1.19.2023 Zoning Board of Appeals

good evening I am Joseph pereiro outgoing Vice chairman of the zoning board of appeals for the city of Fall River it is 6 p.m on Thursday January 19 2023 we are meeting in one government center in the first floor hearing room to Massachusetts General Law chapter 30A section 20 subsection F I hereby notify all persons in attendance that this meeting is being recorded with both video and audio devices Fall River

government television frtg Craig Salvador is servicing us uh with both a video and audio version of this meeting if anyone desires to make an audio video or combination recording thereof please notify me now and I shall make a public announcement of your intentions our recording clerk this evening is Nina Krueger sitting into my immediate right present this evening are permanent members

uh yeah I'm doing well John Frank uh Jim Calkins Dan De Pere Rick sahadi and myself as well as our alternate member sitting in with us tonight John Sylvia also with us this evening is the director of engineering and planning Dan aguiar sitted at the seating to my far left Nina have all petitions to be considered properly advertised and all interested parties notified in accordance with the

rules and regulations of the zoning board of appeals in Massachusetts General law uh chapter 48 I declare the January 2023 regularly scheduled meeting of the zoning board of appeals of the city of Fall River open for such business as shall regularly come before it I remind all persons presenting before the board including petitioners a Butters anyone in support or anyone opposed to the position petition that

your presentation be limited to three minutes questions and responses must be directed through the chairman the board rules and regulations direct the board specifically to look for information which supports the petition whose claims as such petitioners should identify and factually support the basis for their petition I hereby advise all petitioners and all interested parties that this is the

zoning board of appeals the board's Authority exists pursuant to Massachusetts General law 40a and is limited in scope and deals with the use with land use as regulated by chapter 86 of the ordinances of the city of Fall River additional permits licenses reviews and or approvals may be required for the specific development or use which is the subject of the petition before the zoning board this evening

the clerks and the building planning engineering and licensing department are competent in the discharge of their duties as clerks they are however not lawyers and not competent to give legal advice the action taken by this board has a real and Lasting effect upon the title of your real estate I urge all petitioners to seek competent legal counsel before filing your petitions and

after the decision of the board has been made for example there was a city ordinance 2015-11 section 10-11 requiring site plan reviews a copy of the ordinance is available at the city's city clerk's office or from the planning department I remind everyone that the building inspector is the zoning enforcement Authority and you are here this evening because the building inspector has determined

that your proposed action is contrary to the city of Fall River zoning ordinance the city Charter section 9-18 mandates that all multiple member bodies develop and adopt rules or policies for public comment we have adopted such a policy which in short provides for citizen input on zoning board specific matters at the end of the meeting for those who might be interested if there is a sign

up sheet on the table just outside the door I disclose that the official copy of the zoning ordinance is available at the city clerk's office one cannot rely on the zoning ordinance online any questions before we begin this being the first meeting of the new calendar year our first order of business is to elect a new slate of officers um that being the chairman uh the vice chairman and the clerk all

to serve for the remaining 12 months with that I turn to the members of the board if anyone cares to open I will open nominations uh first for the position of chairman of the board chairman I'm an eight joker as as chairman of the board for the year 2023 seconds we have a second on that motion are there any further nominations twice are there any further nominations three times are there any further

denominations for that position nominations for the position of chair are closed uh can I have a nomination please for vice chairman of the board to serve 2023.

chairman I nominate John Frank as Vice chairman of the board for the year 2023.

you accept yes are there any further nominations for vice chair and further nominations for the nominations they're hearing none I call the nominations for vice chair closed and for the position of clerk Mr chair I'll nominate James Hawkins as a clerk Jim do you accept yes yes very good are there any further nominations for the position of clerk there any further nominations for the position of clerk

are there any further nominations for the position of clerk they're hearing none I declare the nominations for the position of Kirk clerk closed it was difficult uh that being said have we voted in the past normally okay so let us then vote for the Slate of Joseph Pereira as chair John Frank as Vice chair and James culkins as secretary uh clerk rather by roll call John Frank yes Jim Calkins yes

Dan De Pere Yes Rick sahadi yes and myself yes closes the elections and we get down to business before we begin I'm honored by this I'm probably most honored because the man who just left this position has done an outstanding job David Assad was a real leader in this community the provided a great deal of stability to this board um and did a tremendous tremendous job so if he's out there watching this online

that being done let us get to the orders of business for this evening our first petition uh is for Austin Fang for a property uh 503 Highland Avenue that's map M18 lot 32 the applicant seeks a variance to operate uh an Airbnb short-term rental property with seven bedrooms and an S single-family zoning District I come up and take a seat in the front with a microphone introduce yourself or yourselves and your address

good evening dear board members Dearborn members neighbors and residents of Fall River my name is Austin Feng I live in Wellesley 57 River Ridge Wellesley sitting by my side is my wife Sammy Tang I come before you this evening to appear to petition for a variance of the zoning code on my beautiful home here address 503 Highland Avenue to allow for Airbnb short-term rentals I like to tell my side of stories as to

why I think that is the best option for this home for myself for my neighborhood as well as for the city of Fall River I made quite a few slides before we go over them one by one I'd like to thank you all for this opportunity and for hearing me out and I will completely open up to all of you and LS3 what I've been going through as the owner of the house for the past one

year and a half so can we flip the next slide so on the picture right hand side that was the picture 40 years ago when this house entered the National Registry of historical homes I think over the years this house has become kind of a symbol um in Fall River I think everyone at some point has seen it or has heard about it ever since I became the owner of the house

I put it a priority for me to preserve this house and maintain its building along with that it comes repairs utilities Landscaping all that burden I had to find Solutions uh then I did manage to find a sustainable solution for this house to have maintenance which will last for the years to come my vision for this house is to provide a well-preserved and elegant home for decent and responsible folks to enjoy

next slide please so first let's take a look at this property its location and the basic information in that square I drew it's about one and a half acre of land on top of the Highland Avenue this house has 7 800 square feet with three floors of living space and seven bedrooms the yard is well fenced with tall trees around it which keeps privacy for both my side and my neighbors

it was built about 100 years ago with a historical name Nathan thurfeet house next slide so over the years the one and a half years I had to do a lot of maintenance to preserve this house because when I just bought it the house had a lot of issues I had to take care of for example when I why after I bought it I noticed the gutters had never been cleaned out

of the leaves and corrosion started so I hired someone to clean all the gutters around the house and install the the gutter guards which cost me thousands I repaired water leakage on the third floor and the roof had to be repaired I also um tuned up all the six AC units in the house I repaired the boiler which stopped working and uh and take winter time of 2021 a big tree branch fell on the Southeast

corner of the house and caused some damage and I also had that repaired last year so these are just some of the primary things I I did there's a lot more things I did I did not list I ran out of space but it's not finished yet it's far from done I have a lot more plants laid out for this house in the near future such as replacing the boiler

um repair the cracked you see it in the picture left hand side um the drain pipe is cracked and it definitely needs to be repaired because we already see water damage there so next slide please so I like to demonstrate some of the cost that I've been facing as I I said I'm I'm gonna completely open up and display everything um the left hand side is a heat bill from Liberty Utilities that was March of 2022.

