i'll call the meeting to order The um first order of business is the reading uh approval of the minutes from our meeting on March 25th which were promptly emailed to us
within hours Uh I Uh unless people have uh additions or corrections I'll entertain a motion to wave the reading Second
Wave Motion and seconded All in favor i uh the first petition is case 2024-25 or it says 26 here Sorry it is 2024-26
That's uh at 105 to 115 Park Street 12 Essex Street and one Ellsworth Street The petitioner is 115 Park Street LLC So uh gentlemen and or ladies come
forward and make your presentation Sure Uh thank you uh Mr Chairman members of the board uh for the record my name is Rick Salv with Engineering Alliance Uh here with me tonight is David Choy from Choy Architects Um Scott Thornton from
Vaness Associates Um and our attorney uh attorney Anthony Rossi I think is running a little late so I'll kick things off um until he gets here Um if you don't mind Um so this uh particular project is located on four different
parcels of land 105 and 115 Park Street which was the old Polo Comparero um that parking lot and also uh 12 Essex Street and one Ellsworth Street um which is comprised of the Wanderat building um
and the grocery store Um the total site is comprised about 24,686 uh square feet with about a 197 and a half um feet of frontage um located on Park Street Perfect Um so as you can see
the the the top portion of the property you can see the uh old Polo Comparero building Um the bottom uh of the site there um is the uh the laundry mat and the and the grocery store with uh parking um out in the front You can see
this is a fairly unique site as it fronts on Park Street Essex Street Congress Street and Ellsworth Street Um if we can go to the next slide scroll up a little bit This is just kind of an aerial that shows
depicts the same thing um as as the survey drawing that you just saw to kind of put things in a little different perspective If we can skip to the next drawing So the proposal the proposal um is to
demolish all of the existing on-site buildings um in existing pavement um and construct 120 uh unit residential building with um seven commercial spaces and 50 parking spaces Um get to a point
here and then I'll turn it back over to to attorney Ross who just came in So the parking is going to be a two-tiered parking Uh the upper level of parking will access off of Ellsworth Street and the lower level of parking will access off of off of Essex Street Those two are
separated by about 10 ft um in grade and then the slab elevations of the retails um will sort of step down the street There's a slight grade change of about a foot and a half um between one end um and and the other end All the
storefronts will face on the Park Street We'll be reconstructing all the sidewalks um along Park Street and we'll be adding some green space as you can see in the green areas along the rear of the building um and the size side of the building This project actually results
in about a 16% increase in pvious surfaces or landscape surfaces um that don't currently exist today Um if we skip down to the next slide utility connections uh will be made The water services will come off of
uh Park Street at the top of the page Um we've proposed an exterior grease trap as well as a gas trap to handle the the garage drainage and any restaurant flow that could be in any of the potential commercial spaces Um and we're also infiltrating the roof um with a cult
system located at the bottom of p page there which will in include two rows of 12 um cult chambers with an overflow uh to the municipal drainage system Uh this will help promote groundwater recharge reduce the rate of runoff um and reduce
the volume of runoff Um that's essentially the way that the site um lays out So now turn it back to attorney Rossi who can get into the building and the overall proposal Thanks Rick Uh members of the board Anthony Rossy Representative Petitioner I apologize for being late I had difficult time
finding parking in the area ironically Um by way of example we have 120 units here I'm not sure if you have the unit mix but I just want to let the board know So we have a total of 15 twobedrooms They average around 600 square feet each Um and then we have
well three per level We have 95 onebedrooms and they average around 450 ft 19 per level and then we have 10 threebedroom units and there's two per level and it's about a thousand square feet and then this will also have 18 out
of the 120 will be inclusionary units um by way of standard of the inclusionary snake program that they have in um in Chelsea and we do have seven I believe commercial spaces in the building they're the front there they are retail
one to seven you can see they range from 700 square feet then and to 850 to 1730 to 1480 The reason why these are prepared like this is we find this if we made a larger space here like a restaurant per se it will probably cause more traffic or what have not in the
area So these are catered to more small businesses If somebody wanted to expand and incorporate two spaces it is developed so it can be accommodated to be a larger space if needed Um and any type of um retail that does go in there would have to actually go back in front
of the board for occupancy anyways Correct John for for their use So they would actually have to go back before the board regarding any use they did But it's set up in this manner to try to cater to a more smaller type of establishments to what is needed in the
building and in the in the neighborhood as a whole So that's why they were designed that way It's a I believe it's a double elevator Correct Um David Yep So it's a double elevated building Um as shown before there's there's an entrance
on Essex Street which has 25 spots and then there's also an entrance in the rear um and on Ellsworth Street and that goes up to a second level and that gets you to a second level of parking It's about 50 spots And out of the 120 units if you back out the 18 inclusionary
units it's 102 market rate units And we have 50 spots of which 95 onebedrooms in the building that are about 450 square feet So we emphasize that less than a half a spot if any would be used on this
Comparable all the projects that were done in Chelsea um such as the ones they built across the street They added like almost I think 30 units over the on the brick building has no parking whatsoever and and I know the developer in on that site because actually were representing
him and all those units are similar size to this and actually those actually have two bedrooms too and none of the tenants there because it's on a bus route just like this is and he has no problems renting the units and just like this
project they wouldn't be eligible for uh residential stickers anyways am not mistaken John so there'd be no residential stickers to go with this project It wouldn't create a burden to the neighborhood in that aspect And I would note that what was there before the commercial polo pamper
if I say it right would would involve cars you know going through on a daily basis throughout any type of retail This is not designed that way And I believe we did do a traffic an analysis He's here Okay Yes and he can talk more about the traffic but we did do a traffic analysis for
this board too as far as what this is going to generate for trip counts and the peak hours and so forth but we actually have more parking than other projects that were built on the Broadway uh district on a far larger scale But we wanted my client wanted to feel
comfortable that he has two bedrooms he has three bedrooms and he and he was hoping that if if a lot of these onebs probably won't have parking that can be used for visitor parking for tenants It can also be used for the commercial um tenants that going to buy whether it's employees or visitors And that's why he
made sure to do steel and do podium parking because he wanted those 50 spots for that purpose alone and maybe I can send it over to the traffic engineer and talk a little bit about the traffic analysis if the sport doesn't have an objection Thank you Uh Scott Thornton with Vanessa
Associates in the process of preparing the traffic analysis for the project Um and uh I can tell you that we've uh we have conducted some traffic counts We have uh worked in consultation with Mr
Depri who helped us establish a study area of what locations to look at We're looking at seven intersections basically around the perimeter of the site Um as uh as attorney Rossi mentioned um the this site we don't anticipate any issues
with parking the there's it's at the confluence of five bus routes that are all in uh that get you to a number of different routes whether it's or stations whether it's the orange line green line blue line Uh it's very it's
very transit friendly Uh in terms of trip generation we're still working through the details Um but we would expect that a lot of the retail uh the retail spaces would be uh frequented by people in the neighborhood So that's
probably a lot of walking trips pedestrian trips Um and then in terms of um in terms of the overall adjustments to the trip generation we look at things like the the census data and the mode split for residents that currently live
in the area And what we're finding is that um less than half of them drive uh to work and about only let's see about 36% uh don't have any vehicles available Uh so we think that that's that trend is
already in place in this area and we would expect that to continue with a project Um in terms of parking we we've looked at the perfect fit parking by Metropolitan Area Planning Commission and uh there's I think there's 14 sites
that look uh 14 sites in Chelsea that are part of that database and there are a few of those I think there's three of those that have either a parking supply or parking demand rate that is lower than than what's proposed here Uh so
again I think details to come uh in the in the near future We're probably about a week from wrapping up the study Um but uh and it'll be you know it'll be a full a full traffic impact report looking at all these different looking at crash data pedestrians transit bicycle
facilities and operations there Um we may be looking at some at some modifications to uh to area roadways but again that'll that we're still in the in the process of developing the study So if you have any questions I'll be happy
to try and answer them or turn it back over to Attorney Rossy Thank you Um and I also wanted to note um as far as this design built and so forth we worked for extensive period of time with the city um town manager John Dri as far as
aesthetics how this building was going to be designed and equipped Um as we know as was already stated you can't get residential care So it's not going to create more traffic than what's there If anything it's going to limit to what's there if there's issues I know I I read
some letters from Butters or neighbors and they talk about uh commercial The commercial was implemented because this is something that the city wanted to see on this site So we worked with the city to put a component that worked with the
with their Broadway corridor design that they had which is why all these things were implemented based on input on that aspect But if this was strictly per se a residential project we're not taking one parking space off the street because it can't get stickers and and we're adding
50 spots that weren't actually there before But so we took a lot of time to get to this um project and design the way it is now We just didn't say let's put this here and and go forward We worked to to implement what the city
wanted to see based based on their major design of the Broadway corridor and that avenue and which is where we got to this point here And I did have an opportunity because John sent me some letters and concerns of butters and so forth and I did opportunity to read those letters I understand the concerns I'm not sure if
a lot of them are aware regarding that you can't get a residential sticker here Um it's and we're trying to be more compliant I don't think we're non-compliant in the height In fact I think most of the stuff we're dealing with is minimal setbacks because of the
the way the lot is If you if you can go to the site plan a little bit and we have like a DE John you know we have the dimensional reg chat Um sorry Yeah sorry Can you give me to that
dimensional rag chat that has like the setbacks two more Say John would you say your name sorry Yeah there it is Yeah there it is No no you had it You had it
Sorry So if you look at if you look at the relief required and it says Sorry And I know a lot of people in the audience can't see minimum lot area relief required none Lot dwelling per unit none Minimum law frontage none
Maximum FA none Maximum height none Maximum stories none Minimum front yard setback proposed is 5.3 feet um required is zero feet So yes minimum setback sideyard is um 9 and 1/2 ft proposed
What's required is 10 So we're half a foot off Minimum sideyard setback 8.4 10 10 feet Uh minimum rear yard It's 20 feet 8.2 And where that's off is because if you go to the actual site plan that's the only one that's dimminimous We can
make modifications to be almost compliant with everything But you see how this site is this is where it changes to a point because the way it's cut back This is way over 20 feet So that's why this is at that point So to to make this smaller and make the retail
smaller for 12 feet that nobody's ever going to use that's pretty much it Oh and that we're pretty much compliant with everything other than the parking which is a special permit So this was designed in a manner within the zoning dimensional regs that are currently in
the city but also with this type of shape and lot size the way this is And my client did have an opportunity to speak to the butter of that corner parcel here to see if it made sense to acquire it and be fully compliant it just didn't make sense financially
especially in these economic times with interest rates and acquisitions and so forth And he really wanted to move forward on this property This is something the city wants to try to see happen more sooner than later So I just want to give you a little bit of a way of a background um how we got to this
point and I'll gladly take any questions the board may or may not have Thank you A question for you about the parking seems to be the hot issue here Um so my question is about how that parking is going to be allocated amongst the tenants of the building the residential
tenants and the commercial tenants Is some percentage of it planned to be like deed to certain units or is it just going to be kind of first come first served however that looks Yeah So basically my my client Hector is in the audience So he owns a lot of property and he manages
all of his properties So by this not being a condo building and this is going to be a residential building Hugh controlled the tenants that come in and who needs pocket spaces By way of example I have a 200 unit Let's say I have I have a 24 unit building let's say in Ever right now and I have 10 spots I
put tenants in there that are looking that don't have parking that are looking for T passes and so forth Those are the tenants I try to put in there The way this was designed with 95 450 foot onebedroom units those people that are going to go there a majority if not all of them are probably going to be
candidates that don't have parking So the goal here is to limit the amount of parking with the tenants that come in and occupy and then save the rest for the retail visitor parking and what haveot He can control that by doing that because ultimately if he doesn't have
parking for the commercial and the employees the commercial is going to fail just a reality Even if you're gonna have people walking there every day the employees have to park somewhere The you know operators have to park somewhere So the objective here which is why he built
the second level of 25 spots is to help with those commercial uses and and visitor parking for guests because ultimately even if the the people that live there don't have vehicles people going to come and visit them And if they're not residents of Chelsea they're
going to need a spot to park So that's going to be managed and controlled by the developer which is why the developer spent the money to do steel podium to add additional 25 spots Okay And about that so in terms So what you're really saying is that there's not going to be any designated parking at all per se
within the building and that's going to be you know the eb and flow of the day will dictate who's parking there So ideally it'll work out such that it's residents at night and uh you know business customers during the day But is there any It'll be assigned I mean it'll be in if a tenant wants a pocket space
and they decide to give a tenant a pocket space it'll be assigned in a lease And is that just something they'll pay extra for in the lease ostensibly we that's what we do I don't know what he will do but most likely someone will pay additional fee for parking spots Okay Pretty It's pretty much a norm nowadays
And And what that does it also alleviates some tenants that don't want to pay for parking who don't have a car and will take that knowing And then in their leases and I don't know I think Chelsea requires it You got to put in the leases that they have they cannot eligible for residential stickers or
apply for residential sticker So it's not an issue later on and they say well I leased here and I did not know I could not apply for a residential sticker That's a requirement I believe in the Chelsea guidelines too Yep Because how sure are we going to know like these residents are going to have a car or not
have a car well that's why I started off by saying at the very least whether they have a car or not they can't get a sticker and they can't park on the street I will tell you Chelsea's probably the best city for enforcing tickets I've ever
seen in my life for non-residents and they come like this I'm an Everett guy too Everett is not in the standard of Chelsea They'll ticket you and they'll tow you So the way to deter people from parking who don't have a sticker is by taking them and towing them and that's
how determ is there a likelihood that you might have a straggler in there absolutely Just like you have in multif family so forth But the reality is the occupants I'm not as concerned with the occupants because he can control that I'm more concerned about the visitors that come in who just park and they're
there for two or three hours and they don't get a chance to get a ticket or what haveot You don't really see that too much with Chelsea because the neighbors call and they come in they call in the hotline and they come in there they get ticketed they get towed So that's why it was designed for one bedrooms I can tell you directly across
the street the brick building that they added the two stories on top those are all the same type of units and probably almost 40% the size of this He has no pocketing no residential stickers And they just built those in the last John what 18
months None No parking and they have retail He did the 50 spots to address the commercial spaces that the city wanted to see there and he wants to make sure he has visitor pocket That's why he did it because to build a
steel podium above grade is very very expensive to do that He did it because Anthony where are the people that going to work there where are they going to park he wants to have those And as you stated let's just say he has 10 or 14
spots designated for those people After a certain hour those people are going to be gone and you can give them to other tenants in the building for visitors at night time So it'll be a system that he can allocate but only he can do it as an owner If it was a condo it's a different project and you can't make that work
because you're gonna have to do heated spots He can control that in that manner Yeah So thank you Thank you for that question And one more Um so I just want to have it a little clear because you know housing is an issue in the city of
Chelsea Why one bedroom is more than two bedrooms honestly the onebedrooms I hate to say it you when you have a two-bedroom unit a three-bedroom unit more likely than not they're going to hit the school system It's going to cost the city more financial dollars as far as tax-wise and
and revenue wise the onebedrooms if in in a traffic analysis they'll tell you the likelihood of getting a vehicle with a onebedroom is the percentages go through the roof they won't have a vehicle when you have a two-bedroom I don't care what the percentages are you know somebody's going to have a car if
out of the two people and you have a better chance of having a vehicle so the design this way and by getting the one bedrooms it allows more foot traffic more people in no vehicles to access exercise the commercial space here and the Broadway corridor which is why the micro units work which is why all these
developers are building on Broadway those micro units because those people come there they don't have a car they go to the grocery store they walk to the businesses and you have the likelihood of not needing parking because the bottom line is if you built 70 or let's
