Test one, two. Good evening. Welcome to the city of Reier zoning board of appeals meeting for June 25th. Could we rise and salute the flag, please? Pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America and to the republic
for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Roll club the members. Mr. Leina here, Mr. Lopes here, Mr. O'Brien here, Mr. Pelton is absent, alternate member, Miss
Pratt here, and chairman Tucker here. Here quorum is present. Uh first item on the agenda is continued from was continued from uh the meeting of June is on the application of Michael Trapula 87 Jones Road uh requesting a couple of
variances to be able to construct a carport at 87 Jones Road. Applicant present, please. If you could step up to the microphone, press the button once, you can leave it on. State your name and address for the record, please. My name is Michael Traper, 87
Jones Road. Okay, I think there this is a continuation. We did ask for the structural drawing. Um, it's been received. If this is approved this evening, it does still go back to the building department. So, you'd have to
go to the building department and seek the permit and stuff for this for this and you're aware of that. So, the building permit application is uh applied and contingent upon, right? And that's exactly what he said. So, that's it. Seeing that it's a public hearing,
I'll ask if there's any proponents, anyone in favor? Seeing and hear none, I'll close that side of the hearing. Are there any opponents? Anyone opposed? Seeing in here and none, I'll close that side of the hearing. Any members wish to speak? Is there a motion for a roll
call? Roll call to approve with the standard conditions. Standard conditions are as follows. If the rights authorized by this variance are not exercised within one year of the date of the grant of this variance, the right shall lapse. This variance shall not be
valid until the impellant has recorded the variance in plan in the SEA county registry of deeds and submits document recording numbers and dates to the city clerk and building inspector. And finally, the appellant must receive site plan review approval prior to applying for a building permit. Shall the zoning
board of appeals grant the relief requested subject to those conditions? Mr. Lemina, yes. Yes, Mr. Mr. Lopes. Yes. Mr. O'Brien. Yes. Miss Pratt. Yes. And Chairman Tucker. Yes. Yes. The variance has been granted.
Thank you very much. Next application is that of Hitchum Alam 70 Warren Street requesting the following variances to enable the appellant to construct a 13tx 14t driveway at 70 Warren Street. Parking in the front yard is prohibited. 40% of the
front yard shall be landscapes and all parking and for parking space dimension um variance as well. Good evening. If you could press the microphone, state your name and address for the record, please. Good evening, Mr. Chairman and members of the zoning
board of appeals. James Cipoleta, five Fremont Street, Winthr, Massachusetts. And with me is the applicant, Mr. Alam. Mr. Chairman, thank you. uh for the opportunity. Um this this is a close one with regard to dimensions of a driveway
that Mr. Alam is planning to put um at his house at 70 Warren. And there are several challenges um that are in play. Some of them have some have to do with his property, others have to do with just the situation um on on the street.
So what he has has proposed is the maximum um constructible I guess if that's a word driveway to be put um at at his house so we can take his car off the street. So he has a one family house and as we know
the zoning um ordinance in river requires a two off streetet parking spaces for every unit. He has zero. So what he is trying to do is he's parking on the street. He's trying to be
more compliant. Get his car off the street especially in snow or snow emergencies or other type of public safety emergencies. And the only way he can do it is the plan that is before the zoning board this evening. The challenge is the top the topography. Obviously,
he's he's an uphill. He's on an uphill slope. There's a wall that is seemingly unmovable. And his engineer says, "This is the extent that we can go. We can go 14 feet from the property line back to
back to that wall." to mess with the wall, I'm made to understand, would then undermine the stability of the of the hill. And that wall is holding holding back some of the soil and hold and making the uh
the surface um solid and able to withstand the the house that that's on it. We've had this discussion um you know in other departments. We do understand that um 14 feet is less than and it's a
little bit of an ask because it's not just 6 in or 8 in. What Mr. Alam drives now is a Jeep Compass and it'll fit. Does he have an F-150?
No. And if he did, he wouldn't be able to do it. If he did have another car and this were to be allowed, then what would happen is that if he were to overhang the boundary of that um that driveway onto the sidewalk, then he wouldn't be able to park there. It would then be
become an unusable driveway and would be deemed such by the by DPW and the city engineer. He doesn't see that that's happening. There is nowhere else to put any car off the street to comply even partially with
a zoning ordinance with regard to parking. But where it is, we do understand that the city frowns upon um front yard parking, but there are many of these other front yard parking installations and driveways along Warren
Street and the surrounding streets. It's not if this were something that was being built from scratch, we wouldn't have an argument. But what he's trying to do is he's trying to improve the situation, get his car off the off the street, make it safe, make
the street more safe. He's not robbing any parking from other neighbors because he's parking there anyway. And I do understand that the board hears many of these cases where neighbors um justifiably come up and say, "Well, you know, if we do this and you allow this
variance, then you're going to reduce the on street parking for neighbors living in in the neighborhood. Those are legitimate concerns. This is not that case. This is a case where he's parking there now and he's it's it's a zero sum.
um it would just make him more compliant and would get a car off the off the street and to to no uh detriment to any of the property around him or to any of the other uh houses on on Warren. Thank you,
Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Seeing that this is a public hearing, are there any proponents? Anyone in favor? Seeing here none, I'll close that side of the hearing. Are there any opponents? Anyone opposed?