and you can see the lower left that month the heat bill was about sixteen hundred dollars upper right National Grid that's my power bill for the July August month of last year and that came out to be 800 some dollars lower right was a landscaping bill in the November of 2021 we had some bass storms in that month we did quite a few cleanups and that came out to be two thousand seven hundred dollars

so on this page I listed out my payments I've been making left hand side is my heat payments over the year um some of you might know that Liberty Utilities takes payment capped at 600 dollars with a fixed fee for each payment so maybe you might not be able to see very very much in detail but each of these payments are about six hundred dollars in some months like the ones that circled that's the March month

I had to make three six hundred dollar payments to cover right hand side is my electricity payments you can see the July and August once 700 or 800 which reflect to the prior page bill that I got and next slide this one is my Landscaping bill which I pay out of my bank account with Bill Pay you can see for the past year some months it's four digits over a thousand dollars some amounts are 800 or

700 500 dollars so on the right hand side this table I kind of summarized what the fixed costs were facing to maintain this beautiful house in its best state he is 8 000.

electricity about four thousand and all these numbers are actually pretty conservative estimation that I did Landscaping 8 500 dollars Repairs by nine thousand dollars property tax is about for this year is almost fifteen thousand um insurance five thousand dollars and that I actually um searched all around very hard to find a price as low as five thousand and there is also water bill 1500 for the

year it's got a big yard and it has about 24 stations about almost 100 sprinklers to comfort the yard for summer and then need to run about one or two hours every day so total about fifty one thousand dollars a fixed cost that I'm looking at every year um next page please so with all these cars I had to find Solutions how do we manage I had to find some way to make an income

to help me with maintaining this house and I thought of renting it out as a permanent lease like annual lease to people I can easily find because it's got seven bedrooms right I can easily find seven to ten people to move in but I started over and over I decided not to because you see how the law the leasing law is written is to protect tenants mostly and once we sign that lease

it's like me handing the house over to the tenants basically means they can do whatever they want now what if they cause damage in the house I as a landlord cannot enter the house whenever I want right I have to notify them ahead of time what if they throw big parties in the house I don't want to do that to my neighbors and I cannot stop them once it's done right

what if even worse drugs is involved in the house with crowds of people coming in and out all that would cause a lot of problems so I told myself I cannot do this to my neighborhood I want to keep it a beautiful nice and quiet neighborhood so I turned to Airbnb Airbnb is so much different from a traditional Leasing it gives the power to the landlord it guests do not follow rules

I as the landlord can actually end their list right away and kick them out so the the way we operate is I charge about 800 to 1200 depending on the season for a day most guests spend about two or three four days at the house and then mostly they're here for family reunions or for a wedding locally where they want to find a place to stay um the good thing about having Airbnb is

it's always going to be one party living in the house for a few days and when it's time to leave they must leave right another good thing about the Airbnb business is it brings in people from outside um they they come here as tourists which brings tourism to the city now here to visit museums they're here to eat at the restaurants right they're here for the grocery stores so all that business is going to

benefit the city um economies have said that we're looking at a recession so I think all this activity is definitely going to help city of Fall River also currently the occupancy tax for state of uh Massachusetts is about 11 percent and that would be split between the city and the state I believe so for example guests spend three thousand dollars staying at this place they must pay 330

dollars in terms of occupancy tax which means about 160 some dollars will come to the city of Fall River it might not be a big amount but it'll add up as time goes on another thing is about employment opportunities I have hired cleaners from local my landscaper is from local my locksmith which is the Carl's locksmith is in Fall River plumbers handyman all those they're from local areas

so this would definitely benefit these people this picture shows my neighborhood it's a nice and quiet neighborhood with a wide Highland Street it's got a large distance if you see um in the plot this house is at a large spacing between it and all the neighbors it's got a big setback from the street and to the back of the house it's a long distance to the residence as well so we're looking at

a big piece of land which kind of divides this house from impacting other neighbors and the guests who stay here they're usually very mature responsible and decent men people I screen them very carefully and I have very strict rules for them to follow if they want to stay here I do not allow any events to happen at the place for example people have asked me a lot of times can we have a wedding there this answer

is always no I also asked my neighbors who can see my backyard to keep an eye on what's going on and let me know if they see something unusual it's like so I wanted to open up and show you exactly what kind of rules I set forth for this house to be written on the Airbnb some of the screen is kind of cut off but I'll just list them out orally pets allowed no events Allowed no

smoking allowed no commercial photography Allowed no quiet hours from 10 pm to 9 A.M check-in time is two checkout time is 11. number of guests is capped at 12 so you can they can at most bring in 12 guests and another rule additional is at any time I don't allow over 18 people at the house basically if you have 12 guests you could have as many as six visitors at the house but not more than that

so I enforce these rules very strictly and I communicate very well with my guests so this page is kind of small but I'll read them to you some of the conversations I've had with my potential guests or past guests so the first one on the left hand side she said we have 17 to stay overnight so I said 12 is the maximum we cannot allow 17 right I rejected that right hand side this person requested to

stay then I want to know more it's a it's like a quick reply I always ask the same details I said may I ask how many people are planning for the trip and how many other visitors are here to visit but not to stay I ask very specific questions I asked do you have any events planned such as wedding big party or gathering at the property and they have to answer that question

to me before I allow them to book next flight this example here she directly asked for a wedding but the wedding is not taken at the place the wedding is taken somewhere in Bristol County so in that case I'm okay I consider that if they're having a wedding somewhere local you're welcome to bring your guests to stay here for a few days right hand side is a wedding request directly at the

house I directly rejected it I have to rejected a lot of them already so here's uh some of the reviews I received over time the guests truly enjoyed their stay allow me to read some of these to you these words I always enjoy reading them myself this one says the coolest house I have ever stayed at unique architecture makes you feel you travel back in time the color stained Windows show history

and a sense of Pride that was never experienced in any other places amazing history historic property photos don't do it justice stunning home and my memory to last a lifetime extremely comfortable home with historical architecture and Landscape grounds and this last one is my favorite she said experience a step back in time the lifestyle of Scott fritziger Gerald novels um he wrote The Great Gatsby and The

Curious Case of Benjamin Button and that's actually in the 1920s when he when he wrote it and that's the same share it as a Time the house was built and many of these that surpass high quality hotels and resorts we thoroughly enjoy the gorgeous and spacious grounds to stroll phenomenal words like that I see all the time and it gives me a sense of fulfillment to provide this place for them to enjoy

with their family and friends and here is some queries I I put on uh in on Airbnb in local areas so I just searched for random time like mid-may of this year how many houses are available on Airbnb the left hand side is for Newport and Rhode Island we do see a lot of them actually if you zoom in there's a lot more showing up the middle one is Fall River and Tiverton area

we do see some but forever in a circle it's empty right hand side is Cape Cod it's filled up with Airbnb properties so my point is we are surrounded by the towns and places that really welcome Fall River and we are kind of missing out if forever is not involved in welcoming Airbnb we do have a slogan for the city right make it here can we make it here next slide please

so I prepared some of the pictures of the house to go through and it's going to take about half a minute for us to take a look at the inside and please pay attention to how private this house is which from the yard you can pretty much you don't see Neighbors you can totally enjoy your party in the yard with your families and friends and that's the yard with parking and

garage by the way I do have plenty of parking space so my guests were not me to take street parking there's a garage and there is different various parking spots that's the backyard where people can sit there and enjoy a dinner very privately this is the right hand side of the house the south side of the house that's also the south side of the house that's the backyard with the little bridge to walk to stroll so

there you have it you have me standing here in front of everybody today I'm straightforward I'm responsible I'm upright I have Grit I truly care about this house and wish nothing but the best for the house I'm grateful to inspector Hathaway and Nina here for helping me through the right procedure to apply for this petition um you know for the past year or so it has been very challenging