say 90 two-bedroom units here you're going to use up pretty much all that parking because at least I would say 50% of them are going to have a car and then you're hurting your commercial space So the onebedrooms doesn't affect the school system It's usually a single person or an elderly person or what have
not occupying it Not going to have a vehicle And those people also will create more foot traffic into the city And by increasing the unit count it gives the city needed 18 inclusionary units at a very low AMI because Chelsea
is one of the few cities that has a very low AMI going down It's I think it was a John 30 30 50 80 30 50 80 So that's two units a month that basically will lose money every two out of three and then it becomes a snake again So four out of six
the developer loses money The city wanted to see more inclusionary units and we designed it in a manner to get you get you there and the smaller units will get you into that portion because you make and then so there's a burden one way or another but this is more city friendly by doing that and also getting
people to to maybe walk around and go to the businesses it and it's not just this developer it's pretty much a norm most projects and and you know you can talk about this too again but almost every project for large projects you see it's take
78% one-bedroom studios and then you have two bedrooms and very small three bedrooms They all designing this way It's and they it's not like they're creating it They know what works and that's why this is done in that manner Okay Okay I got some questions and let's
go off the parking Okay First of all you get you're building a building with 120 units You have two elevators in it What what you think 120 people can use two elevators i live in a building with 30 units and that's two elevators Second of all seven retail operation retail is
you're asking for a disaster I can think of a why not build like a a community center Why not just have one if you're if you're so concerned if you don't think Ubers are going to go by there and you're talking about discriminating against people who have families which
is basically what you just told us to this board because that's why you're building one units That's blatant discrimination against people who have families Chelsea needs family housing It doesn't need 95 units micro units That's not what Chelsea is Chelsea is a family
community And I like could not believe I It's like this this whole building is big I you could you could eliminate some of the you could re Well I would redesign it You could redesign it so that there would be a park underneath there so the people could sit there with
a park You could put what but having seven retail operations on a in in this economic times is going to be awful tough I can't imag what what do you think there's going to be seven barber shops seven nail salons seven I mean I don't I I think you're asking people
you're going to have them fail The building I think is massive I get it I I'm I the scale of the building is concerning to me but it's really hard for me to to look at a building with 95 units in it and no families It's I I
appreciate the fact that you care so much about the school system here in Chelsea you that that that the developer is just just giving giving giving but Chelsea is a familyoriented h and this is one of the biggest projects we've built is and it doesn't include families
and I have a real hard time with that and the and it's two elevators that's never going to work and where's the trash how are you going to get people coming in and out of there um I get the I get the parking I I I hear people talk about parking I understand the issues
isues with parking but I don't see anything about bicycling I don't see anything about um uh uh the the the front of the unit is uh it's I I think there's a lot of things that you could do better with
this building than what it is But my biggest concern is you've got to put some you've got to put some three bedrooms in there You've got to appeal to families And I understand about the parking but what's more important to me a family or a parking space i I will pick a family every time Okay first of
all I I apologize if I I wasn't trying to discriminate any families And this is not coming from my client This is this is the norm of the industry that the standard that you see out there is about 25% two and three bedrooms on every project You can look at the projects that Fairfield did You can look at the
projects that Greyar built That's what I see that these people do is because they take into that account But I can tell you there's 25 and threebedroom units in this building So there's not it's not the minimus It's it's a pretty large extent
of 25 two-bedroom and threebedroom units in here on that aspect But again it has to make sense financially to build too because cost of construction interest rates it all factors into anything you
do The seven commercial spaces this was done in a way that we worked with what the city wanted to see and the vision that that they have there If my client doesn't put commercial space there it's really not going to kill him I mean like that's going to actually
create the most tax revenue for the city tax- wise because it's commercial rate If Mike L would be hindrant to lease that but he also wants to work with the city and he wants to see something work there He can use some of the space for amenities or what have not then it won't
be retail which is fine if that what this board or the city wants to see But we're working with a design that and that that an aspect with the Broadway corridor that they worked on for years that was passed through the planning board and the city council and that's how that was done You know I'm not
saying shoot the messenger but that's what we're trying to do But but we do have bike storage and what haveot I just didn't go into it I apologize We do have trash But I will tell you that two elevators I just finished 109 unit building and I
have I have two elevators and a freight elevator and so far it works but if I lose it does I'm building a 100 you know the one um right across from Dulo it's a brick building big one that's mine I gotund I think 40 units in there I got
three elevators there I this has two elevators so if somebody's moving in and out of that building and they will be moving you're going to be tying up an elevator I It's I'm telling you you have you don't have a dedicated freight elevator We have two elevators
It It's just It's It's It's too far apart And And if you live on the other side of the building you're going to be like trucking like So So So I'm just saying it's it's I understand that that's a design feature that's probably not going to change But I've I've work
in a building that has a hotel that has two elevators and you know they have a restaurant on the third floor and or the on the top floor and it's you know it it ties it up two I just it's you know poor design in my opinion and I still think you can do something more exciting in the front besides put seven retail
retail things that might or might not fail but my again my biggest concern is the size of the units and you know not enough More multi-bedroom I want multi-bs More multi-bedroom units Yeah And more I can say also I agree with her
about the elevator I'm going to give an example Duo You know Duo is a beautiful building that it was built for city of Chelsea for housing But what I don't like is the elevator how it's so far apart from the room from the apartments So basically like let's say there's an
emergency My mom she lives in Duo Her apartment is far down in from the elevator Now if god forbid there's an emergency yeah we're going to have to wait these two elevators to like hey for the am for the fire for like the ambulance to come up there if something happens that I kind of agree with Mimi
because it is you know two elevator is not going to be enough Maybe add one more uh for the other side of the section You know it's also we got to think about also emergency if something happens So yeah this is when you're dealing with a building like this you got to you know you have a multiple egress building So you got to keep the
stairwells at a certain distance An elevator is not considered emergency egress or it's only an accessibility component on that aspect So when you see a double stack elevator that like that you're doing it next to a stairwell and that's your second stairwell So if you
actually look at it the run almost twothirds are only three units away It's deceiving because you're not realizing the setbacks So here's a double elevator and then you only have one two three four units here that it's
four units away from this point there It's not as large as you may think it looks because the span because of the setbacks but I mean it's a double elevated It's a double elevated building It's I don't you're never going to see a triple elevator on 128 units of which 95
units are one micro one-bedroom units And then you got to factor in that the first two stories you got 38 units that are probably never going to use the elevator because it's going to go up one flight of stairs So then you have the rest going on the other floors But they
don't do this When David does an analysis here David builds a lot of buildings for a lot of developers It's designed to work based on the unit mix and the size the unit mix Granted if I had 83 bedroom units maybe you're thinking differently because now you
have so many families going up and down but this is not factored like that I can't really and I can talk to the city about the retail and so forth but this is something that we worked hard with the city to show that retail component
and and to go with the looks of everything else that's going up the Broadway corridor Um the smaller units are more amendable to being leased than the larger units which is why they're designed this way for a reason They're designed that way
to have small businesses But if you if you combine these into one unit now you're dealing with 28 over 4,000 square feet the likelihood that you're going to get a tenant that can afford 4,000 square feet in on a new construction
you're going to see a lot of empty spaces you just will But a regular tenant that's going to occupy that space who's paying 2,000 a month for a small space that could work And that gives businesses an opportunity to come here
And that's what the goal here And if you go up and down Broadway you'll see there all these small little storefronts And that's what the city wanted to see it That's what their goal was when they did the planning design And we're following that same goal Again my client to put commercial here will pay triple the tax
rate cost more money and probably receive less revenue than what he would have done if it was a residential unit But we work with what the city's master plan is And I hate to say it but it's it works Okay I mean if you go up Broadway and I understand about the tax structure
but the commercial the commercial tenant is going to pay the taxes This idea that the real estate developer is going to be paying the taxes and not passing it on to the retail triple net Triple net won't work over here You don't do triple net works in others All these are flat rate Most of these businesses become flat rates They're not triple net leases
for this Listen I've done a lot of leases in Chelsea My office Chelsea almost all of them are flat If you tell a tenant "Oh by the way pay 2,000 a month pay the water and sewer bill and pay the taxes." You know what they're going to say that's $50 a foot I can go in Boston I'll be paying $30 a foot and
they're empty So this is going to be something to that aspect But you you're not going to see a triple net lease here You don't see triple net leases in Chelsea hardly ever And I've done a lot of leases for a lot of people in Chelsea including the ones across the street They don't you know what they get they
get it's called a tax increase So basically the the tax year let's say it's $10,000 for that space hypothetically speaking If there's a tax increase in the following year you pay an additional 3% above that tax increase So if it was $11,000 they'd pay an extra
$300 for the year It's a baseline And I have I own a commercial building in Newton and I even in Newton I can't do it because they're empty So that these aren't going to be triple net leases This is going to be mom and pop small businesses that work for the building
and my client is going to probably lease him for less than market value So he gets good tenants that occupy the building that are good for the building and good for the neighborhood That's what he does You know he's been a minorityowned m mixeduse developer who
does tons in Chelsea tons in Everett and that's what he does because ultimately he wants his buildings clean and he wants good tenants and he manages his properties So I know what you're saying We're larger but the larger spaces defined a tenant like that It won't work
today because it's a different postco It's a different world And the smaller businesses are the ones that are surviving And these are the people that want smaller spaces And we worked a long time with the city of Chelsea and the architects to do a design that was amendable to what they've done I Mr
Rossi what what type of tenant do you see in these spaces like in particular the one that is uh 700 716 square foot is basically 20 by 30 square feet I mean what what do you see going into these
spaces commercial for commercial businesses i can't speak for Hector but I can tell you I have commercial spaces in my building So what I try to do is I try to do something that actually works almost like an amenity to my building So I like to see on the on the larger
spaces like a 1700 feet I like to see like a coffee shop type of pastries that's not going to have a kitchen They bring stuff in That's what I like to see on the larger spaces Something to that that's good for the building and good for the neighborhood On the smaller spaces you see more of a a retail
component such as like a little boutique clothing baby clothing store something that is something that's not going to require uh a back back of store per se something that's going to be a smaller space that works Or they can have somebody who's going to have a private
yoga studio You know I have a person who does trampoline things or actually live in Animals Hill and they looking for spaces and they do like music with trampoline workouts and that could be somebody who takes 1180 square foot space So something that actually works
for the neighborhood and the building but it's also not going to create waste you know rat infestation with food and so forth and limit that So you're going to look for stuff that's that's going to work because you don't want something to go in there and fail because ultimately
this will be a a vanilla box for a tenant and then the the landlord will be given TI tenant improvement and and he might have to spend 20 $30,000 to give a good fit out for a tenant to come in there So probably something that's not
going to cost him crazy money and risk I I have actually a question for you in regards to the seven different ideas for seven different retail units in terms of where would their trash storage be for the We have David because the the space behind the building is small It looks
like a small alleyway back there Where do you where are you proposing to store the commercial trash yeah David can you we're it's going to be private pickup but David can you go to the screen show where the screen is Yeah So we're trying to use this area here It's not defined architecturally yet but backup house is
so concentrated for all those buildings Yeah So so every one of these units will have a backup house to go there and it'll pick up on the second level We have a private pickups They come with the little I don't know if you ever seen them I have in my buildings They come Mr Rossy Even the ones that are not you
know they're sort of they're on the right hand side of this this plan that aren't as part of that hallway Where where is their trash trash so also proposing they go through the parking lot and into that little those little hallway Unless I'm saying it wrong David but first of all all the back of house
is going to be in the back of house right yeah we can plan it for that right yeah So but but just so by way if this was just going to go back to the 700 this you're never going to see this to be a food service establishment So it would
be something that wouldn't be I'm sorry It wouldn't be something that wouldn't be creating rubbish to that extent But we're going to create in these areas here and they're going to open up from the back will be like private trash areas It's just not
defined in this plan the way you see it And then there'll be a private pickup with dumpsters This would not be a city pickup This building would not require city pickup And I think any approvals which were already conditioned this board of the ZBA would state that it would be private trash pickup as a
condition So that'll be controlled in house Okay Thank you I have a quick question for you in regards to the size of the onebedrooms They seem there they seem to me to be very small especially in terms of national standards for small for onebedrooms Um my question for you
is what is the square footage layout of those because when you sorry what what is the measurements so are they 10 by 12s are they 20 x 12 but if you look here there's a line diagram It's 17 An average one is this is a 423 foot one
right and by the way the this is a studio unit So I the studios were bunched into the ones So 423 feet is 17 feet And if I can do my measurements right it's probably 30 feet in length 30 time 17 should be about 423
So and by by way of standard if you look at the newer projects that were built where the old Chelsea Clark in there the average onebedroom runs around 550 square feet So these are more of a microsiz unit which is why I
emphasize there There really not going to be people lowerric units that people can afford that are probably not going to have vehicles How do you um are when when people sign the leases how are you ensuring that a second person isn't living in the in the it's every almost I
don't I can't speak for Hector because I actually don't write his leases Y in my leases it says who the occupant are and it says in there we have like a three-day standard We have cameras and if anybody stays there over three days then they become an unauthorized occupant and becomes a violation of
lease It's done for multiple reasons because water usage everything goes up So that's what I have in my leases but I'm assuming Hector might have something to that effect But the cameras will dictate that you know and sometimes believe it or not the mailboxes dictate
it because you can see multiple names on mailboxes I have another question for you about the uh proposed tenant mix on the first floor Um one of the things that's conspicuous about this project is that there are going to be some businesses displaced by this There's a laundromat and the and the market that's going to be uh torn down as a part of
this Is there any thought into uh being given to how to replace those facilities i'm not sure what the terms were with the uh Okay My my uh client said you already spoke to them You offered them an opportunity to come back in this building Um yeah and along with that is
there you know just kind of a focused effort to retain those kinds of services not only for this building but for the community that is used to that He basically said he already spoke to them and he already offered them an opportunity to come in this building and take one of the commercial spaces if he isn't to have a laundromat within the
building What is the plan for laundry we have laundry in each unit Laundry in this these type of projects have laundry in the units You know usually the ventless washer I mean washer and dryers I put in my building I can't say they work great but that's what you see You
don't do vent ones because you have about a 100 bullets going through the roof But it's more be you can't really have a dry cleaners because I think if you know enough about dry cleaners you know you don't want them in your building because of the um the chemicals and so forth But it's more wash fold
what have not that you see in in pressing So you can have washer and dryer in the unit but I love my wife but I don't think she goes to laundry room every day So you know we have a washer and dryer because they they steam their clothes they press their clothes and so forth So there is
an opportunity and he did speak to those tenants to come back in In fact I think he even did it on the other building in Chelsea that he just did and those tenants uh came back in on that building also I I'm sorry Did you have I thought you had a question Did any answer it
oh sorry Sorry I will say I'm deeply concerned about the parking as well I do not think that there's enough parking for the amount of tenants that will live in this building I think it's unrealistic even even with the notion of having this many one
