Good evening. The city of Boston zoning board hearing 2026 is now in session. This hearing is being conducted in accordance with the applicable provisions of the open meeting law, including the updated provisions enacted by the legislature this year. The new law allows the board to continue its
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and all public testimony will be limited to 90 seconds per speak. Mr. Stebridge. >> Good evening, Madam Chair. President, >> good evening. Mr. Bernau. >> Good evening, Madam Chair. Present.
>> Good evening. Floor is yours, Mr. Ste. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. We begin this evening's hearing scheduled for 5:00 p.m. First, we have case BOA 173276
with the address of 29 Elm Street. If the applicant and or their representative are present, would they please explain to the board? >> Good evening everybody. Uh my name is Timothy Shan. I am the architect for the project. Um basically what this is is a two family
woodframe um three two and a half story structure. Um the it's two units. The first unit is on the ground floor. My clients Tony and Natie live on the second floor and the attic. And what they would like to do is
add a front dormer, a back dormer, and a deck. Uh because the back portion of the building is only two stories, you know, so it they have a nice walk out from the attic. Um so because we're altering the roof profile on Charletown, which is a restricted roof district, we have to
come to the ZBA. And we also have a side setback violation because our dormer uh penetrates the side setback by 6 in. We're looking for a twoft offset and that's a zero lot setbacking. Um existing, you know, the existing I've
walked you through it. You know, that attic now has two small bed, three small bedrooms and a den, no bathroom. And by adding these dormers, it would allow us to add two, you know, two good bedrooms with windows, a master bedroom and a closet in the front, a master bath in
the middle. Uh a reasonably sized bedroom, three, and another bathroom. So, the house would end up being three three bedrooms, three baths. Um, the design, you know, we've designed the building to fit within the neighborhood and we've utilize the plan Charlestown
design for the front dormer, um, which we call an Nucket dormer. We've done several of them. I've got some pictures, uh, nearby. Um, and and that's basically the design. Um, we've had a neighborhood meeting and we've worked with our immediate neighbors to the when looking
from Elm Street to the left, I believe it's 33 Elm Street. And, you know, they had some shadowing concerns and we put together a shadow study to show it. You know, these two dormers don't really add much shadow because there's not much to them. They're only up about six or seven
feet, you know, if you look at the side profile angle. And there was some concerns about the roof deck. Um, in my exper I live in town, you know, these when we do the metal railings, there's they're only, you know, you/ an inch thick, the bars, so they just don't
leave much shadow. Um, and the reason we're doing the roof deck is although there is a, you know, for Charles Town anyways, there's a decently sized backyard. It's awkward for my clients to get to because it's it's basically two and a half sets of stair stairs down and it's, you know, it's basically it opens
up to the first floor unit. So, our idea was to give um you know a 300 340 foot roof deck. So, that's their open space. Um and with that, I'll leave it to questions. >> Thank you. Any questions from the board?
>> Hearing none. May I have public testimony? >> Madame Chair and members, Siggy Johnson with the Office of Neighborhood Services. This applicant has completed the community process. Our office hosted in a Butters meeting on February 18th at which in a butter had some concerns about shadows. some questions about the
proposal. Uh, our office received no further comments. Our understanding is they've worked with that a butter. Our office defers judgment to the board. Thank you, >> Madam Chair. We don't have additional comments.
>> Questions, comments from the board. May I have a motion? Madam Chair, I'd like to put a motion to approve with a proviso to submit uh drawings uh to the Boston Planning Department for review and approval.
>> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Uh Mr. Sambridge. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernau, >> yes. >> Chair votes yes. The motion carries. >> Thank you everybody.
Thank you. >> Next we have case BOA180334 with the address of 661 East Broadway. If the applicant and or the representative present, would they please explain the case to the board?