but very exciting Journey for me I learned a great deal I have a lot to learn I also harvested a lot so I kindly asked the board to allow me to continue on this journey I won't let you down I promise you that that's it good thank you I I will point out that you're asking for a use variance for the house and under Massachusetts General law flood 40a you would have to prove a hardship and

the hardships allowed under 40a involve soil shape of the property uh topographic conditions which I didn't hear in that well put together Public Presentation I must say are you coming before saying that your hardship for the used variants is financial it's mostly Financial okay which is and not one of those things that's laid out in 40a for a variance given this property is a historical

property given you've seen so many pictures of the house um I can I can say for sure this house with seven bedrooms it almost felt like it welcomes people to enjoy in inside I I shouldn't be the only person because I spend days in there every year as my vacation home but I don't feel like I should be the only people that enjoy this house I wanted to give Outsiders a chance to visit Fall River

such a city with Rich history and understand Fall River right and that is one of the reasons I think we should open up to welcome more people to come here learn about our Rich history I always tell them to go see the Battleship museum and just go see the Liz Borden house and everyone absolutely enjoyed these trips to the city and I can imagine why they'd be telling their family and friends when

they go home what they've learned to learn about Fall River right so let's make memories for the people and chances are these people could be our future investors before they did not even know about us we are the spindle City a hundred years ago were what like one of the richest cities in the country people like the city back then but now they don't know if not even hear about the city

and a lot of these people they found this house because they're looking for weddings in Newport or somewhere close and they found me they found the house and they're like this is the place we gotta stay so I think it's a win-win situation for me for the house for the folks out there and for the city I've had folks from Europe coming in here to attend their our family events and really made great memories for these

people so would you please make one exception um I think it'll benefit everybody in the in this town Mr chairman yes just a couple of things yeah all right number one as the chairman just stated economic hardship tourism Etc not within the preview of this board you're asking for a variance based upon those items mostly am I correct yeah which is not in the preview of this board secondly how long have you been

operating this about a year on and off because um inspector Hathaway communicating with me so some a lot of times I took it down that did it not dawn on you that you needed the variants before you operated he told me I need the variance and I needed the the review the building code review yes he did but you operated it without the variance um as some at some point yes I did

before before we go to open questions one of one of the things that I'm going to turn to the director of planning after the board has a chance to ask some questions um we're in a tough spot I'm not on soft spot Airbnb does not really fit the traditional bed and breakfast format bed and breakfast requires that someone is there the owners in the in the house Etc B Airbnb

is a brand name first of all you can rent an entire house you can rent a room in somebody's house you can rent an apartment condo Etc um so we're we're even toughly placed to figure out what you are not hang on is it a boarding house is it a b b no is it uh is it a hotel motel it's kind of running close to that right now it's

without with the way we're with a way it's it's being run none of those are allowed in the single family District all right none of them not even not even a traditional B and B is allowed in a single-family district and again we have to deal with a matter of of hardship uh anyone else on the board questions for Mr Fang Dan no I'm going to turn to my Augusta associate the director of engineering

and planning Dan agiar you get a weigh in comments at this point certainly so whenever we look at a property we start with what are the existing conditions of the property do we have a conforming parcel of land do we have a conforming structure to the zoning District which we clearly have here it's an oversized lot it's a beautiful lot it's a beautiful home and it completely conforms to the single family district

is what the zoning by law states out if it were an existing non-conforming use then then you may have the ability to change that non-conforming use but that's not what we have we are completely conforming use variances in general are prohibited we have a situation where our zoning bylaw does not reflect short-term rentals as a use allowed in the single-family district and that's what brings you here we're requesting

the variance so as a few of the board members stated they are limited and can only Grant a variance if they feel you've met those criteria for hardship which I can't tell them whether you have or have not they all vote you know for themselves and make that opinion so you have to listen to the argument or the proposal that was before you and you decide whether or not you feel they've

met the qualifications for hardship in your your decision making I think it'll be very important for the owner to understand that although he may run a supreme operation and and it appears as though he may be doing so as the chairman stated in his initial presentation to the audience the decisions that are made by this board are lasting and they run with this piece of land not with you as the owner so

although you may run a superb operation you decide to sell this property in two months someone else buys it they may not they may allow the weddings they may allow 50 people to stay at the house all of those things or what this Board needs to consider the fact that you run that kind of an operation really means nothing in the eyes of of zoning along because it's either going

to be an Airbnb is allowed or short-term rental or it is not and the fear of what may come after you is something that this board also needs needs to consider this house was built as a single family home has been operated as a single-family home for many many years did you purchase the property with the thought of occupying it as a full-time residence or was it always to be a short-term rental it's my vacation home

as I purchased it okay yeah and so so theoretically you made a bad financial decision that you're now trying to find a way out of not necessarily one a way out of it I love this house you know I wanted to preserve it and stay with it well you can use it as a vacation home absolutely for more than 31 days which is the definition of a short-term rental in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

so you could theoretically rent this home for 32 days to summer that would not be considered it'll be hard to find someone who wants to stay there exactly like I understand this model may not meet and like we said if I do that I do not have control of the house once I do that they can do whatever they want in the house I understood so but you bought it as a

single family home yeah no conditions of zoning or or how you were going why you were going to use it I think it'd be important to take all you know matters in favor or an opposition at this point that's where we're going and whatever thank you again either way that being said nothing else from the board at this point is anyone here uh that wishes to speak in favor of this petition

yes please stand up identify yourself and your address

report it for like we've been there for 43 and a half years I'm gonna tell you I'm behind him people before who owned it very well people before them we had difficults but I will tell you my husband and I we walk around the neighborhood you go on Highland Avenue you walked the the streets there some of these big homes I'm telling you I always say on the peon on the street

they need to clean their yards up they need to check their their their streets and everything around them they don't do it this man has run it we've been behind him he's had hit the BNB which we didn't he came to a home he's talked to us and that I am telling you you need to give this man a chance and I am telling you we owned our own home in a a place in Florida

and I am telling you he is top-notch and the neighborhood a lot of them especially on Hanover Street were the ones behind him everything like he needs to do a couple of things in his backyard there but he's had families he has weddings he's had everything and I am telling them I will back him and his wife and his family very very nice in the neighborhood needs to take and open their eyes and do something new

everybody's always knocking for a river always saying I mean I lived in Somerset and when I used to say I was moving to Fall River up the highlands they used to say oh my God going in the slums I used to be so upset when they used to say that we need to expand and expand and expand we need to make this Fall River about beautiful and if this man's willing to do it my

neighborhood should help and back him my opinion okay thank you very much appreciate you coming out thank you is there anyone else that wishes to speak in favor of the petition so everyone here who wishes to speak in opposition to the petition you go first identify yourself sir please I thought I was the only one my name is Victor Palumbo I live at 500 Hanover Street I've been a resident of Fall River

pretty much my entire life I've lived in that neighborhood uh I've been at that address for over 40 years give or take I haven't lived anywhere else in my adult life I think that uh Mr Fang present made a very nice presentation uh I enjoyed listening to it although I have objection to a number of things he's he said uh we all have uh expenses in that area with their major the taxes are high Etc um

the issue I think as you've pointed out yeah is not uh about how much it costs to maintain the house it costs that much uh proportionally since it was built it's an expensive house to own you also brought out the point that he was aware of that when he bought it and that he was aware that it was a single family house that neighborhood has been and remains to be one of the few

single-family neighborhoods with the sizable Lots like that um I'm opposed to it variance being granted for its use as an Airbnb or a rental property or a hotel motel or a bed and breakfast or whatever else might be classified as a business use it's a single-family neighborhood we want to keep it a single family neighborhood and no offense to the fangs they seem like very nice people I have to reiterate that

he probably won't own it forever and once we start this path of changing zoning that protects all of us then we have a problem because if he's allowed to make his house a rental in whatever form of fashion you might want to assign it then the next person across the street is going to want to do that I know at the time that Mr Fang bought the property there were other families that were also interested in

buying it so it's not a matter like many people in the city think that those houses won't sell the difference does it make they were buying it for their families and a single family use so I don't want to see him leave the neighborhood I'd love to see him as a neighbor but I'd like to see him use it as a single family house and if in fact that can't be done by him