bedrooms to assume that people won't have cars and need to commute to places I mean Boston is got a great commuter system but it's the winter is tough and so a lot of people need to drive to places from from all over the place
including our two bedrooms and our three-bedroom units will most likely have parking And so we're with the commercial and with the the the residences I I do not think this meets
meets enough parking to to sustain this project What I will tell you is the biggest risk to that is not to the community or the city of Chelsea because it won't be a hindrance on them because they're not going to be eligible for residential stickers It'd be a
hindrance and a risk for the developer who's going to spend a fortune to build this building with today's interest rates and today's con construction prices that may get worse with tariffs down the road So I that's a risk on that aspect But I can tell you by way of
experience They just built directly across the street almost half the size of this units around this size with zero pocketing No issues Fully leased They
converted multiple rooming houses Correct John two or three in there Similar size 30 units in a very small like a brownstone type no parking I hear you on that But then we're adding more buildings with not enough parking So
that that that argument does not hold water for me No I'm only bringing it The risk there for nonp parking wouldn't have an adverse effect in in lie of taking park spaces off the street because you couldn't get stickers and self and Chelsea is an enforcable city
Don't take don't listen to me can talk to anybody about the city because I'm sure they call the city every day and saying "I just got five tickets." It's really a risk for the developer because if he can't lease the units because they want it they have a car That's his risk But he feels comfortable because he has multiple buildings around Broadway who
don't have parking with you know per per unit size with no parking He has 40 units in it with no His biggest reason why he built the second level was for visitor parking and was for the commercial space And as you said
correctly the two bedrooms and three bedrooms likely or not we'll probably have at least one spot Okay and that gives you about 20 25 spots But with the commercial and your residential you can do benefits and say "Hey out by nine
o'clock in by six and you get a discount." and it and then it gives the commercial more opportunity to use the spots in the back You see a lot of that and that's what he's done in other buildings and most likely that'll be done here I I if it was I can't speak
for the neighborhood but for me the the commercial was the biggest risk regarding vehicles and traffic It certainly wouldn't be the residential because they couldn't get a sticker and and and and they if it was a city that doesn't enforce it There's a strong argument there and I get that all the
time I do a lot of permitting in Everett They don't have the enforcability They don't do it to level the way Chelsea does So there's a strong likelihood I'm getting a ticket tonight because I know you know and if you live in Chelsea you understand that So that that's why I'm bringing it up It's not stating that I I
think the risk is going to be more on his part than anything else But he feels comfortable only because he's done other buildings on Broadway that don't have hockey So Broadway like Chelsea Broadway Yes He has owned Yes In fact how many units are
those so the one he just did now is how many units Hector so 40 units 40 units right on Broadway he just did on that So but the thing is see we're comparing 40 and then 115 units 120 120 of which 20 of which you
know So how are we sure that this is going to be really effective the way how we're looking at it well well it's forget about let's just talk if you want to let's compare You have 40 units that doesn't have parking You got 20 Did I say it right 120 Take away
the inclusionary which is 18 Okay That leaves you 102 with 50 parking spaces 40 which I believe have zero to 102 that have 50 that are essentially as you stated smaller 400 square foot 50 foot
420 foot micro units more likely or not those will have none on that aspect I'm bringing up a new project that's built directly across the street that's almost half the size as this has zero parking whatsoever and commercial and it's in
front of city hall which people park every day and night coming in and out and they're fully leased That just happened in within the last year So it's not just his buildings it's that which is why when they the city did the Broadway corridor they designed it in a
way and this has five bus routes going to it You know what I mean and so if it's located you know back on Carter Street somewhere deep I think it's a different conversation altogether Mhm People here can walk anywhere they want and take a tea and get be able to get to a train stop just by coming out the door
I know we're going to hear more about parking and traffic from folks in the audience but can you walk us through the recharge system how that's how water on the site is going to work i think gentleman talked about I can talk about something on the roof Rick I think I
know pretty much a lot about Culttech So so and by the way this site has no recharge system whatsoever Now so on the back of this building here this is where the uh cult system is Are you familiar with a how cult system works so in the
building itself everything that comes off the building now will go right into this cult chamber system And this was designed so these are all chambers So the so you have roof drains and you have offset roof drains that come in They're called rain leaders right they're going
to be you're not you're not going to see gutters here You're going to see inside the building They go on the ground and they go into these big huge cult systems and it absorbs it over time and it doesn't overflow They're built for like 99 year storms for that aspect This site
here is existing You're looking at pavement and everything It's just straight runoff you know and the existing building probably ties into the current water and sewer system This building will not It will actually take away from the infrastructure that's going into the city and and hurting the
city's infrastructure and bring everything on site so there's no offsite hindrance to the city Am I right Rick see I know my cult systems Are there any people in the audience who would like to speak uh regarding this
petition one two three four Any more okay Um the only uh rule is that you need to speak into the microphone mostly for my benefit
Um you need to identify yourself give your name and your address So I'll go ahead Yeah sort of first come first served I guess
Hi my name is Sandy Maynard I live on uh Chester A in Chelsea um which is only a couple of streets over from where this development is going to be And um there are numerous reasons why I feel this does not meet the needs of the community
Um we have a housing crisis I'm all for building more housing Um but um this particular project is not meeting our community's needs Um only 95 of 120 units Um
are one bedroom and our community needs three and four bedrooms I've lived in studio apartments when I lived in DC in 425 square ft and um that's small that's small for even a
studio apartment Um and I always had a car when I lived in a studio apartment and a lot of single people I know have cars I I think it's um kind of pie in the sky to think that single people aren't going to own cars because there's
public transportation Um they own cars for when they go to visit their relatives out of town um and use the public transportation for maybe work Um second um there's not um a sufficient number of affordable units Only 18 out
of the 120 units are affordable And that really is a token gesture Um the um our uh our city is composed of um we have a high percentage of um
people that need affordable housing and this number of units that's affordable doesn't meet the needs Um you know um we're multi-generational h households and workingclass families and and so the whole idea the one-bedroom and few
affordable apartments are are not meeting our needs Um I live in the area Um there is already a parking problem I drive through that intersection all the time and the traffic is already
problematic in that intersection So I think a deeper dive into this traffic and safety study needs to be done because I don't think that um that um the the number of units being placed in that area is is not going to be um you
know hazardous um with with traffic and safety being so close to the schools Um I do think that um this project will displacement is already occurring in this area and um I think this project
will exacerbate the displacement that's already occurring Um and the last point I'd like to make is I just found out about this and um I don't think there's been enough outreach and community engagement tonight We have an interpreter here but um but the
community engagement and outreach really does to need need to be in bilingual so that more people can know what's going on in our community Thank you Sorry I did it again I forgot to mention and this is not a reflection on you
Sandy but uh please don't please keep your remarks to five minutes Thank you No you won You're only four Hi my name is Brett Angel and I'm in the 100 Pearl Street building which if
you're familiar it's the converted warehouse right next to ROA And so that was an existing small warehouse that was converted to 22 units And I thought I think I believe on Pearl Street that is the biggest amount of units um in that area So adding 120 seems completely out
of proportion So my my main two concerns most of which the board have also seem to have concerns about is the scale of it I think it's way too big for that area Most most of the buildings seem to have between five and 20 units and now all of a sudden we're going to jump in
with 120 Um also I point to the uh Duo apartment building that I think you mentioned on um Central A and I think that is just completely out of scale While it might be nice inside it's just completely out of scale with that residential neighborhood and I think that whole area has sadly been
obliterated My second concern which most of you have already raised is the parking I don't know if any of you have ever stood out in in front of Puyo Comparero around 2:00 when the schools get out It is just a nightmare And so adding while they might not all be driving or have traffic there will
always be people coming and going from 120 unit building and especially if there are businesses um in the first floor as well So to me it just seems completely out of scale and out of character with that particular area of the neighborhood Thank you for the opportunity
Thank you Hi there Sherid Bianne Brown I also live at 100 Pearl Street I've been in the building for eight years My husband and I own a condo in the building So we're in the immediate vicinity of what's being proposed here I was very excited when I heard something was coming but I
pictured 30 units 40 units something like that When I look at this picture just the sheer scale is completely out of whack for the neighborhood It's much higher than anything nearby It encompasses basically the full entirety
of the space with very limited green space I feel poorly for anyone who lives on the other side and most certainly don't want to set a precedent for the rest of us and the neighbor that neighborhood that we could have something like this built between us and
Boston the skyline the water Um also to echo more about traffic it is a very congested area as it is If you're coming in this direction from where I live when school is letting in or out you're just you're tied up You're not moving And
then we have the bridge which we can't do anything to change but it compounds it I can tell you the bridge is up without looking out the window because I hear the traffic idling Um and one thing that hasn't been mentioned so parking is an issue in the neighborhood And even
when there's something that's very small scale it's impact in front of our building whether it's a roof at ROA or construction down the street there's construction vehicles that are parking and compounding something like street sweeping Um and I didn't hear anything
about when construction is taking place what the plans for that would be Um and that's it really Sheer size I think some retail space sounds nice I would like to be considerate of the businesses We have some very good
businesses that are stewards in the neighborhood and wouldn't necessarily want to see anything that directly competes with them Good evening My name is Mark Leerman I own a property uh adjacent at 37-43 Congress have I am the
uh this building right here is getting uh uh that's in the shadows Uh if you go all the way down right that's me right there Um I have uh concerns uh with uh many things Uh
number one uh building height is I think they said it was about 80 feet tall Oh excuse me I thought on the plans it said it was 79 80 ft is the height of the city requirement including the uh the rooftop decks or whatnot Either way it's twice
at least twice what uh the neighbors are It dwarfs anything and everything in the neighborhood Um I don't even think I'm going to get a chance to see the afternoon sun I certainly don't even see the morning sun uh with the buildings that are adjacent In fact you can take a look at the picture They show the
shadows on the building Uh and that would be from the morning sun Um I'm concerned with the uh density and the c it's just way out of character uh with the uh neighborhood as mentioned before and I think it's beating a dead horse but the lack of parking is is just atrocious Um a lot of
the spots on the street are going down Congress uh and around park It's it's metered parking um which is not really subject to the um uh permitting or the lack of permitting Uh and it's just miserable over there In fact they they
block the street off every morning uh to stop the traffic from getting through because of the school Um Ellsworth Street's a very very narrow street Garbage trucks can't get down there Um they talked about moving the uh businesses uh back into the building I
I've been uh unfortunately subject as a victim of uh the current businesses dumping trash in my dumpster for the last number of years because of the uh problem of trash pickup Uh big trash trucks can't even make that turn to go from Ellsworth onto um uh onto Congress
as it is There's no real sidewalks I think the sidewalk's 2T wide uh along Ellsworth Uh the parking that's across the street is currently used uh for parking up at the school every day So there's not enough parking as it is Um never mind
adding the uh uh the units uh the stores and the traffic that that's going to going to have Um you know currently uh the businesses or certainly when Kershons used to be there used to rent out spots from uh um Riley's Roast Beef uh you know before the uh the restaurant
was I know it was mentioned about uh the um uh parking and the buildings that were going up over on uh on uh by Walnut Street and uh and uh you know down on Broadway I mean two weeks ago I had to
pick up a prescription uh at the CVS and I I couldn't get down there I had to take somebody with me so I could get a park Someone could wait in the car while I ran at the CVS Uh and it was just miserable Uh and these are you know these are businesses similar You have a bunch of businesses you need traffic Um
so I'm I'm very very concerned about the parking I have to also manage properties uh of similar character uh with many one-bedrooms and uh I manage a property with 24 one-bedroom units in similar neighborhoods and there's 24 parking
spaces Everybody has a car I don't know anybody that has an apartment that doesn't have a car In fact in my building alone we have a two-bedroom apartment and and that was was one of our hurdles was to be able to rent it to somebody that can find some kind of parking They wanted to rent parking
spots from other properties that I have because there's just no parking there So to say that they're not going to have a car I I don't think so That's just a uh I don't know what kind of traffic study or or that that plan It just doesn't seem a realistic uh option for me Um
when you're talking about the open space and the lot coverage in the floor area it may not be required any but there isn't any Um and you know there might be some open space you know that we feel that's there you know with the with the parking lot space but you know we have a
a little bit of green space uh which is going to bring me into the ne next issue is we talked about the drainage Attorney Rossi mentioned about these Celtic systems and how it's not going to impact um the city uh drainage system Well I happen to be a mechanical engineer and I
install these things for a living Where does the where does the water go goes into the ground Well about two years ago we had a water break a water one of the lateral breaks on Ellsworth Street Guess where the water went went into the ground and into my basement And I know
cuz I had to be the one cleaning it up and dealing with the dehumidification So having that call check along elsewhere that that that just does not work Um in fact you know the only way to make something like that work without without
uh um you know addressing uh the uh the over would be to overflow it back onto the street All that water from that building is now going to be directed into that system where normally it would be directed onto uh onto Park Street in
in down that way So I I don't think that's a real sufficient uh uh solution Uh Ellsworth Streets may be 10 feet wide I can't even get my pickup truck down there without uh uh driving over half of the sidewalk from that uh turn from Essex onto uh onto Ellsworth Um take a
look at that corner uh you know uh that that junction at the corner of Ellsworth in Essex I I think the sidewalks broken there Um there's many times when you know we have our trash pickup I I don't know where they're getting trash pickup over there I have six units there and
and I have a twice a week pickup in in my dumpster And he's talking about bringing a a small truck there We have a big truck that comes down They can't make the turn They can't even they can't make the turn from Ellsworth on onto uh onto Congress a it's absolutely absolutely
miserable Um yeah that's basically uh you know just to exacerbate the point even further I mean Mr Ross was late Why was he late tonight cuz you couldn't find parking 100% There you go There you go
I mean I I do want to see something developed over here It just I think some more work needs to be done to to make it work with the neighborhood Thank you I may Um good evening members of the planning
board My name is Monica Elasana I'm actually a resident here in Chelsea at 44 Prospect A but I'm also here on behalf of Green Roots so 90 Everett Avenue as well as many Chelsea residents who joined us April 14th to discuss the
proposed development of 104 sorry 105 110 Park Street 12 Essex and one Ellsworth We came together because we deeply care about our neighborhoods about the families who we built lives here the small businesses that hold our
community together and the future we want to see for Chelsea This meeting was meant to be a conversation with a developer who was invited and originally agreed to attend Unfortunately they chose not to show up because of personal u issues and the
decision sent a message one that says community voices are optional not essential We're here to say the opposite is true Tonight residents raised serious and heartfelt concerns The proposed housing isn't affordable to most of our
neighbors 95 one-bedroom units and I know you've heard it already but that's not what Chelsea needs We need familysiz housing that have lived here for a long time deep affordability like mentioned by other residents and a path to stay
not be priced out when they talk about um Viddle the starting rate just looking at their website is like 2,300 for a studio A lot of residents in this meeting were worried about the potential displacement of small businesses like Elabo Grocery and the laundry mat that
they frequent increased traffic parking issues environmental impact and the sheer scale of the building How does it reflect the character of the neighborhood it doesn't This is more than a development It is
this question of who this is for When we talk about the what the city wants I think we really need a community process with community input just like the one that we had on Monday April 14th where community came together and spoke about
their likes their concerns about this project So we urge you to reconsider this current proposal as is and require meaningful revisions more affordability family-siz housing support for existing local businesses a real plan for public
engagement and is and a design that respects our community Chelsea and I've lived here most of my life deserves you know something in that site at Poo Compo Like we're not saying don't build anything just have community process community engagement because it's so important and essential for this
parcel Thank you Hello everyone I just want to say thank you for your time My name is Oscar I live on 69 Pearl Street in Chelsea I lived here my whole life I've been born and raised in Chelsea and I've been in that general area for about the last 12