Okay, I'll open it up to proponents. Anyone in favor? Please state your name and address for the record. Uh, yes. My name is Fatima Franco and we're basically his neighbor. We we live
in 68 war in the street and we're okay with him by getting the construction done. So, you're to the left or the right? You're to the right facing the front of his house. Right. I'm the right. Yes.
And you own 68 Warren Street. My dad does, but he doesn't speak English, so Okay. No, but the owner is here. Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone else in favor? Seeing here, none, I'll close that side of the hearing. Are there any opponents? Anyone opposed?
Seeing here none, I'll close that side of the hearing. Um, any members wish to speak? I do have some questions, but if anybody else Yeah, the the only problem I see with this is I mean you're almost 5 feet into the sidewalk. The depth is
what concerns me. I have that problem on Bellingham now where cars I mean these rivalries were built a while ago and cars are encroaching right onto the sidewalk and it it's it's just hazardous. That's the only
thing I don't like about it. If he can if he increase the depth, I think more appealing. Yes. And and I'm going to throw this out there, not being an engineer, and I I I but I've seen engineers and surveyors solve
problems similar to this. And I'm wondering if, and I'm not sure whether or not if we go back to site plan review, anybody's going to have a safety concern with this, but if that car were to go in at an angle rather than straight in, then he might get more more
depth. It won't be a straight in shot, then it becomes a question of what happens when you back or pull out and you're pulling out on a 30 or 40 degree angle. I don't know the answer to that question. There are professionals downstairs at Crest Street who do know
that. But that is that is a possibility that if he were able to take that and angle it so as um whichever way because if he's coming on on the right side of um of Warren then he just pull straight
in rather than try to do a reverse angle. So, I think some to some extent there might be some remedy uh by reorienting uh the direction of that driveway. Um that's something he and I were talking about a little bit outside
before we came in. Uh and I've not discussed that with the surveyor. So, it's um I I would uh and he would be he would be willing to do that to make that alteration also to plant uh do plantings so as not to rob
any of that green greenery. Um because I noticed that they we do have a u a minimum amount of greenery green space that we need. Um but he would fill in whatever extent that uh he needs to around it. Yeah.
Okay. There are a few concerns for myself raised. Um, for one, front yard parking of course is something that the city doesn't allow and they frown upon just because it takes up the green space and it also requires curb cuts. Um, I
see in one case that you put a curb cut, you're saying you're not taking away parking. However, without a curb cut, people have the freedom of parking on the street. You don't have exclusive parking in front of your home. Nobody does. I don't. Nobody does. Um, getting
a front yard variance. I've I've myself approved some here on being on the board. Um, before I came on the board, I requested front yard parking. So, that's how I knew about zoning board of appeals. So, I have front yard parking
at my house. With a tight 18 ft driveway, and to be honest with you, 18 ft is for an average car is limited. The average car is between 18 ft and 23 feet. Um, the Ford Compass or the the
Jeep Compass that he's having is 14.5. So when you say that you have a car that's going to fit, if you have a parking space that's 14 ft, nobody's going to ab butt right up to a wall. My wife doesn't constantly got to go out and move her car because she's on the
the sidewalk. Um and we have 18 ft. People don't tend to want to park and hit their bumper because these plastic bumpers are are very expensive. Um the the board here has a right to
approve um for front yard parking. Um I think you'd have the right to approve for 14 ft. Would I personally not at all because I do not feel that anything below 18 ft um is suitable for for
parking. Um just for the simple fact is people have a vehicle. They're not going to put it right up to a foundation wall. I personally don't do it. I live with a wife that doesn't do it. Even if I put the pingpong ball, she still don't want
to pull up and be tight into the space. Um, is there any way that you're saying that it's I I did look um going sideways not going to allow give you a lot of space. If it gives you a
foot, you'd be lucky. Um, normally it's 9 by8. I see why you went to 139 because if you get approved curb cut, that would be another obstacle for you. You still have to apply for a a curb cut, but if you were to get it, it would be that
wide or it's maybe a little bit wider. I'm not sure of the dimensions of a curb cut now in the city. Um, but myself personally, 14 foot is something I've never seen here at the board. Um,
I've opposed 16 being on the board and they were tandem two two vehicles. I I can sympathize with you wanting it, but is there any way you can come back to us? we can continue this and you can come back and look at maybe increasing