I'm sure it would be done by somebody else so my position is that I hope the board does not Grant this variance no no offense to Fang family thank you Mr Columbo Andy also we did receive correspondence from from you no no it's not okay my family has owned the Lots around this property for about 50 years I owned I own several my brothers here he owns directly on the South Side I'm directly

on the east side uh yeah I actually met Lewis and Richard we may want to consider a street name change in the neighborhood um who else there's another hand yes please identify yourself and your address Lars Bowman and also speaking for my wife Deborah we live at 5 48 Highland Avenue diagonally across the street Highland Avenue from 503 Highland and we purchased our home 1999 did major

Renovations much more expensive than what's been done at 503 Highlands so far and these are the costs that we bear to maintain and upgrade these homes which are very historic our home was built 1909 I agree with Victor everything that he said the letter that I submitted to you to the board I particularly pointed out the risk to the neighborhood if this is allowed and we don't know about

future owners of the property and how they will use that property for profit and with less control over the tenants and it could turn into a major disruption for the neighborhood but also um you know a harm to the neighborhood and the city so we object to the variance request thank you for speaking we do have your letter it is part of the record would you mind if we did not read it in tonight okay

up here anyone else which is to speak in opposition yes ma'am my name is Cara magoney I know which street I also own a fully Stone Granite Mansion like this family has purchased I understand the cost of all of it I just purchased my home one year ago full well knowing what I was buying a real huge amount of bills um I know that you are aware of what you

are purchasing you are given all of the utility bills and all of the finances that go along with owning one of these mansions and the highlands and um I just feel as though if one of us starts doing that we have hundreds of bedrooms throughout the highlands that would ended up being rented out and I am opposed to turning any of these Mansions into rental properties I also um just live maybe about a thousand feet

from the house maybe not even my my neighbor behind me is the Lizzie Borden maplecroft Mansion they put probably two hundred thousand dollars into that house to turn it into a bed and breakfast and the city rejected that for five years and finally drove them out of the city after they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars the last straw was some other exorbitant uh you know order that the city put on them finally

they gave up because uh the neighborhood is to me remain single family houses if you buy a house in the highlands you need to stick with what we've all been doing for 100 years my family has owned over 17 houses in that neighborhood we own seven right now I think amongst us we actually sold my grandmother's house for 45 years to Dr Bowman here he lives across the street in a mansion similar

to this Mansion we're all paying the bills if you didn't want to pay those bills you shouldn't have bought one of these houses that I wanted to buy the house there was another big family in the city that wanted to buy the house with little kids we were ready to pay the bills so I opposed this thank you Last Chance anyone else speaking opposition sir family 526 Highland Avenue um just to point somebody out if those

of no Consequence the only house in the city of Fall River on the historic register is the Colorado Point house on Rock Street there are no houses on the register other than that the district is considered a historic district but that house is not on the historic district of anything registered I thought that was the case okay thank you oh I pulled that picture directly from the documentary online um

my apologies I did not fully understand the definition but may I address to my neighbor's concern oh sure sure I know this is taking way too long I'm so sorry but this is very important to to me and to everyone in the in the neighborhood as I pointed out when I went over the slides we're applying for the short-term rental right I am entitled to do a long-term rental so when she said she's opposed to making

a rental property she does not have the right to stop me from making it a rental property I start myself from making a rental property because like the reasons I listed I love my neighborhood I do not risk I do not want to risk it once I make it a rental property people moving in there I don't know what might happen there so that is actually that's one option

but I really hate to go there go go there this is a much better option people most of the time the house is empty okay I set the rate 800 to 1 000 a night the house that not many people take that okay so only like sometimes Fridays you know people go in and they leave on Sunday that's the most often case and on the weekdays mostly nobody's there I coming there to stay sometimes but other

than that it's nice and quiet there so being a a short time rental turns out to be better for the house it enables us to to preserve it and it turns out to be better than having constantly people going in and out um that is something that neighbors will really mind you know if we have really turned into a rental property so my words to neighbors is really let's stand on the same page

the way I'm doing it today it's actually beneficial to the neighborhood as well as to the house put a hand up back here please I try my best I take about 20 Airbnb in Bristol Newport Middletown improve this and I never see one Airbnb like these Airbnb because this man is incredible this Airbnb is so clean everything's outside inside this everything is clean because I take care about his Airbnb but he very like

incredible because he go each time to check everything's the outside if you eat cherries stay in the exact place so I know the neighbor so some someone peoples know like clean people so if another people buy this house this house is no keep clean because they she and he needs um this because uh like I'm so nervous because I don't speak it very good English I'm sorry but please you need to keep this Airbnb because for

giving you to go uh that probably will need to improved because Newport is a good place but forever each time you need people can I just have your your full name and address yeah please my full name is Jessica strasher and I live in 358th chapter uh now I'm moving or one week ago 871 Norman Street Fall River Massachusetts thank you very much we have three letters that came in regarding this

um this application called River zoning board we are writing to express express our concern regarding the request for variants to allow the residents of 503 Highland Ave to be used as a bed and breakfast fast rental property we have owned and lived at 461 Highland Avenue since 1979 and our Butters to the home in question although it is a spacious property we believe it would be a detriment to the neighborhood to have

this home approved as a short-term rental though we are sympathetic to the current owner we are aware of the zoning regulations um when he purchased this home and feels strongly or strongly that he should abide by the current regulations rather than putting the burden on the rest of the neighbors thank you for your consideration Richard Palumbo Louise Palumbo um this one came in members of the board

dear sirs the purchase the purpose of this letter is to voice an objection to the variance request which would allow the establishment of an Airbnb at 503 Highland Avenue Fall River we understand the matter is on the agenda for the meeting at 6 pm on 119 23 at City Hall since 1999 we have owned and maintained a home at 548 Highland Avenue we have raised our family in Fall River we can

estimate the 5 548 Highland and 503 Highland are less than 150 feet apart although allowing the variance for the use of 503 is an Airbnb Hotel would be an irreversible action specifically impacting the residential neighborhood of the historic Highlands the current owner might have good intentions but the future owners might be far more interested in profit than a peaceful community and pristine preservation

we know for a fact that there were Fall River residences residents who attempted to purchase 503 Highland Ave to raise their children and create a lasting Homestead but whether albid or due to Legal wranglings they were unsuccessful if the board votes to deny this if the board votes to deny this variance request and the current owner chooses not to enjoy the home with his family we may very well have another

buyer waiting for his property and this from the Bowman's thank you and the last one that came in dear board members I live at 526 Highland Avenue and I'm writing regarding the property at 503 and the owner Austin Fang desired to turn the property into an Airbnb or hotel I strongly oppose granting this request Mr Fang has owned the property for some time and only recently approached his neighbors

seeking their cooperation with his Endeavor when the property was purchased would have been the time to approach the neighbors not sometime later there was a corporate saying it's it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission uh nonsense do the right thing regardless the response would be the same Mr Fang claims he put in a tremendous effort to minimize the impact of the neighborhood our trash pickup day

is each Tuesday many times the trash barrels remain on the sidewalk of his property for several days after the after being emptied and as his visits to the property seem to be few and far between additionally a recently uh overfilled trash bin resulted and debris laying on the street and sidewalk from in the front of the property for several days before they were cleared up in a recent article in The Herald News