years Before that I was going from house to house But what I would like to say is that Chelsea is like a choke cold for all these people coming in with traffic We're talking about Everett River Lynn Somerville that's just from the north from the back end We're even talking about Boston East Boston And we're not
even counting the people coming in from Route One from Sus and beyond That's a lot of people coming in And as someone that lives on Pearl Street right next to the bridge more so than anyone else in Pearl Street because after me it's just that area where they have the cars like being rented
out It's a it's a disaster Like there's so many people coming in once those bridges are up People are racing through like this little dirt track that's right next to my house People are trying to race the other bridge It is it's going to be a nightmare when this building's being built because all the construction that's happening especially how massive
it is Even in an ideal world with like it's within a year it's still going to be a nightmare to deal with And although maybe not everyone may not have a car if anyone is going to be able to afford this well let's be honest a really small unit for $2,000 who I heard 2,300 as
someone that's looking to go out and find my own place away from family within the next month or within the next six months I'm sorry but I'm not I'm not going to do that That's a ripoff in my opinion I I wouldn't do that myself And as that's just as a consumer as a
customer like that that unit is just too small And also because I live in that area I use that laundry mat You can argue that the other laundry mats nearby are just good enough for everyone to go to But just like how Chelsea is a choke hold for traffic even more so is going to be the same for laundry People are
going to be fighting I'm going to have to wake up even earlier than I already do just to do laundry This is going to be a nightmare Even if I were to have that unit with uh like a washing machine and dryer everyone else within Chelsea Street and beyond and exit into like Highland it's it's going to be a
nightmare if I'm going to be honest with you and the amount of parking If anyone that's going to be able to afford this kind of unit most likely will have a car And even if they don't they have family That's a that's too much of a high price for a small amount of unit But that's just my two pieces Honestly I I'm pretty
much against it considering it's like what 50 parking 120 units That's just abysmal I'm sorry I didn't get your last name My last name Figureroa Oscar Figureroa Sierra Thank you Yep Thank you
Good afternoon My name is Manuel Tashe I live at 188 Broadway Um and I am also the city councelor for district 7 The reason why I'm here today is because u I was also at the meeting that was organized um by Green Roots and Monica
who was joined uh who joined us today Um and and I got to tell you right my my job as a city councelor is uh to be elected to speak for and represent the values of the people right so uh me attending attending this meeting was also part of my job um and the things I
learned when I attended this meeting was nothing new you know I I had spoken to individuals um one-on- ones um before about this project and the the thought was always well you know all these problems with housing all the problems s with the traffic all the problems with
parking Um and and I have to say Chelsea is going in a good direction and we have to maintain it going in a good direction but that also comes with big responsibilities right um we're not Boston We're not building sky highrises but you know we we are we do want to
build and we welcome development and we want to do something that's good for our community I would just say uh definitely props um to Hector for you know taking this property and trying to build something good out of it Um but what I'm going to say is that you know we cannot be talking about
this many single single bedroom apartments Um we need we need family um apartments We need to make sure that we build the structure for the community that we want because if we don't and if we allow this to be a full-on single-bedroom apartment then that's all
we're going to be seeing in the city So you know don't look at this as this one project Look at it as the the example you want to set for all the projects that are going to be coming to Chelsea Um you know that is not to say that you know get rid of this whole plan I'm
saying revise it Add a couple more you know two-bedroom apartments Add a couple more public spaces Um one thing that I would say is let's really take advantage of that rooftop deck that could be developed into something amazing Think think what you could put up there Could it be a restaurant that could be open
for all of Chelsea and then you know like think about what experiences we want to be building because at the end of the day it's not just about the structure It's not just about the profit It's about building a land landmark that's gonna do something for our community right um we're doing something
big for Hector which is allowing him to build in this city but he's also doing something great for us which is investing his money to make this happen So I would just say as it is right now I I urge you to not um approve it I would say let's come back with some revisions
I'm not saying change 100% of it I'm saying you know change 15% of it um make it more appealable to the concerns that that you have heard today Um and you know I'll be the first one to say hey you know what I'm supporting this 100% So those are you know my thoughts um
definitely feel free to meet with anybody else after this um if any other questions arise but um you know I'm here to represent what the you know my district says district 7 which is where this project is going to be built and what I'm telling you is not my personal view What I'm telling you is what this
district wants Thank you Thank you Hello my name is uh John Mongello I live on 77 Pearl Street Um I've been an owner um of one of the brownstones there for 25 years now and a lifelong uh resident
of Chelsea Um I appreciate what the council is doing today and the words of my neighbors Um and I think uh I mean Chelsea needs to move forward I think the development overall is good but the scope and there needs to be a serious
just look at the project um and a lot of tweaking and adjusting it to meet the needs of the community Um there definitely should be community meetings when um you know by I don't know what board or what level of city council but there should be meetings with the
developers um just to get general input um in the beginning so rather than when we're getting to approval processes it's now everybody earing um lots of concerns um traffic in that exact intersection
and again I walk there I walk my dog um you it the traffic has been horrendous for years Um it definitely needs a traffic light system um because it's beyond just stop signs with the volume of traffic Um and that's something that
should be addressed whether the development goes forward or how it that's that's just a major issue with the bridge and all the other issues which this board and everyone um in the room are aware of It it the traffic there is a nightmare It's just a huge
bottleneck of folks coming from every other city trying to get to the airport trying to get through Chelsea workers for the airport It we we all know what it is So um the traffic is definitely a concern and there needs to be a good mitigation and and system to control the
current traffic before even any more traffic is added Um and the parking situation um you know if this volume of units is going to be built which I'm not opposed to it may be two bedrooms may be a different mix um you know but the the
I I am a property manager I actually have my own property management company now um and I will tell you um people are going to have cars um someone had spoke earlier you know I I live in the brownstone I I jump on sometimes I jump on the bus and I go to downtown Boston
um I have my car I just drove to Philly this weekend to see my nieces Um you know everyone has cars Um in my own building there's a two-bedroom downstairs that the owner um she's owned it for 25 years also but she rents it out now Um there's three folks in the
two bedrooms and there's three cars Um and you know our building has limited So there's lots of buildings that may have been grandfathered or built before parking times Um but when new projects are going forward I think all of the parking needs to be carefully looked at
and calculated And I mean the city uh the school board owns there's you know the parking directly across from the laundry mat right now Um also ROA has a large parking lot um has two large large parking lots one right next to the building and one down the street um on
the on the back street um you know maybe some sort of agreement can be worked with either of those organizations to build a parking deck or or expand the parking or do you know they use it during the day and residents need it at night But there definitely needs to be a
more comprehensive parking plan um because regardless if folks and and a lot of folks will take advantage of all of the transportation options we have here but at the end of the day um you know there's going to be a lot more cars and I will even the dual duo um
buildings um which again I I like the buildings I mean there it's a it's a big improvement from the housing that was there previously Um however um you know I've driven folks there um there's no like drop off area and perhaps that's
coming along in a further phase of it but right now there's no place to drop off So if there's Ubers if you have friends or family dropping friends or family off um so that same issue needs to be addressed because that current park and Pearl Street intersection I
mean if you go to the Benjamin Moore Kershaw's the little paint store that a lot of us buy from and have supported through the years Um you know um it there's traffic there the little restaurants that are there and I can walk from my house Um but there's been
times I've had family from out of state or out of country come and we're in the car and I'm like there I'm like let's just park at my house and walk back because um you know parking is already a major issue there um for the commercial
properties that are that are there And I like the mix and I like I think some additional um commercial would would not be a bad mix in the area but again the size and the amount of units should be carefully looked at Um I definitely
think the Abuo um grocery store convenience store as well as the Victoria's um laundry should be um if possible you know saved or brought into the project Um they're familyowned
generational businesses that have been there I think that laundry is one of the only 24-hour laundry in Chelsea There's a lot of people that live in my neighborhood who walk in the middle of the night who work and get out of work at midnight come come back on the buses and go do their laundry in the middle of
the night Um it's actually a lot quieter at night And it's always staffed They always have a family member working there Um so it's you know they're they're a good neighbor um and business in the community as well as the convenience store Um so I think if you
know if possible those should be um saved or you know try to bring them into the project but definitely need a comprehensive review of what'll happen with parking and traffic Thank you Thank you
Hello Uh my name is Yelina Hernandez I live on 31 Kerry Avenue in Chelsea And um I just wanted to share my testimony my personal experiences living in Chelsea And I think my story could represent a lot of families um here in
Chelsea similar to mine Um uh growing up my mom provided for my brother and I as a single mother and we had to move several times I lived on Watt Street which was um the Chelsea Housing Authority I believe which was torn down Um I lived on Guam Road as well I lived
on Garish Avenue and now I live on Kerry a um over time my mom has struggled a lot to find any housing any apartments just for the three of us and seeing these apartments that are only for one single room it's really pushing these
families out of our community And so it's just making us reflect um is this for the community or is this for independent maybe economically advantages that people want so yeah thank you
I hope I will be the last one My name is Anna Vaneras and I live at 454 Street I'm in the in the same district where Poo Compro is I have experience because
I was a great customer of Poo Compero I'm very sad to see it gone for a long time I'm very happy that something else is coming But I do definitely I don't going to repeat everything else that everybody had said already but traffic
nightmare affordability nightmare Okay Uh parking nightmare So definitely all those things I am um in accordance with but one of the things that I have experience with is
traffic during construction I live right there where Cherry Street right now I live in Fort Street where is construction going on One side the other side and the next side
up So I can relate to construction problems parking problems traffic problems during construction times And that was something that we hear because I was also part of that meeting I work for community and ris the community land
trust here in Chelsea and affordability is one of our biggest concerns because we work with community We know what community struggles with It's not only finding
uh housing is also finding affordable housing in Chelsea in a city that they call their own I have lived here 30 years of my life This is my town I will not like to live because I
cannot find a place where I can afford And like me it's a lot of people also that you going to hear that if they were here they will be saying the same thing So please let's reconsider Let's make sure that we represent the
community that we represent Thank you Anybody else mr Rossi you'd like to respond if I may Uh thank you members of the board I want to thank the audience and the city council for all their comments
and I want to sort of address as many of them as possible I took notes Um the first resident talked about more three-bedroom units which we've got from this board Um we'll look into it It's again it'll be taking other units away
Let's talk in Franks is that in today's world we could do so much more inclusionary We could do all these things I don't know who's going to finance it because economically even this project the way you see it now is going to be very difficult to finance between the acquisition the demolition
the cleanup um it's pretty extensive um that so I I have architects over the year that can show all these things is beautiful but if you can't build it it means nothing and we talk they and was there was also a comment regarding you
know the inclusionary that it seems and this is on the first one because I'm going through one at a time we meet the inclusionary guidelines we're following the inclusionary affordable guidelines and and Chelsea is not a 40B city Chelsea's well over the the amount of
affordable units but we added more units to give more inclusionary units so even if diminish the you know more studio units and add more multiple bedroom units then you go to the next resident when you have multiple bedroom units
more chance you're going to need parking so there's an offset to everything you do and it's also going to be financial make sense and if you offer more and now you diminish the amount of inclusionary units because you reduce the amount of units and the bottom line is four out of
six units that you build in this format that Chelsea has you lose money just economically you lose money My client added more units to give the city more opportunity to have more inclusion every units Uh I just want to make that clear Then there was talked about the second
um resident regarding you know the height the lot size We're not asking for le for lot and height size In fact we're compliant with the amount of units that we can have on the site We're compliant with the height What a lot of people don't understand because you're seeing
120 units This easily could be four 30 unit buildings based on the lot size This is 60% of an acre in downtown Chelsea So if you take buildings in Chelsea on Broadway and other buildings you probably have two 300 units in the
same lot size That's why we're not asking for relief for the amount of units We're not asking for relief for the height It's all compliant The reason why it sounds like a lot because my client acquired multiple multiple parcels and made them into one development project It's almost 25,000
square feet in an urban city So if we came back and we subdivided this and we did an ANR plan and we came and said we're doing a 30-unit building it sounds great Oh okay 30 units But really this is almost like four different parcels combined as one And economically it
makes more sense to build it this way So it's it's deceiving when you're thinking that this is 120 units It's really not It's it's 120 units over multiple multiple multiple parcels in an urban area So we're not asking for relief in height And then there was an issue
regarding open space One of the residents mentioned and I didn't talk about it and I apologize but the whole entire roof area if you can go to the roof deck please we're going to have all that is for the residents That's all all that decking you see on top If you go
backwards that's 8,000 square feet of roof deck outdoor space for the residents So and I apologize it shouldn't be brought up in there And then there was something about putting a restaurant on top So again this goes into other issues If you put a
restaurant you have to be ADA compliant You have to have an elevator go up and the stairs go up Once you start putting the elevator up and you put the multiple stairs now we're not going to be compliant We're not going to have the occupancy You're not going to have the parking to meet that As John will tell you on a restaurant you're going to have
to have based on the amount of patrons and the amount of people you might need 80 spots just for the restaurant because of the size of it These it's not like we don't want to build If my client thought he could build a restaurant on the whole space he would do the that it just it
doesn't economically make sense Then I heard and and I I hear what and a lot of people don't understand this If you have a a three family or a four family or a six family in Chelsea and you have people have parking it's a
different clientele for those type of buildings and homes Those homes have parking Um but the new construction projects it's it's a different format al together So I know the budder talked about how he has parking based on that
That's a different project altogether These type of projects cater to different type of clientele I don't know where the 2,300 came about at all because my client would be shocked But he's not looking at this as a $2,300 a month unit That never came from us We
never spoke to anybody And if I knew about the community meeting I certainly would have been there I I personally never got contacted about a community meeting and I or I would have been there I just want to tell you that because I've done many community meetings over time but this is something we went for months and months and
months with the city talking about what the city wanted to see based on what their ultimate goal and planning was designed for this Broadway corridor But we didn't have to seek any relief I know we did not we did not seek any relief
for any of this stuff Okay I just want to make that clear this could easily be a byright project Um but but I certainly would not if I knew I would have been there anyways just to hear the concerns but there's also a way that you have to be to make this work financially Geez if
we could do 50% inclusionary units and do that you'll be bankrupt because nobody would finance you because you're losing money on four out of six units So we we we can reduce the unit count or we lose the inclusionary you know and then when you make more multiple bedrooms I
don't disagree with you but when you have a two-bedroom you're going to have a pocket spot I emphasize that to the board I also didn't lie to the board and say I had a difficult time finding parking What I say is what it is But I had a difficult find parking because when this building was built they only
created 20 30 spots in city hall we have you know between people working here and night meetings you can't get parking But I also don't live here I'm not a visitor which is why my client developed a project like this But a lot of it seems
more than what it is because people aren't realizing the size of the land and the multiple parcels that were combined in this project This easily could have been four smaller projects and it wouldn't you know you I don't want to say freak people out and say
"What's going on here?" But you can't economically make that work because you can't build four buildings with four elevators and four foundations They don't make sense you know on that aspect Um but I but all those are all compliant And we do have open space We do And as