it some distance. Um I I I've been up and down the street. The house is like 30 or more than 30. I have two entrance, two stairs to get to the house. The width doesn't bother me. It's the depth. Yeah, I know. The depth
is the construction of the house. I can't go anymore to depth but I can't park like but the constru the house is not they the house is 18 it's you got a foundation wall before the house yeah I'm going to do the little wall can they
you can't alter that that's not the foundation of the house that's the foundation of your plot of the lot outside the house correct if we're looking at this plan this plan shows the house footprint and then it shows your stairs coming up with the concrete
foundation of the stairs. Is that I thought you had like a a wooden stairs out here, right? The staircase here is two stairs stairs to go and they go to what? One is to the basement and all the way down all the way up to the second door. Yes. But the
staircase goes to I don't have the picture in front of me. Um, so I'm I apologize, but if you have the picture that of the house that was left, am I correct to say that the stairs here,
you have a foundation wall, a a cobblestone wall, correct? Which one are we looking at here? So in this picture here, what do you what's where are we looking? Yep. Definitely. Oh, you can walk around
that. Where are you at? Okay. So, if you notice this here, this is your house. Yeah. All right. So, this here, the porch, the porch goes here on
this plan. Is this correct? Coming out this far. Yeah. Coming out that far. I just want to make sure it's all right. So the ports being out that far the f
you want to do that just sorry about that. So the house foundation is in to the 18 ft. That's 18 ft out unless you're you're not depicting this overhang. And that's
even a worse thing for me because I'm looking at the plan showing this overhang is being where they're going to put a wall. The wall is going to be under the the the Porsche sitting. So he
going to support the Porsche and then it's going to be like I I assume he is a foundation for the basement because I have the foundation for the basement. But they can't take and go in between two of these columns. So you can have a parking space.
It can be done, but it may be costly. Cost a lot of money. It may be costly. Yes. But to have to have a space that There you go. I'm sorry. To have a space just 14 ft in is very difficult to in my
I mean you have other members here that may vote. I'm just voicing my concerns as one individualized. I don't think going down the street. I think they're even in depth. The problem
when I apply for the I'm sorry. When I apply for the car cut to add to the driveway, when I look to the city website, there is no any mention about the depth. There's only about width of parking
spaces. Yeah, they say 9 by 18. It's mentioned everywhere. No, they didn't say didn't. I have to sit to your home in the website the driveway. He say just about the width between n minimum nine and the maximum 20 but they didn't say
anything about the the depths and the website. It's on it's on his letter that it's a 9 by8. It's on the letter that he sent you also but it is on dimensional controls are listed on on our websites.
Yeah, every developer would say what you're saying. There is there is 9 by8 as the CN state parking space on the city and most my car will fit because it's not that because I am going to dig little bits
under the one car. It's not it's not just yard sir. The legality of having a a parking space is usually 9 by 18. If if others wanted to decrease that to to 14
they so made they have the right to do that. You have one boat here that's not going to make a space 14t long. That's very very short space. I don't see any on the street that's even that short to be honest with you.
Okay. Test one, two. So, is there any way for you to to to look with an engineer to to make that deeper? If it's if it's something that you're not willing to do, then not width depth.
14 and 18. No, you can't go sideways. It's you can't park a vehicle sideways. I mean it. So you're not willing to look at that. So you don't need you don't you're not wishing for a continuation.
You'd like us to vote on this this evening? I would Mr. Chairman, we would then um request a continuence for such time uh to come up with uh consult with an engineer and see if we can come up with
something and we would wave uh the intervening days uh for the purposes of 4A so that we don't run the clock out. I I know going to be July 23rd anyway, isn't it? Yeah, July 23rd is our next meeting. So, if there's a motion to
continue, um, is that okay, Ashley? The motion to continue will be within his option to continue. Okay.
So, there's a motion to continue. I'd like a roll call, please. Shall the zoning board of appeals continue this matter to the July 23rd meeting? Mr. Lemma? Yes. Mr. Lopes? Yes. Mr. O'Brien. Yes. Yes. Miss Pratt. Yes. Yes. And Chairman Tucker. Yes. Yes. The
continuence has been granted. Okay. Having no further business, next meeting will be July 23rd at 5:00 pm. Thank you and good night. Wait. What about my my trash? I just asked the lady twice downstairs
and she told me to wait up here.