Mr Fang claims the property um is far away from his neighbors so I make sure I don't disturb my neighbors one across the street is not very far as can be seen previous paragraph we have if we are all aware of the failed attempt to operate another business has doors in the I'm sorry I'm struggling with this sentence two doors to the north two doors to the north thank you and we've been

left with a plot of land with a great I know what you're talking about now a great crater in the center of it for the past seven years this is a residential neighborhood and I prefer it remains so again I wish to express my strong opposition granting Mr Feng's request to operate an Airbnb or hotel at 503 Highland Avenue Fall River respectfully uh Alan natal and that's it for correspondence

um I think we've made a pretty complete presentation at this point Chris would you mind showing the last exited presentation mode and show the last two slides That's not including in the presentation mode yeah for the last two slides on the left hand side yeah appendix yes this slide shows before I purchased this the house how long it was on the market it was a year before I I approached the

the house was on the market for a year so for those who claimed they wanted to buy the house my question to you is why didn't you buy it over that one year period of time you wait till I came in now you wanted to buy it that does not make sense to me and the next slide is well that is actually from someone called Cara and I don't know if it's

just the carrot in this room but she's this is uh January uh January 10th she says I know you are not getting the variance of the short-term rental so I don't know why over a week ago she already knew I was not kidding the variance approved so I I guess some she probably heard some board members already predetermined stop right there that's where I have to draw a line okay sorry if you were

indicating in any way shape or form that this board this body and the City of Fall River do not operate under the laws of the Commonwealth Massachusetts and the laws and bylaws of the city of Fall River you are sadly mistaken yeah I don't mean very I don't really mean high standard here of course there's no collusion there's no decisions being made ahead of time right exactly we listen to your case you've

made a very extensive case at this point this evening but I Will Not For a Moment take a hit exactly do not misunderstand me what I really mean is I hope I have changed your mind if you before this presentation if you had some like received negative letters receive some negative views all the newspaper if you had um a mindset before you come in here I was hoping I could change that by doing this

presentation but of course the decision is yours you as the board hold the future of the property in your hands and I'm asking to make it one exception for this house and I won't let you down yes sorry I really didn't mean any of any of that we're good there's one more hand that popped up over here did somebody else want to say something before we take this back to school okay

in that case if there are any other questions or comments from the board now would be the time if there are not any additional questions or comments from the board I would accept a motion to either approve or a motion to reject deny I should say and I leave it in your hands Mr chairman again my concern is that the conditions under which this person is asking for the variance does not meet the purview

of this board economic tourist preservation based upon that I would make the motion that we deny the variants we have a motion to deny and we have a motion by Rick sahity second by John Frank is there any discussion on the motion they're hearing none John Frank yes James Calkins yes Dan De Pere Yes Rick sahiti yes and chairman Pereira yes

Joe sad okay moving right along item number two Sharon a uh Sharon and zatano 298 King Street B-12 lot 2.

Take It Outside please okay if we could folks we have a lot of meeting to go in any discussion please take to the hallway thank you so much thank you all for participating

okay so the case before us is 298 uh King Street application seeks a variance to subdivide the existing parcel into three lots waving Frontage area and setback requirements in an R4 two-family zoning District since I don't think your name is Sharon could you please give us your name it was it wasn't a formal life um attorney Matt Matthew Aspen with an office at 255 County Street in Somerset

on behalf of the petitioner Sharon satano Mrs zatano is uh is here tonight um yes she's sitting she's sitting back there um this property is a long time Family property that has been in the family for over 16 years mrtano just she owns four sixths of it her daughter owns one-sixth and her and her son owns another 1 6 of this property her parents own the property it was the family Homestead back in the day

I do have a couple of submissions for the board I made a few copies just to show you this is what we're actually seeking is a re-division of this property this property I want to show you the two the deed in on capacities around this property originally consisted of three lots of course they predated zoning in the city of Fall River and they bought the Lots at different times again it goes back

many many decades that this has been in the family lots front on King Street and they float one of the Lots fronts on Butler Street what we're looking for I know the engineer put in a a request for a for a setback variance after the building department told them to put the framework for a single family home in each of the proposed Lots it doesn't appear to me if you look at the plan

there will be a need for a setback so the variance would be an area variance and a and area variance and a frontage variance as you indicated this is in in our four Zone which is a two-family Zone there's a single family home on there now now the hardship that's presented under this petition is is twofold the case law is clear on the location of the existing dwelling if you notice on the

plan it's not it's the original Homestead which is right near the property line on the first lot so that leaves an expense two lots that are basically unusable and also the description uh the um the shape of the lot is a flag lot now what happened is as the board's familiar with these Lots merged as an operation by operational law had they had they uh put them in different names or or took affirmative

steps to do them they wouldn't they wouldn't have merged I do have the uh the zoning map which makes it really clear on the shape of the lot that you can see from here it's a flag it's as it exists today it's a flag lot this this will help the uh the board recognize it now the variants we're looking for is for two single family dwellings on the proposed Lots uh

fully in compliance if you look at the plan um the plan uh puts the layout in locates the lot the house within the uh within the setback requirements there's also plenty of room if you notice because of the elongated shape of the Lots they're very deep they're 115 feet 110 feet so there's plenty of room for parking in front the house can be moved back and still aside from where they're

proposed in the plan the house can be moved back to allow for parking now this District allows a multi-family youth so two feet it's a two-family district we're not looking for that we would have to have 8 000 square feet so I suppose we could have another another two families in there per 2000 square feet but that's not what we're looking for we're looking to keep three single family homes which again is consistent

with the with the neighborhood I do have a number of pictures of the neighborhood the lots that I that I would submit into records that show the character of the neighborhood which I'm sure I'm sure you've all looked at anyway but um they're labeled so you take a look at the take a look at the location of the house as well as the uh as well as the location of lots in the

in the vicinity there is a small shed that would have to be knocked down toward the uh to the rear of the King Street um the King Street property again I this is a I would suggest it's a Minimus variant a minimal variance what we're looking for is lot two where the house is located is 5350 square feet of course the requirement is six thousand the other two lots 5462 feet and 5289 square feet

um the Buy Low requires six thousand so it's a it's a somewhat it's a somewhat short uh variance request for the area the frontage um and again it's the unique shape of the lot if the lot was more Square we might we might actually comply with the frontage requiring it but because then they're long and narrow um the frontage is only 48 feet and change for uh for all three lots again

family Homestead I think it suffices to say that the uh the hardship requirements comply with the law again case law indicates the location of the house it can be a hardship and this house is located right on the boundary line on the other side and um it's certainly in the shape of a lot it exists as a result of merger again my clients here to answer any questions you may have but that's the