Do you see anyone, Jesus, for this case? >> Can you hear me? >> Uh, we we can. Are you the applicant? >> Yes. >> Great. Can you uh state your name and address for the record and proceed? >> Uh, my name is Elizabeth Vu and the
address is 661 East Broadway, South Boston. We just need you to tell us what you're proposing. >> Okay. So, um I own a small business in South Boston. I offer um beauty services
as well as uh injectables and some laser treatments and other skincare treatments as well. I am looking to add in body art to bring in an artist and hopefully bring in a permanent makeup artist as well. Um I've been in business here for 12 years. I've been on the same street
for 18. So, just always looking for different ways to um bring in more treatments and services for the community. >> Thank you. Any questions from the board? >> Hearing none. May I mad chair and members? Sigy Johnson with
the officehood services. This applicant has completed the community process. Our office over distribution of anformational flyer to all of Butters in a 300t radiused no comments to our office. Gate of Heaven Neighborhood Association had taken no position on this application. That backer office
defers judgment to the board. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Madam Chair. There are no additional comments. >> Okay. Uh may I have a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> No.
>> Second. >> There you go. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Stebridge. >> Yes. Mr. Bren, >> yes. >> Chair votes yes. The motion carries. Good luck. >> Thank you.
>> Next, we have case BOA 1792077 with the address of 658 East 5th Street. If the applicants andor their representative are present, would they please explain to the board? >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Stbridge. Madame Chair, members of the board, attorney Ryan Spitz with Adams and Morancey,
business address of 1688 Street, First Floor, South Boston. Uh, joining me today is the owner Sean McClory and the project architect Tim Sheen. This proposal seeks to change the occupancy from a single family dwelling to a two family dwelling, maintaining the footprint of the building, providing
interior layout changes in a rear deck with metal metal spiral staircase for a secondary means of egress. proposal is closely aligned with the city's byright conversion of internal spaces to accessory dwelling units. Parcel also falls with an MFR subdist which allows
for this type of use. Unit one will be approximately 1420 ft located on the first floor in the basement consisting of a three-bedroom, three bath kitchen, dining room, and living room. Not to mention that the basement is also a full walk out in the rear yard. Unit 2 will
be approximately 132 square ft located on the second floor and third floor consisting of a three-bedroom, three bath, kitchen, dining, and living room. As well, we have violations for a lot area and additional lot area. The lot size is 1,800 square ft and the code requires 2,000 square ft for the first
unit and then an additional,000 square feet for any unit after that. Despite the lot size being a pre-existing condition, this proposal is aligned with other parcels supporting a two family residential use in the neighborhood. We also have an off- streetet parking
violation requirement in the subdist 1.5 parking space per new unit of housing. And our proposal doesn't include any parking, but is aligned with its surroundings. In concluding, the proposal meets the city of Boston's housing and development goals and are contextual with the surrounding
neighborhood fabric. At this point, Madam Chair, I'm going to turn it over to you for any questions or comments. >> Thank you. Are there any questions from the board? >> I'm just trying to understand any any exterior work or just uh just essentially the conversion.