far as the trash pickup I own hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of units The these aren't dumpsters like you see the city of Chelsea and come with these big dump trucks These are small probably little bit bigger than a
uh maybe one and a half times of an actual van And they come in and they go to the second level if you go to the parking And they come right up in the back and we're going to have those assigned spaces back here and they do it
sometimes three times a week based on need on it But it works I do it every day I don't have any municipal municipal uh project and that's not going to be an issue But that's what you see in these projects and my client does that now so
we know it works These aren't projects like a standard four or five or six family you know but I just wanted to talk about that And then there was talk about Uber pickup and so forth We're going to have designated pickups in the right those spots that you see to the right those four spots those are going
to be assigned And we talked this about this in the ZBA And I apologize I thought I keep forgetting this It's been a long time because this has been tabled because of conflicts and I went away for my kids um spring break you know the the
kids vacation But there is Uber pickups There is visitor parking But whether they want to believe it or not I I beg people to do some due diligence and look at what's been built on Broadway in the last year and look at
the size of those units and see if they do have parking and they don't get residential stickers It's a different different clientele whatsoever But my client never represented that he's going to get 2,300 2,000 a unit I have buildings on in Everett that are bigger
than this with parking and I can't get that money That that's nothing that came from my client So I don't know where that came from And maybe that's somebody maybe they looked at what what's being built with Fairfield with the Chelsea clock and maybe that's where they got that But it's not what my client is My
client cares about Chelsea He does a lot with Chelsea and he doesn't rent units at those numbers you know he just did a a a six unit building and I he barely gets that much in there Those are all two or three bedrooms So where that came from would did not come from him I just
want to make that clear Um sorry I just want to go I want to try to hit as many things I know Green Roots talked about that and I apologize if someone called me I would have came on this and um but that's when the 2300
came up but that wasn't that wasn't from us We never represented that Um I I certainly haven't represented I and I I've already asked Hector that's not that he's represented So that's not what we're trying to rent for If that was the case we could get rid of 20 30 units and
make the financials number work But you can't go to a bank and try to tell a bank you're going to get 2,300 for with no parking on a 420 foot unit They're not going to they're not going to believe you you know So this is not one of those pool buildings with you know
all these amenities This doesn't exist in this building And we do have bike storage on site I know someone brought that up We do have bike storage right David i think um we're actually going to have bike storage It's actually racking system
It's not something that um and the other thing about bikes you know you know what's interesting i'm I'm I used to be a a messenger boy in New York City and I also um I don't own a car actually Um so in terms of
bikes what people have to understand is that even if you give 120 parking bike bike parking spaces they're not going to act Not everyone's a bike commuter Only about 25 to 30% of human population
could actually even consider So I think what I mean like I you know I I I stressed we could have met all of the zoning requirements We we did not have to seek any any relief We could have met the parking We could have met the number
of units the height In fact we even reduced the the height of the building because the city thought that it was too tall Now so what I mean by de facto versus dour is that de facto you could set you know it's by fact DJour yeah you could set
the regulation but fact of life is that you're not going to need as many bikes So we're going to probably establish about 35 parking spaces for parking for bikes Quick question for you on the bikes Um I know you said you want
to put them in that back hallway How wide is that back hallway so not in the hallway They have the the It's a nine foot hallway It's a bike racking system The width of that nine feet wide Okay Thank you It's a bike racking system on it But again we could have been 100%
compliant It's only a few inches here and that But again we're trying to be accommodating to what the city's vision was for this area And I think a lot of it seems bigger than what it is because you don't realize how big that lot size
is and how many possibles were combined to make this work Um let me just ask as far as the city's vision goes was there any thought put into um building these to condo standard so that at we could have a rent to own type situation Did
you if you could do if you could do condos in today's market this is the dilemma your interest rate today And forget about construction So construction today is is probably a hundred basis points over prime So over
eight and a half maybe percent today Um which makes it really difficult to get construction financing That's one But then if someone try to buy let's just say a hypothetically a 600 foot unit based on what you what they borrow Let's
just say it's even $500,000 It would cost them far more money to buy it than it is to rent it because the interest rates affect the market And finance-wise if you do a performer to a bank it would never it would never pan out because nobody could
actually qualify And that's a dilemma what's going on today The reason why you're seeing condos going down in pricing because you know three years ago when you're going to get three and a half percent if you borrowed 500,000 you're paying 1,600 a month But now if you borrow $300,000 it it's tripled to
that So it could never work on a condo aspect And when you do have condos more likely or not everything I told you about pocketing throw it away because almost everybody that buys a condo really wants to have a car It's totally different clientele whatsoever I
think you throw away a lot of the stuff I'm telling you because you don't get it So if you could have gotten the price listen if you could get what the market was for condos like four years ago and the rates to borrow four years ago it's a different project entirely Well if you
forget the car it's a pathway to home ownership and it's a place to start And I think our community could really use more units like that I I I agree but we need a lot of help If someone can give us free money that's the dilemma because
there's a lot of projects in even developer friendly cities that they can't give away the land with the permits because the construction costs with the today's rates financially don't work Excluding what you're paying for material that's a whole different
ballgame I can tell you that lumber has not been affected yet but steel has gone up sheetrock has gone up Um insulation has gone up Whether it should have gone up or not the any excuse that these people can use to bring prices up they take advantage of that whether the
tariffs went into effect or not Okay But then there's the ability to build build condo standards or be able He's building condo standards no matter what Separate the utilities at some point He he's building condo standards no matter what and he's going to build them with separate meters for because even in
Chelsea when you do do a condo or conversion you're required to have separate water meters per unit It's going to be all done So he's building that way Great And if the market changed and that work you would do that in a hobby Um and I and I know this wasn't brought up now
but I know this board is aware of this Anytime a project of this size or any type of size is going to require construction management plan that's going to be reviewed by the planning department and the building department Am I wrong John it's pretty detailed and the building commissioner gets involved So
any type of traffic construction being done management plan has to be followed If not the city regulates that So I didn't bring it up I know this board is wearing it I I just wanted I know some people were concerned regarding the construction process Um again this is a pretty large site so you can do that
initially when you're doing the construction Um I know there was talk about the cult system It was and and where's the butter i apologize I know he's No no I one of the betterers Yes
somewhere over here Um yes So I I built Cols Rick where are you rick did all Rick had to leave Sorry I build cult systems on my projects for 199 year storms That's pretty much the norm that
these if you design them and build them right They work to a tea that they're designed in that manner It's not like a like a little drain that you you put out These things go into the ground We're talking 8 feet starts with crushed stone It starts with with a coldtech chamber
with felt crushed stone Um other pit may work most Remember this current site now just to give you an idea has absolutely no everything goes to the city or it's a runoff This is only going to be better
because than what it is So we so just to make that clear everything is going to these chambers The city's requirements you can't tie back into the water and sewer right John you're not allowed to So these engineered plans aren't created They've been around for now decades on
these cults These cults work so long as they're built right They do But I I will tell you that if you're not flooding now you're only going to get better than what it is now And they do have different rain They're called rain leaders the drains that take offset So
if one goes it goes in a different direction But just I just want to talk about that So to get because someone brought that up Um and we do have a drop off of pickup And as far as a laundromat I know that was brought up with people My client fully intends and hopes that
two out of the seven are going to be the current occupants that are there now out of the seven retail spaces there And that's why I want to hit everybody that said something as much as I can I didn't talk about the trash pickup
Sorry Um I can't convince people we're parking I'm not trying to convince people of parking but the traffic analysis that's being done these are projects that are built The numbers are the numbers They
just don't they don't lie They're not fabricated Again my client forget about what he believes Lenders in today's world won't even consider financing you if they don't believe the numbers will work because they don't want an empty building But what I can tell you and let
me just ask Tucker I I have no problem I'd like to hear any thoughts of the board after I'm done I have no problem tableing this and see if there's anything can be done My only concern is even if we reduce the unit count and add more multiple
bedrooms I I'm thinking we're creating a bigger parking problem by doing that That's my concern because a two-bedroom I agree with one of the abunders who said that we'll probably get you a parking spot at least two out of three So the more we
add that affects that and then we also we will lose inclusionary units and that's something that the city wanted to see more units and we will be adding 18 units into the pool So so if we're looking at uh I wouldn't look at as 120 units I would look at at 102 units at
market rate and you have 50 spots of which a lot of them are micro units and these are meant to be affordable units My client is of minority descent and 90% of his tenants are minorities and he tries to build to give them an
opportunity young people that want their own place This is not a catch and grab That's not what he does I've been representing him for years in multiple cities That's why when I hear the 2300 it's disturbing because that's not what the intention was
Uh Mr Rossi pardon me Um which of these units out of this collection are you planning on offering as the affordable units out could you just give us an overview how many of the singles the doubles and the triples would be so by
by state law it's coming under chapter 40 And if I'm wrong someone correct me You have to actually and they're all going to be finished the exact same way Every finish has to be the same you can't discriminate or what have not and you got to work with the state and the city inclusionary department It's it's
an equal number based on it So if we have you you're required to do is it um 20 what is it John 15% is it how many so you're going to get 15% one bedrooms 15% of two bedrooms 50% at three bedrooms
and you can't put them all on the second floor you know it's got to be am I right John on every floor So they're going to get the same benefit And I emphasize 30% AMI and is it 50% AMI you're basically
renting units for like $600 $900 Two out of three of those And then the other one is probably closer to market rent I would think the 80% AMI but two out of three of those We're losing money here all day with the same finishes And we
and those are are probably going to go to Chelsea residents So when we reduce the unit count we're losing the eligibility there And when he factors in this money he's already knowing out of those 18 units 12 of them out the door Cost him more money than he could ever
collect rent on And what nobody realizes when you do inclusionary units it's not like when you rent you're done Every year you got to pay to get that tenant reertified that tenant doesn't get reertified doesn't qualify the unit becomes empty and you're probably looking at an empty unit for another six
months because you have to readvertise again So you're not just getting low rent but you're probably going to get even half the rent if the person doesn't re-qualify So those units are basically a massive massive loss And we did that to add more units into the pool for
Chelsea And they don't need that pool because they're well over the 40B requirement But we took extensive time to make that work in that aspect But I have no objection to table it and see if we can address some of the concerns But again if that's what the board wants to
see I'll do But I don't know how much more I can do because we're helping in one way but we're going to hurt in another way A question for you about um the traffic study that's oncoming Does that include um a work up of what anticipated traffic
flows in the area would be yeah Kind of responsive to uh what was said about you know larger than just the parking situation on this particular site but also the just kind of neighboring impacts on that I I'll speak for a second If I'm wrong you can certainly come up but it's basically they do it
the intersection study They do a peak hour study on when the peak hours are people coming in and going out and they'll do a trip count based on that And then they'll do it based on other buildings in the area and what they're doing Am I wrong so far and and it's going to be comparable and then you can
based on that you'll see what it is I feel pretty strongly that when Polar Apparel was open Lamat and all the businesses that the traffic impact the neighborhood will be far worse than what the current proposed use will be because
it's pretty it's dimminimous when you're dealing with these units And I I want to make clear when they do a traffic study they don't whether it's a two-bedroom or threebedroom in studio it counts the same Am I wrong as far as the trip count
oh correct So trip counts can be the same even though really a studio unit or onebedroom unit likelihood probably won't have a car So it actually makes it worse for a petitioner like my client because he's predominantly smaller units
Right Right And I still feel confident that it's going to be better Yeah This to say that study's on is coming soon Yes Do you have an idea of when that might be one to two weeks One to two weeks Thank you Yeah I'd also just want to mention
uh two things One um in fiscal year 27 there is anticipated changes to the intersection to make it more to essentially improve the intersection and try to address some of these traffic concerns we can definitely if this were to get tabled we can definitely review
that plan at the next meeting Um and then the other thing I wanted to mention is that there is a letter of support from the city manager Fidel Maltes for this project that you all have So just wanted to flag that and get that in the record But again I I have no objection and my client has no objection We're not
trying to hide or anything here and I apologize to anybody if they took that effect I mean I was away for two weeks with my kids I mean so it that could have impacted but I have no objection If you want to table it and we have to the next meeting we will have the traffic
analysis by then too Um that might be helpful or not but whatever this board is inclined to do Rossy just one more quick question How long is the anticipated build for this uh project i can tell you I actually build So uh project this side I would say probably
around 14 months to build that motion Make a motion to table this project I'd like I'd just like to make a statement if it's okay Um we're actually going to recommend that you do table this Um we
need the three actions that they are doing today is a recommendation to the uh ZB on a special permit major site plan They also have to approve a special permit relative to the depth of the buffer between the non residential and residential district We don't have enough information on that buffer We
need a real planting plan and a landscaping plan Okay that's fine Okay we'll continue with the making a motion to to table this until we receive the traffic plan and the other necessary information to make uh a full decision on this Second I would I would amend
that motion It has to be to a date and time specific Uh John can you speak to that when would be the appropriate um May 26 27th is your next board meeting So it's the motion is to table this until the next
board meeting Second the motion made and seconded to table uh the petition until the May uh planning board meeting
All in favor i I Any oppose thank Thank you Mr Chairman Thank you members of the board John can you can we table I already sent that waiver for the ZBA because it doesn't make sense because we have to come back right it it'll still be on the agenda because we
posted it as at the last meeting It's continuing until uh but it will just be continued to the June meeting I already did a waiver constructive approval anyways Right Right So the this meeting is was scheduled to go before the ZBA at
its May 13th meeting but because it's being continued here the ZBA will not hear it on that day It'll just be moved to the ZBA's June meeting I wanted the residents to know so there's no issue and don't kill yourself to come on the next meeting in the ZBA
and then we don't show up Thank you Thank you members of the board Thank you John Thank you I think we're next sir Yeah at least the temperature went down like in the room
Uh we have more business here So if you don't wish to sit in the audience uh or you uh wish to make additional comments
otherwise time to go home The uh next petition is case 20252 at 18 to 24 Grand View Road and Elmer Castillo was the petitioner Okay good evening again Uh thank you for
having us back this month Uh my name is Rebecca Edmonson Cororum and I'm here on the 18 Grand View project With me is my um client Elmer Castillo and he also brought his family this evening Um and speaking of uh could you introduce your
family hi everybody So my name is Almer Castillo and like you said my whole family is here My wife and my two kids they are right in the back Uh so we have Vagro uh Christian and
Hazel here with us Uh and also make sure everything's okay Uh we also have with us also our architect of record uh Aldeir Tusca which is right here Uh we also brought our um civil engineer so he can explain the storm
water management system much better than I can Uh and his name is I don't want to mispronounce the last name again So it's Long Buof Okay I kept saying Buford uh and also the aonomous BA who is our landscape designer as well
So she's here to answer all your questions about our landscape design Um I brought the professionals tonight to answer more of your questions especially the storm water mitigation system Um we have also a shadow study for you that's
making the rounds Um we did the longest and the shortest day of the year So we have uh summer and winter equinoxes Uh we do have a landscape management plan and also I would like uh Mr Tusca to take over We did redesign the house uh
we got took all of your feedback um and we made it into a more tra it was a traditional two family um stack on one on top of the other instead of a sideby-side duplex design Uh we have shrunk it um we have moved it over and shrunk it by about four feet all around
