has been a problem for her family on Willow Street, as a direct abutter. She said Boston Sound was a nightmare and she’s glad they’re gone; alleging borderline harassment behavior, including leaving hundreds of business cards for Boston Audio on her front lawn.

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“Though none were on my neighbor’s yards,” she said.

But she said trucks going in and out of the property have been a big problem historically, and not just with Boston Audio.

“I hesitated to speak tonight, because with each development in this matter, it was followed by unsettling incidents,” she said. “For more than 37 years our residents and manufacturers who previously occupied that location, peacefully coexisted with mutual respect and an understanding of the need for a reasonable business neighborhood balance. That longstanding balance has now been fractured.”

Nardelli said traffic for the MBTA Commuter Rail lot, combined with the heavy truck traffic reversing into Eurofins loading dock, were deemed a safety issue by the Town, which installed signed to stop it.

Attorney Wolf said they are working to file a site plan review as soon as possible. Wolf said that is because while most of the work is parking alignment, some is more intensive. A date has not yet been set, but the $300-a-day clock is ticking.

Wolf asked that the May 19 start date for the fines be appealed as well, saying that they couldn’t find an engineer in time. Sheehan pointed out that Pelletier or himself could have recommended an engineer at any time.

“I don’t have much sympathy here,” Sheehan said. “These people have suffered here for years, and he (Park) is out in California, cashing the checks.”

The Board voted to uphold the decision of the Building Inspector, continue the fines and compel the owner to file site plan review. The Board also voted to close the hearing, with conditions regarding traffic flow and parking, and asked that Long come in to speak for himself, as the site plan review process plays out.