>> Yes, there so there's minor exterior work which consists of the rear deck and the spiral staircase leading down to the the ground level for a secondary means of egress >> and that's it, right? >> Correct. >> Okay. Uh you had mentioned you had mentioned
that the you had mentioned ADU. Is this the ADU or not? >> No. So the difference the biggest difference is one there is a little bit of exterior renovation in here. However, it is investor owned property. It is not owner occupied. If it was owner occupied, we would be able to go through
that route of the additional dwelling unit policy. >> Thank you. >> With that, may I have public testimony? Madame chair and members Cig Johnson with the office of neighborhood services. This applicant has completed the community process. Our office hosted in an abutters meeting on December 1st
of 2025 which one supporting a butter was in attendance. The cityoint neighborhood association is supporting this application and our office is aware of four letters of support that have been that have been sent to the board from abutters. That background judgment is deferred to the board. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Next we have Ashley from consular flint. Hi, my name is Ashley from Councelor Flynn's office. Councelor Flynn would like to go on record in support due to a good community process with neighbors and the City Point Neighborhood Association. Thank you,
>> Madame Chair. There are no additional funds raised at the moment. Thank you. >> Okay. With that, may I have a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> There's a second. >> Second, >> Mr. Benbridge.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Bernell, >> yes. >> Chair vote. Yes. The motion carries. Good luck. >> Thank you. >> Next, we have case BOA 180210 with the address of 535 to 545 Del
Street. If the applicant and or their representative are present, would they please explain the case to the board? >> President uh Vargas Desel representing 5 uh 543 Dudley Street. Um at the moment
the um it's just a store that we're trying to get uh opened with a bakery. The uh violations are very light. It's because of the use uh changing from commercial use to a bakery. Uh the building is there's no work to be done
exterior. We ask that if there's a way to hold the uh provisal um so it doesn't take much time from the uh BPDA. Uh there's no work to be done in exterior. Um take any questions. The uh the owners
uh Jose and his wife is uh on board if uh they like to say something. If not, I'll take questions. Thank you. Are there any questions from the board? Hearing none, may I have public testimony?
>> Madame chair and members of the board, for the record, my name is Jeremy Benbury. I am the Roxberry community engagement specialist for the Office of Neighborhood Services. The applicant has completed the community process facilitated on December 18th with one guest in attendance. No questions or concerns were raised. Uh next, the
proponent presented to Deadly Square Neighborhood Initiative where they voted in support of the proposal and offered to write a support letter. Uh to date, our office has not received that letter of support uh but it was mentioned uh that they would do so. Uh thank you for your time in the mayor's office neighborhood services would like to
defer to the board for their judgment. >> Thank you, >> Madame Chair. There are no additional comments. >> Okay. With that, may I have a motion? >> Motion to approve. Is there a second? >> Second.
>> Mr. Stebridge. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernau. >> Yes. >> Cherries. Good luck. >> Next we have case BOA 180 2841.
The address is 95 Ber Street. If the applicant and or their representative present, would they please explain? >> Yes. Hello. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. >> Um, yes. I'm Savas Gian Smides. I'm the
owner. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak. Uh we had a uh a neighborhood meeting on December 17th and um there were from my memory two or three uh you know
neighbors that that were there and they were in support of it of of of what I'm trying to do which is adding increased living space in the attic of uh of uh the building of the house. And uh there was a uh zoning
zoning committee council meeting uh I believe it was on January 21. Again, there were some neighbors at that meeting. They were in support of it and from my memory there there is a an approval from the JP zoning council
committee um that was headed by um Mr. for uh Baron and uh so I'm looking to increase the the um the li living space in the
attic. >> Thank you. So can you you confirm you're not you're not increasing the unit numbers the unit count you're just increasing living space. Okay. >> Yes. >> Other questions from the board? >> Hearing none. May I have public
testimony? Madame chair and members of the board, for the record, my name is Jeremy Benbury. I'm the Jamaica Police Community Engagement Specialist for the Office of Neighborhood Services. The applicant has completed community process which consisted of an abutters meeting facilitated on December 17th uh excuse me, 17th with three abutters in attendance in full support of the
proposal. Next, the proponent presented to Jamaica Plane Neighborhood Council zoning where they voted to approve the proposal. Thank you for your time and the mayor's office of neighborhood services would like to defer to the board for their judgment. >> Thank you, >> Madame Chair. There are no additional comments.
>> I have a motion, >> Madam Chair. Motion to approve. >> There a second. >> Second. >> Dambridge. >> Yes. >> M. >> Yes.