uh and also reduced the unit sizes We also took the um sorry I'm we could just go to the next slide if that's okay Mr Depri my apologies uh for wh not that one my
apologies So here we go We kind of we shrunk it uh and we put only one set of stairs uh into the first floor that also goes into the second floor We made a recessed patio in the back as well uh pvious pavers everywhere We also have a
nice planting design and also keeping all existing plant uh trees on the property as well Um and we redid the parking just a bit where we have three full spaces and then we have three spaces instead of two uh instead of two
tandemss we just we have two real spaces and then a tandem spot So we're actually we're trying to become more compliant um and just as so instead of seeking um four offspaces uh two we're look we have
three now uh proposed um we have also become uh more we have actually become compliant with the sideyard setback requirement So it's one less uh variable one less variance for you and also we've reduced the lot coverage as well We were
at 43% now we're at 37% Uh but just to explain uh more about what's going on with the redesign I'm going to turn this over to Alir Also just let me know like which plan you want me to be on because you there's a bunch of different files So certainly
sir Thank you Yes I can walk you through This is the like uh DD was explaining So we try to fit uh three cars at the front So from two tandem we went to one tandem and uh now like we redesigned it like a two- decker We eliminated one of the
stair and we located the first unit on the first floor which is like a threebedroom and is around uh 1170 square ft 1100 like if I can call it 1200 for both units and the other units is on the second floor and uh I try on my drawing to put
like uh both houses because you guys asked last time to see like how is in relation with the other buildings I try to like count the siding for both houses in order to get the right height for both buildings and I place them all in elevations as you can see the design
compared to the houses around it And I did as well some renderings for you guys to see like the shadow studies So these are these are some renderings but these are not the shadow studies but if you can go to the next folder for the shadow study I can walk you
through Correct So here is the the middle house and I took like uh two renderings at the same time One facing just the front and one facing from above just in case like to see how the shadow is affecting the other houses around So
this is uh December 21 time 9:00 a.m The same thing just seeing from up above and this is December 21 12 p.m from And this is again the same 12 p.m just seeing from
above and then this is December 21 6 p.m Same thing seeing from above Then I did it for June 21 at 9:00 a.m Same thing And this is June 21 12
p.m The same looking from above And then June 21 6 p.m Same thing looking from above And then I did some other renderings just you know to get like to see the house from different perspective Seeing this is like a front right
rendering and then the other one is a left right rendering and seeing the landscape The landscape is all the same as the landscape in design I place the tree like the landscape can explain landscape uh design So this is just the front This
is the rear the rear left rendering and then I have the the right left rendering Thank you for listening to us and making uh some new adjustments It the the design is uh much improved in my opinion So
um thank you How do uh a question for you on the staircases at the at the uh front side of the building how does the person enter the second floor of the of the two family if you go to the there they enter into the same lobby Yep So if
you go to the Can you please go to the first floor plan it's A2 page three right there Second set of stairs through one So it's one stair getting to the lobby is a shared area Yep Then I have a door that enter
the first unit and then you go up the stairs to enter to the other unit Thank you And then you have a stair going to the to the parking as well Um I got a big problem with the shadow study in December 21st at 6 p.m It is completely pitch black outside How can
you possibly have a shadow study at 6 p.m on December 21st unless you 6 p.m It is the sun sets Believe me I follow the weather and sunset for my business at it It sets at 4:00 correct 4:15 at the
latest It looks like it's noon So so what I did I did exaggerate the saturation in order to see the contrast more than a little exaggeration Yeah But it's like to see the contrast because otherwise it was going to be like all you know in black then Well then it but you loses all credibility to the other
other shadow studies How can I How can I trust other images if this one is so blatantly I mean I don't get it I I I'm not a I just don't understand this It's like I understand this is a very that's one issue I have which is a shadow study
and the second issue is the the parking the tandem space parking on the street is very difficult and now you're going to have a car that's going to have to back out back in back you know and it's it's you know tandem parking is in
theory pract you know works but in reality it is an extremely difficult thing to do um so and it's a very wide intersection I mean it's a it's you know it's it's a handsome building I agree It's a handsome building but I find it a
little that's hard to deal with The the parking here is you know the garage It's nice to have under you know parking to for your tenants and things like that but I think it's going to be kind of difficult in
you know when it snows and That's a point of information Ma'am we we did go to the We had this kind of question about the backing in and backing out but most drive there are mostly driveways and also car garages on the street as well So there's already quite a few
people that back in and back out already Uh and my client is one of them and they don't seem to have a problem doing backing in and backing out Um just to there was at least eight driveways on the street in and around Okay
You can see it on the on the plot plan Can you show us where the north arrow is what you can see it on the plot line Look like right there on the screen It's on the next to last page of the print out So the sun Okay So this is the biggest
concern So the sun rises this way It's a bit confusing I'm going down this way The north is this way North is that way I thought according to the arrow This this is plot plan So it
has to be rotated because this is the front of the house So the the plot this is the front of the house The plot plan is confusing Okay Well just can you just is the north arrow incorrect okay Well the con the question is um
what is going to be the part of the site that's in shade because of the addition what area will become shaded that wasn't shaded before that's what we're questioning Yeah that's why like we shrunk the building like about 4 ft
on this side in order like so we left 10 ft that's the required setback and uh you know the whole building shrunk by by 4T and I try to to like put one unit on the first floor and one on the second floor because I couldn't make it the
building is like too narrow and uh like I said the landscaping we'll talk about her landscaping putting the trees here you know as a divider from the neighbor question for you It so your your your please just remind me again your front your front lot your entrance to your
front lot is about 70 ft wide correct the and then Mr because owns the building on the on the right Correct So then you guys essentially share that section of the road for parking and getting in and out of that building
Correct Are we please sorry I'm I'm Can you please say your question one more time are you talking the frontage of both forgive me if I'm not being very clear Um the building the proposed building and the building on the right are owned
by the same owner Correct That is correct And so then the parking situation is if the person is reversing out you own the building to your right and to your left and the one on the furthest left is owned by somebody else
with their own garage Correct Correct Yes Okay And the frontage that you need to the frontage of the property is 50 feet wide or That is correct Okay Thank you Uh it's 50 feet wide It was um made by a subdivision in 1988 Yeah Okay
Thank you Clarify that Um so grand view is at the bottom of the page and all of these drawings except the plot plan where it's at the top of the page right yeah Yeah The plot plan is a bit has to be flipped in a way confusing So she was referring
to left and right Can you point to which properties Mr Castillo owns So Mr Castillo owns this Yeah he owns this property that the setbacks is like 6.2 and this property
is owned by you know it's a different property So that's Castillo property or if you go to my can you please go to to my to the project So apparently this is Mr Castillo property that's that you can
see like it's like narrow for the setback That's the other property I know it's a bit confusing because the plot plan is like flipped but is coming from the like bottom right corner basically and casting a shadow on
the house on the left Is that correct correct So he's doing like this Okay Like from Thank you I just Yeah it's a bit of the north So thank you It took me some time to to visualize that as well If I'm gonna give Mr Tusca a break for a
second I'm going to bring up Mr Buford Nope Buford my apologies So who can talk about um our storm water mitigation system and I think that's the utility plan sir
I'm Len Buffard at uh Bacon Oats Creek in Peody Um we did the we did the design for uh this property We're going proposing currently and it can increase if needed be uh four Caltech 330s and
we're going to be placing it underneath the slab in the garage so that way we stay the state code minimum of 10 ft away from any property line Unfortunately because it's in the garage we're going to have to line the outside foundation frost wall with
the mirror drain poly barrier so that the water goes down That way it won't impact the the subject parcel pro uh garage but it also should minimize any impact for anybody else Um we've
currently designed it for the u mass D required 25ear storm but if if need be I can increase increase the storage Yeah So um right now the right now it's an empty lot All the rain currently either in inflates into the
infiltrates into the ground or runs into the street Uh with this design down roof leaders and downspouts will route all the roof runoff into the infiltration system For the front of the driveway we've placed a trench train with an
18inch sump which will also take any of the driveway runoff and also route it into the infiltration system So that 90% anything that isn't everything that's impervious will ultimately flow into the infiltration system which is
further back Like it So if the grades draw the water towards the street you were taking that runoff and um directing it inland deeper into the site into the lot sort of against the the contour Well
yes and no Yes we're we're going into the site because we have to we have to bring it in in order to maintain at least 10 ft from the property line and the site goes uphill from the street So we have to bring it in So that's no matter what I do and there's
unfortunately not enough space to meet the required 10- foot setback for an infiltration system in the driveway aspect We have to I have to move it somewhere The other other option would be to stick in the backyard which I don't want to do because it's higher and
it would impact the house more than anything else Sticking it in the garage is something that I've do on many projects for slab on grade style constructions in area limited lots
and the garage floor slopes Yeah the garage slopes slight about a half a percent from the back of the garage towards the front So any snow or anything that comes in the garage will eventually flow out and into the either
evaporate or go into the trench drain Thank you Are there any public comments for this one hi my name is Valerie Green Um again I live at the property at 14 Grand View Road with my husband that we bought in
19 98 Um I did take some real time pictures only because I still can't imagine the concept by what they're being what I'm being shown here Um the first picture is actually
um the street view from across the street and it just shows the property um in its entirety with the both houses the sides of the both houses in it like 24 Grand View and 14 Grand View or 20 Grand View Um there's a picture that I took
from my kitchen sink washing dishes and right now I have sunlight there when the sun is out when I get home from work and that's going to be gone as a result of putting a building that close to me Um uh I think unfortunately my property
isn't smack dab in the middle of my lot It's more towards the lot of 18 So there's not a whole lot of room If you look at all these pictures there is a picture from my back door There's a little patio and I will lose all the sunlight in the back which is where we
get most of the sunlight The sun comes up in the front of the the front of my property and it goes down in the back So we do spend a lot of time in the yard in the summer because it's still warm and still sunny when we get home from work But I don't know how much of that we're going to lose as a result of putting a
building all the way back Um you know my concerns haven't changed There's a picture of me driving between the two cars parked on the street just this morning and it's narrow Two cars cannot pass each other if there's people parked on both sides of the street let
alone backing out Um there's only three garages There's four garages on that side of the street and I don't know that any person on the street is actually using them I can't use my garage It's an old house They're too small for the car that I drive and the pickup truck that
my son drives We park at the cutout so we're not taking up other spots unless we're on the other side of the road for street cleaning Um and I don't know I just I my concerns that I had the last meeting are still
the same The privacy the noise the sunlight the parking the water runoff Um and I just you know I work in the city I drive into Boston every day I'm a visiting nurse I work in the Fenway and South End And I struggle with traffic
all day long to come home to my nice little piece of property that we bought many years ago and enjoy that quiet peace and quiet And I I don't feel like I live in the city even though I know it is the city And I don't want that to change I don't I don't want that to
affect me not wanting to live there you know we we had no intentions of moving and this building of property may may change that for us and I don't know if it'll decrease my property value because people aren't going to want to buy a house that's that close to my
house and it it kind of changes the whole the whole street It's a very unique street in Chelsea and that's why we bought property there and this will basically change that in a lot of ways If you have any questions about the
pictures I can I don't know I can answer them but that's my two cents Um Mary's going to talk a little bit more about the the shadow study because I don't know all the technicalities I just know that the sun rises in the front of my building and it sets in the back and
that's where I'm going to be most affected on that whole right side of my house Perfect You guys all set i just wanted to give you time That's all My name is Mary Jerassi Um I live at 50 Fremont A in Everett I'm here representing and
helping to support my aunt Barbara and uh her neighbor Valerie But I also grew up on Fremont A in Chelsea I was born and raised in Chelsea Um I did move on Fremont A to Everett because that's what I could find to live in at the time Um if I may um I just want to refer to a
couple of things that first are in um a little bit of a review Um I just like Valerie mentioned that her garage um is too small that she cannot use it So she does pock in the curb cut But one of the things I'm just opening up my uh pictures of the shadow study is the one
of the pictures of in the pictures of the shadow study um I saw that I also saw the uh December date and time And so I just referred to the June date and time And on the shadow study um Valerie does have light at 9:00 a.m However
12:00 p.m and 6 p.m she does not on that side of her house Um and the sun sets it comes up in the front of her to an angle where you can see Riviera Beach almost but then it comes at a diagonal and it sets more to the west and not directly
over her house It comes over more to the west So that would actually be directly on the side where then she would lose more um more light that especially in the summer months um like May to October the sun is more into the uh west
southwest from our view and from the hill and I just wanted to um clear that up and straighten that out Um and the dates on I had saw the dates on the uh shadow study as well Um a couple of other things that I would just like to
uh review is um regarding the uh watershed Um that looks like a great plan actually Um however the concern in the neighborhood is not so much storm drainage runoff but the actual underground current of the water where
that's been an empty space for many years And once that foundation goes in the trajectory of the water is going to change and the neighbors across the street are completely downhill and that could severely affect their homes Um not
just on Grand View just not Barbers but going down to Cook A in Springville a that's going to change the direct uh that could change the trajectory of the whole hill the way it the way it's set up And I I just want to make sure that it's not just the storm drainage that they're concerned about Um I had that
happen to me when the Whitten Hospital put in their little a little tiny circle part of their ER My home had no water for a hundred years Once that went in the next big storm well we were in a French drain and a subp pump thousands of dollars later So I know that that can
happen and that's one of the main concerns that the neighbors do have um that across the street and down the slope Um study Oh and the other thing I noticed in the picture of the shadow study of the property that they showed when they showed 24 uh Grand View Road
they had all grass if you're facing the house and looking to the right but they actually just took that all out and put a multi a multi-car curb cut and a huge driveway in on that side of the house as well So they've lost two parking spots with the new driveway We don't I don't
think Valerie did you I don't think we had a picture in that it was only on she was only focusing on the property of where the building was going to be built but we could be happy to submit another picture of that He just built it over the summer um I believe And so that took
out two spots Then there's 24 And then there's the original curb cut from his original garage in 24 So that's a third spot And then now with this new home going it's going to be at least two to two and a half more spots taken off the road Um and that's one of the things I
wanted to clarify was that it's not just this home and just this curb cut 24 already takes three spots and two of them are brand new curb cut uh spots lost for the new driveway he just built to the right And um that would be on the right of his house there in the corner
where it shows grass and trees That that that's not there That's just um now a driveway And then right next to the driveway is the property line to his other neighbor Um so those are some of the things that um I just wanted to clarify
and that um the garages on the street um on the their only garages on his side The other side they cannot like I said before they can't build a driveway like that They're on a slope So if you drive on the street it looks like there's just a long set of bushes but if you look down there are homes on that property
and they go down two flights to their homes and there's just no way it's feasible to put a driveway or retaining wall for that type of thing there So once the um street sweeping is in effect and it's all on that side of the street they're not going to have parking spots
anymore due to the hospital and due to the neighbors on the other side of the street having to park as well Um so it is really complex and if you look at the pictures that Valerie had shown um the one with the Toyota Camry that's actually on the same side as the
properties um in discussion Uh that car there is Barbers She would have to park on the other side and where that driveway starts to come out now her car would be in the way of the tandem and the backing in and out Um there's not a lot of space there for that
So I think Barb is there anything else c can you remind me was this um these were two lots then they were combined and then separated again Yes No So that is not correct So um I can I can expound on that since I did the title history on
it if you would like me to tell you Why don't you finish what you have so um the Greens before they bought their house many years ago when I was a child playing up there there was a man named Mr Janelli and he owned the house at
