Fitness club in former COA gets support at hearing

The couple planning to open a martial arts studio and fitness club on Maple Avenue at Washington Street didn’t face much of a fight when the project went before Town Hearing Examiner David Lowell last week.

Tracy and April Emmanuelson-Barnett received overwhelming support during a well-attended one-hour public hearing on their application for a permit to revamp the former COA building on Maple Avenue. It has been vacant for two years after having been operated as restaurants since the 1970s, a non-conforming use in a residential zone.

Lowell said afterward that he expects to rule within a few...