>> Chair votes yes. The motion carries. Good luck, sir. >> Thank you. Thank you everyone for your time. >> Next, excuse me. Next we have case BOA 1725252 with the address of 130 Dana Avenue. If
the applicant andor their representative are present, would they please explain to the board? >> So my name is Lavan Manuel and uh I work on this uh renovation of the design. Um
so nothing have been uh drastic with a big change of this just a this is the two dwelling house. Um so the the task was the owners they wanted to add something on the second floor. Um making
that the renovation of the kitchen and making sure that um the modification whatever we could do in a second floor is not going to be something that's going to be touched to the exterior walls. So we work on inside of this
renovations. No setback violation. Uh third floor that was about the uh attic uh which is a half um uh half story. The
attic is uh uh was a living space. But the thing is that was so tight and um you know the walls that were just I revisited you know made it even a little
bit higher not exceeding the um um the requirements of the ridge height. Um and I I kept it up as much as I could, you know, uh making comfortable minimum
comfort in that ethic zone. Just making sure that the attic is going to be a livable space like a loft area with this uh half uh uh eyebrow open um windows
which is uh they are just that windows is the escape windows any case because they are the bedrooms and my understanding this u the owner Maria she wanted to have this her privacy in in
other words um have having opportunity to live in a second floor and kids are going to live in a loft area. So I did for my best >> same question just confirming you're not um you're not changing unit count. These are just you're just expanding existing
unit. >> Yes. >> Okay. Questions from the board hearing none. May I have public testimony? >> Madam chair and members of the board for the record my name is Jeremy Benbury. I'm the hide park community engagement specialist for the office of
neighborhood services. The applicant has completed the community process which consisted of an abuters meeting facilitated on December 10th with one director butter who lives in the property. The first floor resident was very supportive with one inquiry of what may happen to them at that time. The proponent was very happy to assure he does not have to move. They love him.
He's been with them for a while. Next, the proponent presented to West Fairmont Hill Civic Association where they voted in support of the proposal. Thank you for your time and the mayor's office of neighborhood services would like to defer to the board with agenda. >> Thank you. Sorry, Madame Chairman. There are no
additional comments. >> With that, May I have a motion? >> I'd like to make a motion to approve. >> A second. >> Second. >> Mr. Stebridge. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Bernell, >> yes. >> Chair votes yes. The motion carries. Good luck. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Next we have case BOA 179 0093
with the address of 62 Dumpster Road. If the applicant andor their representative are present, would they please explain to the board? >> Uh Chris Hosford uh
uh owner 62 Dunster Road. Uh the proposal is to finish the basement of a twounit building uh extending living space but not creating uh an additional unit.
>> There questions from the board. >> So there so in this regard there won't be any um livable space in the basement. No, there is there is uh we are creating livable space in the basement. >> Is this a sing? I'm sorry.
>> Go ahead. >> So, you're adding livable space in the basement uh to an a single family building. >> It's a two-unit building. >> It's a two-unit building. So, only the unit on the on the first floor would have that additional space. Well, it's
actually it's for both units because the basement is if you look at the plan there, um there's a demising wall between the there's 2/3 that go with the first floor and one/3 roughly goes with the other unit.
Um >> Okay. >> We're proposing to finish both sides. >> Both sides. >> Yeah. >> Got it. >> Yeah. Just just to give them more habitable space, >> right? is just to get more habitable space. >> Okay. Awesome.
>> Okay, great. Um, any question? Um, public comment, please. >> Madame Chair and members of the board. For the record, my name is Jeremy Benbury. I'm the Jamaica Plane community engagement specialist for the Office of Neighborhood Services. The applicant has completed the community process which consisted of an abutters meeting facilitated on December 10th that was
very lightly attended and with no questions or concerns. Next, the proponent presented to both the Jamaica Plan Association and Jamaica Plane Neighborhood Council zoning on January 5th and January 21st, respectively. Both approved the proposal. Thank you for your time, and the mayor's office of neighborhood services would like to defer to the board for their judgment.