14 Dick and Serto bought his house at 24 He bought Mr Janelli which was um Valerie's house owned the the piece of land at stake Um I forget the years exactly because I was young but Mr Mr Enserto wanted to buy that piece of land
from Mr Janelli thinking that maybe he could build on it He was told he could not So then when Valerie bought the house what year in 1990 I bought this in 98 In 98 Mr Insurto went to Valerie and said "Do you want to buy your land back?" Because I couldn't develop it And
at the time she and her husband couldn't afford to add on that land They couldn't buy it So it stayed with the H It stayed with 24 Does that make sense i can clarify again I can clarify even more Yeah Since I did the research on it
Yeah As well Why don't you finish while you're in front of the mic no that that's basically the the history the story um you know that that we witnessed living in the neighborhood Um and Valerie is the property owner and and she knows that that used to be the land
to her home but the previous owner sold it to Mr Insuro When Mr Insuro couldn't develop it he wanted to sell it back basically because he realized then it was just a piece piece of non-useful land as far as development was concerned Thank you Have a good night
May I just have a point of order on that so in 1988 this was subdivided and it was had to be a subdivided lot It was approval not required um under the planning board because it met with the zoning standards at the time So it
wasn't an undevelopable lot when it was created And I'd like to point that out In 1988 it was a developable lot Um unfortunately I don't know why the former owner of it did not develop it Um I can't really find any records of that actually because I did a foyer request and I didn't find anything So maybe he
just didn't feel like developing it I'm not quite sure Um however uh you know it was a piece of developer land It's been a piece of land Um very low taxed land Um my client's looking to produce a
property He is going to be the GC on the property Um he is already a general contractor so it's not like he's going to farm it out to a corporation He's going to be hands-on right next door um to answer to do everything to hire and to fire just in case Uh so what we're
asking is he's trying to create generational wealth here He wants to create a place for him and his children for his children because God bless them He doesn't want them in the house for the rest of their lives So he's trying to create some something next door Sorry guys So uh you know I don't I haven't
seen uh I haven't seen the pictures that you were just given and I wasn't afforded that respect of giving them to me before I came in the room I did give uh the neighbors and everybody everything pri uh 48 hours ago so they could see everything So I and not able to see what you're seeing But I can
definitely tell you that my client did get a curb cut because he wanted to create a driveway Um and that is his right uh to get a driveway on his property just as but is there a right to spaces on the street i don't know But we also want to say yeah there's it was
fake grass um as well It was turf Uh so he he uh didn't think that was very pretty so he he dug that up and then put in a nice driveway uh to make it look better So that's why we he now and his family now have a place to park off the street as well Um so just to just to
clarify that a bit Uh you know I uh just want to make sure that everybody knows this is this is for family housing This is not um for you know 120 units on Broadway or anything like that Uh we are we're looking to create something um
that is part of the neighborhood I don't this is one of the things I wanted to point out as well This is a map of the GIS map and I took my little yellow highlighter and highlighted all the two families and one three family uh which is in a block
radius and I there's 16 altogether 15 two families and one three family So uh including the people across the street on Grand View as well um have a two family Uh the people that are saying that they don't think we should have a two family have a two family themselves
So I just wanted to point out all these little facts um before we go on to the landscaper Um she is Ba only one name and so we're going to have her come up and talk about that Thank you Um can we just get through the
landscaping designer and then we can clarify thank you So what the plan was was that if you see all the back on the on the back we're trying to keep as much as the existing planting that it is We were
trying to try to keep it um on the on the bricks that are here or it shows that we are trying to keep also permeable papers Now what is the good about the permeable papers is that absorbs water much more faster than what
the loan was in there So we're also aware of that We also are creating a because this is a little bit higher than this one We're also trying to create a trench strain before it hits the building So all the way through we have
a trench over here at least from the landscape We have these permeable papers trying also to stop the water getting to the building and trying to keep the rainwater from here That's another thing that is like included from the landscape from the landscape Um we have we with
the new set banks we have 10 ft over here and now this is something that it's um debatable I can hear I can hear um the neighbors wanted light but I wonder also how much privacy they have been
looking So I'm proposing to have um native pine which are narrow but they have they provide a really good privacy between the two of them will be buffering the site and if you could see like in zeros which looks like little
zeros is what is existed this tree will be stay as it is and then we will have a new tree over here So we are trying to keep all this area with the same gradient is that is undisturbed and then trying to but you see the lines the
dotted lines means that the land has not been disturbed and that's why we can't preserve as much of the trees that we have on the back for you Have you have you discussed the the have have you discussed the landscape with with the neighbor to your
left with the building that with with the line of trees that it would No we have not But if like this is something that we could be very flexible about it If they want the trees to provide a buffer zoom and to to be having the
privacy that they need we can add them if they want like I could add also like I was I was proposing these big trees also so in case that she cannot see she won't be able to see she will be able to either she wants to keep having the view
that will see into this part into this well the out this garden she will or I can you know I can put more big evergreen trees that could block the view if she wants the privacy so that's something that we are you know more than
happy to to talk to her in that regard Dr what what their wishes are And we also wanted to do plantings rather than a everybody says that neighbors make good uh you know fences make good neighbors Uh but we wanted we saw we
heard her on the air and the light And so you know we figured not a not a fence and put up uh plantings um to have some privacy but also it will help uh more plantings will help with the storm water
mitigation um as well My earlier question was about why you didn't opt to combine the lots and therefore um have a little more flexibility I'm sorry They're merged because they are
under common ownership Okay So I mean my my assumption would be that you could add on to the existing house rather than have all the setbacks on the new parcel What am I I'm not understanding something Just let me clarify They merge for zoning purposes
For zing purposes they are two two separate lots but for the purpose of of determining lot size setbacks etc They merge for zoning purposes only Okay So the full merging of the lots is not an option I mean it just seems like
you would have a little more flexibility with the width of these structures if you were to add an L to the existing structure rather than a separate rectangle If you merge the two lots into
one you're limited um to two families It's it's a it's the I3 district I'm sorry R1 district and only one and two families are allowed in the I1 district Okay So that doesn't provide any further flexibility That's more
limiting is what I'm hearing Barbara just wanted me to uh clarify we had spoken about this before that um yes her house has a a mother-in-law apartment downstairs from it Um it's I don't know how it's registered It's probably considered a two family but
it's not a full two family like what you would think And on Grand View Road itself from top to bottom there are no technical like big two families that are up on Gallin Street where those other twos and threes are Uh Gallin Street has a ton of them It's all two family and a
couple of three family with a couple of one families over by Rocky Road But um Grand View Road itself um is all basically one families and a couple of them have the mother-in-law apartments and that's it It's not like the big you know the typical Chelsea two families
that are up on that hill on the other side at least on the main part of Grand View Road and I believe on the little skinny part of Grand View as well Um the I know the Morren's house I know all of them are one families as well Just to clarify there are two two
families on Grand View Road Thank you other people in the audience who would like to address this petition I'm at 23 Mary just said that there's Yeah I'm sorry ma'am You must give your address and name I'm Barbara Lawler at
23 Graham View Road across the street from this new development if it happens Oh well the lady the lawyer just said there are two families on Grand View Road and I'm saying I've been there 55
years There's no two families They are mother of in-law apartments like mine but I don't know whether you call that a two family cuz it's a single family house with a bedroom and a kitchen downstairs if that's considered two family right but I never thought that it
was That's all I wanted to say Thank you For zoning purposes it is a two family We need to send a recommendation on a special permit May May I before you do this
may I ask questions please i have a question relative to this here Is this a retaining wall how high is that retaining wall 2 and 1/2 ft 2 and 1/2 ft And the landscaping of the shrubs above it are how
high that 2 and 1/2 ft And I want them to be at least use the mic Okay I want them to be shrubs that are at least will be at least the hatch will be at least 3 ft in depth No I need I need the height My concern here is vehicles
exiting the uh getting sight distance down there Are you familiar with Kotonastar which are very low and hanging but if you already have a two and a half foot high and then your shrubs are going to be above it Let me let me explain the
um this is a high point and this is a very low point and so the the the the wall will be coming from here to a very very low point in here It will be six inches when we get here It will be two and a half when we get here Okay that
answers the question Thank you I just like we're keeping on the the actual grade that the wall will be there's already there's already an existing wall here and we're going like six inches below that one This is three feet high
I'm going below below that one Oh thank you Thank you John And I have a question for you about some of the potential modifications to zoning to um to accommodate this new ADU
um requirement or allowance Do you see that there that there would be any more um kind of wiggle room to make this work with some of the changing
um you know potentially changing uh setbacks or allowable square footage that might make this uh give us more latitude to come up with a mutually agreeable solution
do you mean like with the potential ADU ordinance that we foresee coming down the line i mean because they're trying to put a two family not an accessory dwelling unit Well that's why I'm thinking if there is some if you were to able that meet the
square footage requirement that you're trying to accomplish by combining the lots and adding an L to it Would that help you get where you need to be as far as housing your family members
it's it's too hypothetical at this point but No I'm sorry I just have to take notes and I have to listen too So it's okay A little difficult So I'm sorry Could you repeat well the question was would will the upcoming ADU um allowance help this project in any
way it's not going to get two families It's going to get one family one additional unit at best And the max size of that unit maximum being 900 square feet or half the size of the primary structure
whatever is less So I I don't know the square footage off the top of my head but I'm pretty sure what's being proposed is like much larger than that To to Sarah's point I I do have one more question in regard to this though Are they would they ever be able to be granted a permit to build onto
their existing structure for not as an AUD but as a much larger to create a much much larger building than they currently have um with just a a variance to create basically their lot to be to be married
together Is that a possibility it'd still be limited to two families on that extended lot It sounds like the architect has given us some thought Uh no I was just uh giving the square footage was asking for
square footage is like 1150 per unit around 1,200 square ft per unit Anybody wants to I think I propose a no This they're asking for too many variances in a special permit
I think this the shadow study is concerning I but I don't see how uh that can go around But I also just think the parking in the garage and that kind of stuff
uh is too cumbersome for the neighborhood I I just think what you're asking for is I I think putting I understand you can put a two family in that in that
space but I think you would and I understand why you want to put two family in it but I think it's too dense So I'm proposing to either send it back I'm happy to send it back if you guys want to send it back
and come back with a one family but I'm proposing to say you know no Is there a motion that's my That's my motion Excuse me
I'll second that motion So the motion is to recommend denial to the CBA Before we take that up may I just say that we will be glad to take if you could entertain a motion to table we'll come back with a design that I think you might like better
If if the board is amendable to continuing it to allow the petitioner to um make changes and revisions to the plan the petitioner would need to provide a letter stating that they are willing to wave the statutory time requirement I can get that to you
tomorrow I thought I already waited actually but I will make sure I'll put it in writing and send it on if need be because the board is making a motion and they don't have it They don't have your request in front of them
Uh can I make an oral request or followed up by a written followed by a written tomorrow morning 9:00 a.m It's up to the board or 8:30 But I know you come in early so 8 7:30 So that Amy are you I'm amendable to
that I'm fine I'm willing to withdraw I'm with I'll withdraw All right And we'll continue All right So make a motion to continue Second Did you make a motion to continue meeting i did I did make a motion to
continue to the May 27th meeting May 27th which means you're going to have the applicant will have to supply the the petition will have to provide a letter waving it because the board zoning board will not uh meet till June
on this case in which case we need a couple weeks after the uh June meeting date All in favor of the motion to continue I I I thank you very much for your time this evening Sorry Um made the motion
Who second it and I promise you I'll get it to you in the AM Sir all right The next uh order of business is uh going back a while Case 2009
2012 at 324 Marginal Street Enterprise Rental Car Company of Boston is the petitioner who's been waiting patiently Gentlemen state your position Oh are you to introduce
yourselves and Please use the mic Good evening For the record my name is Scott Rogers from JK Home Engineering and with me tonight is Doug Valeri and Adam uh Pallik from Enterprise Reticar So back in 2009 and 2011 we
received uh two special permits One was for vehicle rental Sir we're having a hard time hearing you Could would you mind to speak a little closer to the microphone thank you Yep Uh back in 2009 we had a special permit issued for storage registration and
maintenance of vehicles And then in 2011 a special permit was issued for vehicle renting and leasing Those were modified back in 2018 similar to the plan that you're looking at today So before you tonight we are requesting uh an
additional modification to add truck rental to the facility This is obviously for enterprise rental car So um over by Marginal Street on the right hand side or the top of the page top right you can see there's a triangular shaped uh
building that'll be coming down That's about 1500 square feet Um that's at 324 Marginal Street And over on near Willow Street if you slide this way we're going to be adding in a proposed addition to
the car wash which is approx approximately 1,600 square feet So there's a little bit of a additional building square footage if you will And then back onto um the marginal street side with that triangular shaped
building coming out We're going to be reconfiguring that parking lot over there That'll be considered for mostly employees and for customers and also for ADA parking up against the building there And then over if you slide down the next
curb cut over those will be considered uh car ready cars that will be ready for rental Over this main area will be most of the cars that'll be available for rental Our goal is to obviously have no cars on the property so we can have those all out for
rent Um the major curb cut that you see the one that's existing uh and it's pretty much kind of in gray It's a little TBR right next to it So we are going to move the guard shack uh back into the lot a little bit more and there'll be some uh fencing that'll
happen as well as some jersey barriers that'll kind of direct people to the right locations Uh over in this area right in there there's an existing uh fueling facility for cars that has a uh an existing fuel
storage tank that's 9,500 square feet 9,500 gallons That'll be replaced with a split tank We're going to have uh regular gas and diesel gas That size of the tank will not change It's the same size just going to be a split tank Uh the project will now actually uh
add in the lot to the south which you can see below Suffach Street which is a paper street with the within the site plan package that you see We did do a a fire truck turn plan for the fire apparatus in the city and one of the things we
incorporated into the plan that was a request by city staff was to add in some fire lanes for fire trucks And then in relation to grading and drainage there is a uh trench drain that kind of runs
uh east to west that's basically in front of the main building Uh that'll be rebuilt and there'll be uh an additional leg to it that runs well the main one runs north to south There'll be an additional leg that runs east to west that'll help with the storm water runoff
on site and that'll be connected to an existing structure um an existing basin on on the property So I should point out to you that with this project there's no additional uh impervious at all to the
site Um this is in a area called an AUL which is basically uh it's a polluted site if you will We're not allowed to actually add any more pavement or add any more landscaping So we kind of have to work with the areas that we have
already Um we are going to be looking at um some landscape developments So starting at um the main part of the building over on Marginal Street we're going to adding a bunch of uh flowering shrubs to those existing beds As you proceed kind of in
a uh down Marginal Street in kind of a southerntherly direction we're going to be adding in some street tree uh which would be a pin oak tree And then there is a triangular shaped island located which is currently sort of grass and kind of some weed weed shrubs and
weed trees We're going to be decorating that with uh trees some pines some spruces also some cusa dogwoods and honeyloust in there So we're going to clean up that area make it a little more green area more attractive area And as
you head down to uh there's another tree along Marginal Street And as you head towards Willow Street because we really can't cut up pavement and and create new green space we're going to be adding in trees in um basically uh planters if you
will So you can see them along Willow Street running north to south And then as you head uh north towards the existing soccer field uh there is there is a strip in there that we're going to basically there's some trees in there We're going to be adding some some rod dendrids in there to provide some color
and a little more buffering between our use and the abuing use over there We also provided to the city uh a full drainage report which basically includes all the items that we're talking about Um it also includes an operation and
maintenance plan which will uh show the city that we are proposing to maintain the existing property with uh appropriate measures And just to get you caught up on where we are we obviously met with the ZBA uh once and