that's the extent of our request that I think you know if you think the application is complete by the engineer and again we will be providing off street parking for both uh both dwellings and that's that can clearly be a condition of the uh of the variants okay thank you for the presentation I I will I will point out that I think um together now as the single lot it is conforming the lot is conforming

the house obviously is set very close to the street but it was built in something like 1950 so that that has to be set aside so we have a conforming lot we have the full Frontage um you know 96 foot of furnace we only need 75. uh we have more than enough uh square footage here so basically you're asking us to take a conforming lot cut it into some non-conforming Lots which is difficult

so I'm not sure that three lots is the answer I think there might be another answer but but let's let's talk about that by the way as far as setback goes yes you can probably meet the setback on the other two lots but by dividing you've got the existing house that looks like it's about six inches away from the property line that would be between it and lot 20 to the immediate north of that so

by this division you've created a setback situation with the existing Homestead as you call it um so it's not is it Minimus all three lots don't have don't have Frontage don't have adequate Frontage so we're being asked to waive that and it's not by like five feet we're coming from 75 down to 48 and change um and again the question of taking a lot that conforms and turn it into three lots that do not

so I'll entertain questions from the the board members at this point I would say what what is like the hardship then you know the it's a conforming lot you're going to add two other houses to that um I I gather that you build two other homes on on those other Lots right yeah oh yes yes two single-family homes they're they're in the footprint of the uh of the plan the hardship goes to the

shape clearly the shape of the lot it's not it funds on two streets and you can't get the full use of the lot without getting a variance which is which is for a dwelling don't forget these this is that the um the engineer calls it a re-dividing of the lots and that's and the reason they called it that is because these lots are already divided you know but for the and they

were bought at different times but for the fact that people don't understand the law of merger uh which is depended on who's looking at it terrible terrible Concepts but it happens they bought this lot with the hopes of building on them in the future they never got to build on them and they merged by operational law so I understand the concept that we have a um we have a conforming lot now but it's

also much bigger than just about all of the Lots in the area number one and number two at one time they're working for me and right now A conforming lot has to be six thousand square feet this is two and a half times the size of that so it's not you know they and and the rest of the hardship is a little keyword location this case law that indicates that when you have a dwelling and the

location was placed there and in this case pre-zoning the location of the house on the lot of the the building on the lot can be considered a hardship because you don't have the rest of the use of the land and I do understand the bullet's concerns if it was in another District um you know it it might be a different story this particular District uh you know I'm not so sure especially

with the fact that these lots are elongated and we can provide clearly to provide off-street parking which is something that you know doesn't always exist in this area what I don't understand is it is a financial thing because you're going to divide this into three separate lots and sell those three serpent houses if you were to just sell that lot you're going to get a lot less than if you sell those different Lots

on top of that there is a school elementary school that's pretty close to that I'm sure there's a big parking issue around there as well that's that's why we limited it to single family plus parking off street parking which I wish is plenty of room for you know and quite honestly the fact that there's a school located I think helps the petition because now you have more you have more residents in the

uh in the area for you know and this board's not concerned with tax base I I understand that but tax base and it would attract it would attract young families in the area which is what I think you want to do in that area and I'm not sure maybe my client can answer this was there was an intent to sell or was there an intent uh was their family going to be involved in building something there

you know it originally the Backlot for my children right any other questions from the board yeah you keep talking about our street parking you're talking at least a minimum of two or three parts oh at least yeah per dwelling right the shed on lot uh 20 right would be raised yes that would have to be raised okay questions sure I just wondering Mr chairman I'm off the top of your head or Mrs zitana

was here was there any consideration given to making this two family rather three two single families rather than three was there any consideration before you came before the board or was it always three it was always three but I think that's what the chairman was getting to they might be an alternative uh if I can read between the lines I mean I'm not it was always three because the character of

the neighborhood and I think I think the idea in my my client's mind was you know that's what it was originally bought for and unfortunately like I said merger came into play this this this original house was on one lot it was on a 5200 square foot lot and then the other Lots were quiet over the last 70 years 70 years and then unfortunately they merged and you know the family was

growing and that was the that was the concept at the time you know and it's like I said it's and I understand the difficulty this board has dealing with merger every zoning board I go before has a difficult time dealing with merger um but it's one of the it's one of those things where in this particular case we do have an incredibly odd shaped lot and and it's not you know it's not uh it's

got Frontage on two streets which is also unique um in that neighborhood so I you know I again it's the it's the board's decision I do think there's a hardship a lot of variances come before this board which really don't meet the legal standard of hardship in this particular kit it goes to the shape topography or soil conditions of the land and in this particular case I think there's a

hardship due to the shape of the land um at the very least you make a good argument any other questions can I turn to Dan certainly so Mr chairman as you were alluding to I think previously when we look at what they're calling Lot number 22 which has 48 feet of the frontage on Butler Street there was a provision in zoning 86 423 a that if that lot had 50 feet of Frontage Yep

this merger along the rear lot line would not have occurred so there's really only for that lot alone a variance of two feet of Frontage because if it was 50 then the merger would not have happened um and that and that's just how the merger deals it's only Fall River that it gets dealt that way but when we have back lots that have through free Street Frontage if the lots have 5 000 square

feet of area and 50 feet of Frontage they will not have merged um again as I believe as John had stated um attorney Aspen had preferenced his argument that setback relief would not be required setback relief to the existing structure would be required down to 1.6 feet so you would have to make the determination that you feel that that setback would be adequate to that Northerly property line

if you looked at 86 423a when you looked at lot 22 and that if that merger hadn't happened you would then be left with a perfectly Square parcel containing one single family home that met the area and Frontage requirements you also have the ability when dealing with B12 lot 22 for a very small distance you could actually increase the 5289 to 6000 making it a conforming lot with regards

to area and that that's my thought as well coming across the back you can deal with the application before you and the request before you yep um secondly when we look at the neighborhood although it should have been provided and and wasn't the areas of all the abutting Lots should have been provided so that you would have the been afforded the ability to compare them with the surrounding

neighborhood so those numbers have not been it appears as though a number of the lots are larger but it appears that some of them are just as small but without having those numbers you really can't make that determination and then lastly the the plan illustrates building setback line typical I'm assuming that that line is because they're not dimensioned is in conformance with the zoning District

I'm assuming yeah um so just yeah there's no message if we were to make a determination that the building setback line shown is in compliance with the existing zoning requirements that's all and then oh then lastly no relief has been requested with regards to lot coverage the structure size that is shown here without showing off street parking um walkways or anything else I don't know if they could meet the 30 lot

coverage requirement but since that relief was not requested you cannot act upon that that relief once they got through site plan review and the issuance of the building permit would cross our fingers and hope that they're under 30 otherwise they need to come back he did say that in the plan the proposed lot coverage is under 30 for each loss it's not in your application no we're not requesting 30 is the

maximum lot cut correct yeah we're not it's in this uh it's in the plan that they're all under 30 percent I understand but he has not shown parking as I just stated oh so impervious lot coverage includes walkways sidewalks it happens all the time I get your building permit process and now we have an issue no I understand what you're saying though yeah and that's an interpretation most

people come in and they give us a building envelope and that's it so you would be granting according to this plan with these law coverages shown or not an exceedance of 30 percent there's anyone here to speak in favor of the application is anyone here wishing to speak in opposition to the application you're hearing none oh yes okay very good um are you two together okay you said that perfect humans

slave street I'm Christine Prevost 433 Slade Street and we live uh north of property