>> Any other raised hands? Madame, I'm sorry. Uh, no, there are no additional comments. Okay, may I have a motion? Madam Chair, a motion to approve. >> There a second. >> Second. >> Mr. Stebridge.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Bernell. >> Yes. >> Chair votes yes. The motion carries. Good luck. >> Thank you. Next we have case BOA 1801060 with the address of 268 Chest Avenue. If
the applicant andor their representative present, would they please explain to the board? >> Yep. Hello, this is Chaz Harvath. I'm uh the owner and applicant for this change. Um, next slide, please.
So, what we propose is a rebuild of this existing addition to the same footprint that's already um on the house. Um it will include adding a 3/4 bath to the addition. Um and uh the footprint is the
same, but the height will increase by um 2 feet to allow for insulation and a reasonable ceiling height. Next slide, please. So th this is uh two motivations. Um the wing is substandard. Um I'll give
examples of that. It was not built with the rest of the house. It's literally built on timbers and lots of rotting wood, low ceiling, no heat, poor insulation, but also we want to age in place and putting a bathroom on the first floor um will aid in that process.
Next slide, please. So this is a um a view of the work. The area to the right, the proposed rebuilt ring. Again, this this is uh physically it's an empty room um to the same
footprint. So we're not changing the footprint. We're just installing a um rebuilding the wing and installing a bath in it. Um next slide, please. And then this is just an example of current conditions. It's literally built on round timbers. Um there's extensive wood
rot um everywhere and the foundation are some freestanding cinder block like items and the zoning variance is needed because this existing wing is um right on the property line um uh as is a good
portion of the house that was built in the um 1850s. Um so that that's uh we're not changing the footprint. So we're not making the violation any worse than the existing condition. And then this is a diagram
that shows uh details of um um the existing uh wing that we are rebuilding to the same footprint. And I think that's everything I uh what what we propose to do and uh um
motivations. Thank you. Are there any questions from the board? Hearing none, may I have public testimony? >> Madam chair and members of the board, for the record, my name is Jeremy Bere. I'm the Jamaica Plan community engagement specialist for the Office of Neighborhood Services. The applicant has
completed the community process which consisted of an aboters meeting facilitated on January 12th where the proposal received overwhelming support from all the voters in attendance. Next, the proposal was presented to Jamaica Plane Neighborhood Council zoning on January 21st where they voted to approve the proposal. To date, our office has
received two letters of support sent to the board for review supporting the upgrade to the property. Thank you for your time. And the mayor's office of neighborhood services would like to defer to the board for the judgment. >> Madame chair, there are no additional comments. >> I have a motion.
>> Motion to approve. >> I have a second. >> Second. >> Mr. Stebridge. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bernell, >> yes. >> Chair votes yes. The motion carries. Good luck, sir. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Next, we have case BOA 179 8926 with the address of 15 Bs Bson Avenue. If the applicant and or their
representative are present, would they please explain to the board? >> Hi, good evening. My name is Owen Murray. I'm the contractor for 15 Bites and Abs. Uh essentially they want to it's a two-story uh home right now. They want to build a two-story addition on
the rear of the house with a deck. Uh the addition would include increasing the kitchen on the first floor and then a master bed on the second floor and a master bath with a walk-in closet. Just providing the family with some uh some
needed space in the cramped house. Um, nothing too crazy. Just um, increased living space from the first floor to the second floor. That's uh, that's about it. >> Okay. Thank you. Are there questions from the board?
>> Hearing none. May I have public testimony? >> Madam Chair and board members, Sigy Johnson with the Office of Neighborhood Services. This applicant completed the community process. Our office hosted an abuters meeting on December 18th at which no concerns were raised and the West West Roxbury neighborhood council is supporting this application. That
background judgment is deferred to the board. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Madam Chair. There are no additional comments. >> Okay. With that, may I have a motion? >> Motion to approve. >> Second.
>> Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Stebridge. >> Yes. >> M. Yes. Yes. >> Chair votes yes. The motion carries. Good luck. >> Thank you. >> And have a wonderful evening everyone. >> Have a good night.
>> Good evening. Thank you.