Somerville, MA Animal Ordinances: Pet Groomer Rules (2026)

Table 3.1.16 of the Somerville Zoning Ordinance lists Pet Grooming as a Commercial Services use in the Neighborhood Residence (NR) district. The first column of the table, for new construction, marks Pet Grooming "N": not permitted. The second column, for the adaptive reuse of a commercial building type constructed before the Ordinance's adoption, marks Pet Grooming "P": permitted by right, with no Special Permit required, unlike the neighboring Veterinarian and Health Care Services rows in the same table, which are marked "SP."

That distinction matters because Section 3.1.16.b.i still applies the same operating condition to every use in the second column: business operations are permitted only between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. A pet grooming business occupying a pre-Ordinance commercial building in the NR district must hold to that window even though it faces no discretionary review criteria the way a veterinary use does.

Pet Day Care or Training and Commercial Kennel, by contrast, are marked "N" in both columns of Table 3.1.16 and are not permitted in the NR district at all, whether newly built or inside a reused commercial building, which sets Pet Grooming apart as the more permissive animal-service use in this district. Any use of real property is otherwise governed by Article 9: Use Provisions per Section 3.1.16.a, and where the two conflict, Article 9 controls.