say they own the house for 70 years and now it's a good time to build I guess but uh I want to say is the school you're going to make driveway you're gonna make driveways you're going to take away parking spots on a street now right both Lots three lots and we have I believe the variants you're looking for well they say they're looking for single families but you can build a two-family home on

each lot supposedly now we're looking at five families back there how's that going to affect now we have teachers parked all the way down the street walking in our driveway now we have we have to throw them out we have neighbors that build driveways because of that and we got to shoot people away from that and in this case they are representing the if if given if uh if approved that they

will have driveways for the other two houses they have a driveway for the existing house now so they are addressing the parking I know it's crowded down there I went down there one afternoon to take a look around and I had no place to park so yeah and that's the way it is you may not have you got a pot two blocks away you know and I mean it's a school when

the teachers have a place you know they need a place to pop we get all that well having this massive lot in the back you know and uh the house there it's been vacant for three years nobody's taking care of it we've been taking care of the property making sure that we've called the town numerous times like no one's taking care of this property their grass was this High fire department was there the other

day looking for alarms looking for cotton you know houses on fire who lives here nobody knows nobody gets back to anybody you know so you know we've been there for a while we've been there since you know that we lived with him we lived with her brother been great it's been nice over there you know the people that actually we bought the property off of was Joanne Valley the realtor and they tried to build a

duplex on that piece of property back in 2007 that was shot down by their father edu Moore because he didn't want to have all of those people in front of him and I'm sure they could have built many times you know and I get it everyone wants to make as much money as they can you know on what they own and that's fine but all of a sudden everybody wants to build

it seems like a lot of houses in one small area when all the houses around us have pretty good sized yards so now we're going to be looking at two houses every time we walk out our back door we don't know how that's going to work with the driveways and how far back the house is it going to go they say only a single family home of a sudden a two family goes up

what do you do you know that's that was the case they'd also need additional parking in order to meet oh absolutely and you know today's day and age at least two cars per household you're looking at five families you're looking at ten more cars you've taken away a couple more on the street because of the driveways and the bumpers you know I mean you know okay we've already turned three streets

but there's a one-way Street as well it was the one way they turned that around Scott they turned around Lewis they turned around because they needed the one way that's going to tell you something they made the bump outs you earlier right and since the bump outs we lost another two spaces per intersection a block in each Direction so you know what I mean does it get better I don't know

the chairman um the application is for single-family homes it is for single and that's all that would be able to be constructed it would be specified in the approval sorry okay okay that's what and that's what the planning board would be looking at for site plan review is it a developer or a family could I ask that question it's a family and I I can address that concern too this this

property was in litigation probate court because Robert Moore passed away so it took a while to clear the estate so I I I understand the concerns about it being run down they've been kind enough to do some of the mowing on the property and everything else but of course that's gonna you know that's going to change if there's new families in there it'll certainly be aesthetically pleasing and

uh it'll change the condition of the property divide the locks for all for already families all one person living there all one family if the lots are up for sale and it's a developer can you not change that can you not say yeah no no no no no no you can't tell somebody not to sell a piece if we create these Lots right we can't tell them you can never sell them

they have to be no we're not saying so okay but what I'm asking is can you tell them you can't build a two-family home there yes oh that's what this weekend it's conditioned on application is for single family so we would be voting on their application which is specifically for single-family homes that'd be kind of type person like you said it's only a couple of feet from our property actually it is right

on there you know we bought it knowing that that would need another variance from the board they could not put a two family without another that means okay okay okay thank you well that's good to know you know yeah thank you for coming out tonight we appreciate it it's all about what it's all about participating in your community so you want to make a statement as well uh yes

um my name is Ashley Hargis I live at 195 Butler Street by property is both behind and to the side um so two of my three fence lines are with that um so yeah so on the butler side of the street it is a one-way parking only allowed on one side which is that side of the street the left hand side I went down as enslaved so yeah so teachers park there every day the teachers parked

in front of my house every day if I have a delivery or something I have to you know park my car out front the night before something so my driveway is available um which I totally understand it's fine the teachers need to get to the school but yeah it does it is very very tight down there I was just adding more people more cars and everything just seems really problematic and you know it would be be

much more on top of each other than we are here now um you know it's it's just very it's it's fine the way it is but I it just seems like it'd be a very small area to try to build I mean my house isn't that large as you can see it's smaller than what they're proposing so I can't imagine being able to add a whole lot um that wouldn't just be one house

taking up the whole place so I'm just not it seems like a and I I mean there's a tree you know my my alone you know the power lines go through a tree on that property we've left a bunch of notes there to see if they could be cut back in case there's a storm so that the powers get ripped off to the house um you know I know nobody's been there but

um I think somebody would still come by every once in a while but uh you know so it's just Mr Sharon could I just point on one thing and I don't want to take a lot of your time it's just that we're asking for single family residents as a matter as almost as a matter of right but for a two foot variance we could have put we could put two two families

um well if there was only two lots that would be that would be four families living on this entire parcel no as a matter of right you could have a two family on King Street right and you could have a single family on Butler because it doesn't meet the requirements of the 75 feet of Frontier right right area but if we had a two family right if

we had a two it was 8 000 square feet to build the two families right if we configured this into two lots is what I'm saying and we requested a two foot variance we could have four families living on that lot in a two-family Zone well my point is we're only we're only requesting three singles you would still need relief right two efficiently because of the frontage you know even

for use because a lot does not have 75 feet of Frontage right that's what I said the frontage so it's not a two foot variance for Frontage no yeah I'm sorry I meant I didn't I understand what you're saying right I would I understand we would require a frontage bearing to build a two family or expand the existing structure two family on King and with a waiver Frontage two feet on Butler build a

single family there but you would still need zoning relief from this board right just to make that your petition and you may want to ask to withdraw this one no no I'm not I'm just pointing out that act on what's been right and I'm just pointing out that we're you know we're not looking for multi-family we're looking for yeah with three single-family homes and that's all that the board can act now

any other questions from the board if that's the case I would entertain a motion

Mr chair and I'll make a motion to Grant the condition of two off street parking per minimum of two off street parking per block site plan review demolition of existing shed on lot 20.

setback genre in compliance with people with the district yeah New Lots on this planet references building envelope is there 30 percent the 30 is what they say they have to comply with that's that's not they're not asking for that yeah that's my motion a second in the motion second by motion by John Frank second by Rick zahati uh uh discussion on the motion no discussion in that case by voice um John Frank yes

Jim Calkins yes Dan De Pere no Rick's a hottie yes chairman Pereira no sorry thank you

this case before us 303 RP LLC 303 Bridal way which I always stop part of Turkey Mr Mr chairman before you get to that I think there's a little bit of confusion here we need a super majority and we need a four to one not a three to two even though it was three to two in favor we actually need a four to one not a three to two right that's the confusion

yeah it doesn't mean everything okay okay the applicants where is my notes uh 303 right away map why 06 lot 41 the applicant seeks a variance to build a private 28 by 58 foot unattached two-car garage two-story garage I'm sorry waving both the maximum footprint size 750 square feet and the height 18 maximum uh for a private unattached garage as allowed under 86 for 66 of the city of Fall River zoning ordinance this

property is located in s single-family zoning District identify yourself again for the record my name is Jeff fallman from Northeast engineering Consultants here with me tonight's Paul Ferlin from 303 RP LLC uh the variance application that was submitted for this site was um for the property address is 303 right away uh Bridal way is a street in Tiverton Rhode Island therefore access to this site is through Tibetan