we will be filing with the conservation commission probably within the next week or two So with that I'd like to answer any questions you may have So a quick question about the uh change to the fueling I noticed that you're bringing in diesel It's going to be 50/50 um regular and diesel Uh what does
that what kind of reflection is that on the change of business that you've got there are you going to be changing the leasing business to a more diesel oriented fleet there or what's the impetus for that so we're moving our operation from 121 Eastern Avenue over to this operation 121 Eastern Avenue is
going to get developed at some point So we need to relocate and this facility can can house that operation So that'll be fueling our fleet trucks to go out for rent Understood Thank you Quick question on the safety of the of the I'm sure you've you you've probably
reviewed this with the fire department but could you give us just a clue about how those two tanks work with between the the gas and the diesel yeah so there's dispenses on each side There's two dispensers on each side of the tank
Um so truck would use one side fleet um rental car use the other and there's fire suppression on that So we already have a permit to operate the 9,500 gallons We're just splitting that tank up to support the other rental line coming in Thanks
Does this mean more fuel deliveries you know I noticed that you're splitting the same size tank in half So that necessarily means 50% much as much fuel as before for the for the unled fleet So are is there just going to be that many
fewer unled vehicles using the fueling station there shouldn't be the the trucks that go out they are usually leased longterm So one truck might go out for six months and come back and then it will get fueled up cleaned and go back out for a longer term lease This to say that diesel won't go very fast
Correct The idea correct All right Thanks And what's the timeline for this you have a timeline yes I'm sorry We want to be done and completed by December 31st of this year Can you clarify so we're determining
whether this is large site plan Yeah So um the role of the board is to determine whether the modifications that they're requesting to make are minor modifications to this site plan that was once approved back in 2009 or if they are major modifications modifications
which would mean they would have to go back through the public process and do a major site plan review again I'm going to propose that we treat this as a minor site plan review Second that Second that made and seconded to consider these
modifications as minor All in favor I thank you done for your press Thank you for adding more trees too That spot really love seeing the the extra
beautifification Walk by your site amazingly almost daily Um as I'm a neighbor not immediate but not far And u I I must say I commend you or the
proprietors for doing a pretty good job to keep that planting strip uh between your site and marginal street relatively free of the stuff that collects there We try
So thank you All beautifification definitely appreciated Thank you guys Appreciate it Have a good night M Santigate do you wish to address the board no I was here first
and actually I don't know if you're going to continue So these the rest of this is semi optional Well we do need to do the Merit Road
Street discontinuence Yeah Um sorry the computer started to update Adobe for some reason So I'm just trying to pull up the PDFs Uh yeah I do not know why this is happening but essentially um if it's
okay to start on this Yeah Uh so Merit Road is a 50 foot wide way between Galuli Road and Webster A Um and right now it is just a like wooded area There is nothing really
on it Um but it is considered to be a paper street which means it is a street that you know falls on an old city map um when the city was kind of first being planned Uh but the street was never
developed into a street Um so there was a proposal put forth to the city council to discontinue this street Um essentially uh the city I guess in in one way or another sort of giving up
ownership of this street What does the city want to do with this street with this street there is a property owner that abuts Merit Road uh and would like to put forth a development proposal a residential development for for what
like for massive for units for multi-units or Yeah Yeah Like like how large is this how large is this piece of land it's a 50 foot wide way I'm trying to see if I can pull this up and John feel free to chime It's a 50 foot right
of way but the gentleman owns a property on both sides as well He owns the building at 121 Webster A which houses the marijuana facility and the and soon to be registry of motor vehicles And he owns the vacant lot on the opposite side of Merit Road as well
Pardon what does he want to put there he wants to put 100 100 units like a 90 unit 90 units I'm sorry 90 but that will have to come to you that is in a shopping center district It
would require expanding the planned development that the rest of the site is and then um working with the uh parking and the other limitations he has to meet other regulations he has to meet Uh gentlemen is there is there
any particular thing that this road as a as a city enables passage to or from even if it's not in use Does it in any way like um affect affect anything connect to anything in any way a portion
of it on Webster A was separated off and given to the Merit Club So it's not fully 50 ft wide at that point Um it has never really been used It's just been lying there foul really Um it the process for discontinuous
street requires council action but before the council action the traffic commission and the planning board have to sign off Traffic commission has already signed off What about the um Abutters how do they feel about this well officially the Abutters is the
property owner He owns on both sides of the Merit Road How how looks like there's a number of um single family homes there on the other side of his property Okay Okay Hey I just want to understand
both sides of the argument here Are they multis okay So Merit Road is here So he owns that property and he owns this property He has to be about it to himself And really this is the discontinuence is
not about the development This discontinuence is is this street still needed for access and not really And if the answer it's been So I I would say let's let's give him
the right away and then we can discuss what he wants to propose when he gets to the So I approve the dis discontinuence of the street Discontinuence Yeah It's like literally right right across the
street from where I live So yes I propose to give you move that the board move Yes Approve council to make the Yes to throw up the road is they call it
that's what they call it Throw up the road And that's the term and I second it Made and seconded All in favor i All right Now the question is do we u and it's entirely up to the board
Um would you like to hear the remaining items that are on the agenda or would you like to postpone those to our next meeting do you want to propose it and we can decide if we can to table it or not was that does that sound reasonable well there's three topics right there's three
different line items I want to Can we do one of them while Lis is here yeah Just to quickly give some context there is a proposed we're just having a discussion about a proposed change to the um parking regulations or the the
regulation that um prevents people from getting on street parking stickers if they don't meet if they need relief for any uh from any zoning parking requirements So that's one of the topics just to discuss a possible change Um it has not been sent to council or anything
you know just to discuss it Uh the next is just the master plan updates the standing point to get updates and we do have a bit of a presentation uh that Adam put together to give some context and then and the continued discussion of ADUs We have another presentation that Adam had put together Uh so um but I
also understand it's 9:15 Let's do the first one recommendation and then we'll do the other one I I would like I I I my brain cells are fried I as much as I love Lisa and she
knows I do I I I would like to I really want to give everything they're due do justice So I would propose to put put push him back to to the next meeting All three All three That's my proposal Aiden seconded
Was there a second i recommend that we talk about the parking real quick So we have to vote There is a motion for I would like to make a motion to talk about the zoning amendment but we will table the um master plan update as well
as the ADU discussion till next month Seconded Okay So you you made a motion on top of a motion but that's okay It's not a disaster
The first motion is withdrawn and uh the second motion stands and is that second No need to vote on the motion Sarah's proposed motion
So do we wish to discuss this or do does do let's vote on it right yes Okay So so all in favor of your motion is to postpone Postpone right to talk about the zoning
amendment but postpone the master plan discussion and the ADU conversation but discuss the zoning amendment tonight Yeah Okay Second for that second Second All in favor i I Any
oppose i have to motion is we'll discuss the zoning All right So yeah just to give us an outline a quick outline Yeah Yeah So basically um again this is not been sent to city
council This is not an official hearing of an official proposed zoning amendment We just wanted to discuss this This is something that John and I have talked about and I've heard from uh other city councilors and and just others Um back in 2019 the city council adopted a
zoning uh amendment that essentially uh said that if you needed any relief from off- streetet parking requirements then you would be disqualified from receiving on street parking stickers Um and so
that means if someone meets the requirement for the number of spaces number of off- streetet spaces say they're meeting that requirement but they locate their parking in the you know within 5 ft of a sidelot line even though they're meeting the
number they are still disqualified from receiving on street parking stickers And we felt we feel that the intent of the zoning was to sort of punish folks who could not meet the number of off street parking spaces Um so we are just kind of
discussing the idea of possibly changing this to say that if you would be ineligible for on street parking stickers if you need relief from the number of required off- streetet parking spaces Um so that is the basic kind of change
Um I'm not quite sure like how much of this would actually like change You know most places most new development projects usually don't really ever meet the required number of off- streetet spaces and um I feel like there's very few that meet it but
then don't need relief for like the location or the dimensions of the actual parking spaces So well just sorry this is super confusing and forgive me I'm getting tired too as well the rest of us But is it is it so if we give them if we
give them an off street spot they lose their ability to apply Is it a one for one situation or not quite so if we if we give them if we give them a permit to create parking on their property they lose their right to apply for the residential sticker Is it a one
forone situation or per household it's it's the entire in the case of if they can't meet the off streetet parking regulations right now any of the regulations dimensional requirements number size of the parking aisle size of the parking space they can't the whole
unit cannot get parking and we well is right it doesn't happen frequently we have run recently into some sites that can meet the number of spaces so they're compli but they're within 5 ft of a sideyard setback So
tech or they were not 9 by8s And I think the the goal here was to promote off street parking as much as possible and not punish them for um while they get while they're meeting the number not punish them for not meeting
the dementia regulations It's it's a discussion It's up to the chair person I was just curious about what prompted you to want to look at it again Are you what's happening with development and building and why
it was literally we had one example on library street Okay Um divided into two lots and met the on street met the number requirements but could not get off pip because he was within 5 ft of a sideyard It just didn't
seem fair Okay So there are so there are some instances it's not like Will said it's not it's not going to be widespread and it won't I can't say it won't go backward in those
um developments that the board has approved in the past we always put a condition that they can't get stickers right if there was a variance if there was a v if there was a if they met the number of our streets pockets they would have to come back to the board for
modification to that Okay Okay This is just such a hot topic now because to be quite honest with you I I think this was a compromise Um and my observation is that
a lot of people are chancing it in any way and parking on the street And so I know it was a compromise to try to avoid that but I think uh what we were talking about about park like people are coming with cars I don't think we have a robust
enough uh public transit system that's either accessible robust um and reliable So people are coming with cars and I think that although the people said that they
have not been in a community where there was so much um ticketing and towing that isn't happening as much as that gentleman said it was happening And so you're finding that people are coming home at night and
people without a sticker are parked on streets and not getting tickets they're they're just taking a risk And more often than not even if they got a ticket two tickets a week at
the cost of $25 a ticket if you did that for a month that would be $200 which is the cost of a parking space So they're taking a chance People are are parking on the streets I see it all the time without a sticker So I just was curious
since this has been on my mind a lot when I saw that it was on your agenda just trying to I I wouldn't want to um modify it to the extent where it um basically negated what the purpose
was of it in the first place which was to keep our streets ready for people who um have lived here and parked here Because what's happening now is people are who've owned homes for years and
years come home and can't park Um and someone who just moved into a place is taking a chance and parking on the street and not getting um any penalties So it's you can imagine it's hard for
people especially at night So I just don't want to buck that compromise too much But if you're saying that something like this one small bit of it would really not affect the program in general then that's something
I could think about more critically But to just see it now knowing that it was a good compromise Even though I don't think it always works it's still something right but it's not unlike the change that was made relatively recently
to allow um property owners to get visitor parking spaces So it's so it's not unlike that change It didn't elim it didn't change the off street parking program entirely and this one won't entirely either Uh can I tell you
exactly how many parcels will be affected no I'd have to go back and look But um for the most part if you don't meet the dimension requirements you're probably not meeting the number of spaces either Right Okay Thanks for
clarifying John one more time can you just walk us through what you what tiny piece you've changed that you want us to consider because the language of this is difficult and if if not just then submit
it to us in writing and then we can all consider it at another point in time Otherwise be just as John's walking up again like the current zoning says any relief from off- streetet parking requirements shall disqualify that location from participating in the residential parking sticker program And
so any relief from off- streetet parking requirements means the number of parking the location of the parking the size of the parking spaces the size of the parking aisles etc And what we are proposing is to change it to this Any relief from the
number of required off- streetet parking spaces in the zoning ordinance shall disqualify that location from participating Yeah So if so the Park Street case does not meet the number and they would still be ineligible for entry parking Um but if say if someone
proposes a project where they do meet the number but they're not using 9 by8 spaces we feel like that would be a bit unfair to punish them because we felt the intent of the zoning was really about the number and not necessarily about the
location of spaces on the lot So and the dep the department is not eligible to to recommend zoning amendments to the council The planning board is Here's the thing is there might be more parking related language that needs to be added
Is is it um should we wait and gather all these comments into one um effort to change the the language or is it okay if we you know in several iterations update the
language as we need to kind of related to that One of the things I'm thinking about here is this edit doesn't really seem to be that problematic I mean I think that's a there's a fairness issue that we're identifying here with you know people that could get to that number of parking spaces but are
choosing not to because of these you know desires to meet other standards That makes sense to me But uh you know as was mentioned um by our friend here one of the things that is true is people do flout the parking rules You know what's the saying is uh if it's punishable by a fine it's legal if
you're rich So one thing I'm thinking about with this is if a if a property is gotten gotten themselves into a place where they're ineligible for a sticker program the fine ought to go up for them if they get caught parking on the street
after that That's a different proposal Can I Can I Yeah it's a very different proposal but that was my order last council meeting um that we think as a deterrent to raise the fee for anyone who doesn't have a
residential sticker who is caught Right now it's $25 So I thought even to just start the conversation and it wasn't for revenue reasons more it was more as a deterrent I mean if the byproduct would be that we would raise revenue but that
was not my intention It was more to think about it more critically Um but as you'll see at the Well you can see what the um city manager's response is to that at the
next council meeting Um folks I'd like to to put forward a motion that we approve this minor change in the language to the number and agree to put this before the council for consideration Um I would like to see
since we have a little bit more clout I think we should review the whole process since most cities are eliminating parking requirements for developments Somerville is Cambridge is You want to build 180 units no problem You don't have to have parking So it's San
Francisco has So it is I was adamantly opposed to this uh part res uh eliminating the sticker program for people because if you want people who spend a half a million dollars to $750,000 for an apartment at the time
and this was you know when and I felt it was a deterrent Uh Somerville does do it I think it's it's a very unfriendly way to welcome new residents into our building It's also an
unrealistic expectation of residents because they've lived here who have at the time three to four cars that they expect to be able to park in front of their house I you know though I think some of the residents have very unrealistic expectations of of park
parking is a huge issue in Chelsea Um I understand that But if we can actually review the whole process I think it's worth our effort to just take a look I might you know I'm a very it's very radical what I'm proposing I'm not
saying we have to adopt my proposal I'm just saying I think we could this is our chance to do something thinking outside the box But 9:30 on on a Tuesday it's a little hard for me to think outside the box I I'll amend this I I all I wanted
to do was just to move forward with this one tiny piece of change in the language about the number and not the whole piece in the pie What we could potentially do is um consider approving this one word
about the number and then also asking that we put the whole parking process under review But when you say parking process if you're talking about the parking sticker regulation that's a separate ordinance on the city and the uh the board has no
say in it That's entirely council say So it just be relative to the off streetet parking and loading requirements Okay that's fine So then we should just move forward with either we we agree to this piece of language tiny the change
over the word number or or not So we need to just take a vote on that motion So the the board is the planning board is willing to to forward this to the council for consideration I would second that motion that we approve this for
city council review Thank you participating What a devoted guy I'll like to make a motion to adjourn Yeah I'll make a motion to adjurnn I