um it is for an access easement off the end of right away in Tiverton which comes in off of Stafford Road the lot itself was created by a zoning variants back in 2002 uh to I'm sorry yes 2002 was the variance and then the a r follow-up a and Off plan was done in 2003 the lot itself is non-conforming in nature as it does not have Frontage on a on a street the structure the existing

dwelling that's shown on the property is also non-conforming due to setback uh issues so those issues were were rectified and cleared up as part of that 2002 variance what we're here for tonight is to construct a 28 by 48 accessory building or garage on the property uh the the reason um that we are constructing this is for the storage of boats as the property um you know is a waterfront property

located on the Southwest Upper River the construction of this garage would allow the petitioner to store boats indoors as opposed to Outdoors which he is currently doing so therefore the the need on the oversized garage uh and the height that we're requesting is for the storage of boats so other than that it's pretty straightforward application I'd be happy to answer any questions that the board

might have we're calling it a two-story garage will it will it have it'll have a little floor Aloft yes instructions for boat storage accessories for boats mass as well as the second floor so I currently have uh I used to build a construction business I currently have a commercial uh builder in fall river that I used to use to store materials and stuff in uh I'm going to be moving some of the stuff out of there

so the Second Story we'll use for storage that uh of those materials um foreign Construction Company anymore so it won't be functioning as a commercial space by building in Fall River I plan to rent out as a commercial space all right clarification on that that was all over the place a little bit I'm sorry is it a second floor complete all the way across or is it a loft so it'll be a second floor okay because

you said one you said another thing I want to make sure we're on the right same page okay yeah but you're envisioning that are strictly for storage yes not an office space good a lot of Clubhouse for the kids I don't have any kids but this is not for construction material it is no no it's not it's only my personal stuff yes so you did bounce around I got confused too when you got to construction

material I'm like whoops yeah no it will not be used way down the road something you will not be used commercially um or residentially uh no Plumbing no bathroom no uh it may be a bathroom in the downstairs of the garage but I wouldn't be Letting Go fully building out upstairs you're on septic there obviously yes there is a uh tight tank you would not be able to expand the existing

effluent that the property is approved for without compliance completely with title V so unless so you could not legally have a bedroom there

is a good time to do it I do have a letter from the uh two appointed neighbors as well if you want to see your boats parked in the yard yeah we're so happy you're getting your boats out of your yard uh with the undersigned Michael J Doyle 301 Bridal way and Richard D yep

the eye's not at the end um we'd like to inform the board that we do not oppose Mr Paul ferland's plan for 303 right away Fall River Mass we met with Mr furland uh on this date who showed us the plan as submitted and explained to us exactly where the garage would be located we think the this will enhance his lot and give him more privacy from the existing access easement

what you hadn't even considered we would also like to mention that Mr Ferlin has been a good neighbor and the property prior to his ownership had been an eyesore for overgrown for years he has done a great job and repairing the buildings and cleaning and keeping the lot manicured we are unable to attend the meeting and we want to go on record that we are in favor of this project inside

anybody here in favor of this project go to hear a post to this project any other questions from the board the correspondence any input the only thing I want to add is that when I met with Mr ferlin's engineer we discussed section 86 466 which is regarding the size of of these structures and when you when you look at that section they have minimal setback requirements and normally when this is requested it's

being constructed at a distance of only four feet to a property line and they're asking for the structure to be larger the applicant did go through the effort of moving this structure to a distance of a minimum of 25 feet off of the property boundaries which is in accordance with the setbacks for really any structure an accessory structure in that District so um they they did move it away from what

would have been the four foot requirement normally for a garage or shut so we appreciate that one clean it up yeah that's um that was that was generous most people you're right try to squeeze the garages right up to the right up to the house let me ask one question yes and only because it's not showing on the plans this has no conflict with the existing tight tank just because it's not shown

existing well or existing nope approval okay conditions as president the Sega review so site plan review we were moving on the 58 remember the dimensions 28 58 28 58 28 by 58 foot what will the total height be uh so probably about 26 or 28 Peak eight to ten feet 28 not to exceed 28 feet and height yeah we can put that 16th is garage and storage only

no matter what the motion to approve do we have a second second we have a second by John Frank any discussion on the motion in that case John Frank yes Jim Calkins yes Dan De Pere yes and Rick sahadi yes chairman Pereira I got my own last name yes thank you very much thank you all right next in the batting water flight 29 Eastern Avenue LLC Bureau of attorney Paul saluto 529 news

since the variants allowing the renovation of the existing historic structure on the property include 14 unit apartment building uh the applicant also seeks a special permit for relief of off-street parking requirements the property is located on an A2 apartment Zone District good evening Mr celino good to see you nice to see you so for purposes the record Peter celino lawyer with offices

at 550 Locust Street in Fall River representing the applicant um Mr Roland langevin is the manager of the LLC owner as well as a member of the LLC owner I think I'd like to start the presentation tonight talking about history a little bit because the history of this project is interesting and relevant to the petition before you the lot and its odd shape were created pursuant to a 2019 variance decision of

this board which served to parve the Notre Dame Church off into one parcel and then authorize two Parcels up front on Eastern Avenue which in that variance decision which the board probably has a copy of our lot was authorized for a nine unit apartment building subsequent to that variance in December of 2020 my client obtained a variance the variance was to trans refit the historic structure on the

property to 14 unit apartment building and allow for 1.5 parking spaces per unit which comes up to 24 spaces and the parking was authorized through a special permit the use of the building is 14 units was authorized by variants as you can see on the plan the lot size is Twenty Thousand Seven eighty two in an A2 District which this property sits you need 10 000 square feet of lot area for

the first apartment and 2500 for each additional unit and so the nature of the variance was for the uh intensity of 14 units at this site the clients have diligently pursued a variety of permits and really the historical process took much longer than expected and really through error and inadvertence the variance lapsed and I also want to know for my presentation that they took the 2020

variants through the site plan review process the site plan was approved on July 14th of 2021 so that's an interesting curveball because I would submit to you that's acting on your variants but the inspector of Billings feels differently and that's why we're before you uh lastly I'd like to note that in the decision the December 2020 decision it does not speak to the special permit

lapsing after two years but rather it has the boilerplate language this decision must be recorded with the registry of deeds and rights authorized by this decision she'll be exercised within one year of the grant otherwise they shall lapse so interesting to that at one point in time this board was granting one year variances which is variances yes yes the special permit you're talking about

right yeah so that's typically two years as well right which which change has been made just within the last couple of years correct because you look through the minutes and we haven't found out what we will for your knowledge when that decision was made to make all special permits two years uh we read through the minutes of the meeting there was no discussion regarding a two-year term for this or that the

normal new practice was too so I don't know when that happened I think that's what attorney Selena was alluding to was that we don't know if it was intended to be two or not but the decision says one it can only be one it's been since I've it's been since I've been here and I came here and in late 19. this was only 2020 so it may have I don't know yeah but we'll find I

don't know when we made that change it was it was not it was not immediate but we because I brought it up I was confused why we were only doing one year yeah and then Mr repair that's in astute Point too I think the other thing when you calculate this variance with the covid extensions yeah I think the true expiration date is probably June 15th of 22.

based on 180 days being tacked on to December 17th of 21. we're still out of the windows already yeah still out of the window I'm just saying there's such a peculiar petition and set of circumstances 30 times um so you've got 14 units mix of the units do you know yeah I think there's uh I think six are two bedroom I think 401 and for a studio

so we would be voting on that proposal is that is that absolutely crazy do you think I don't know I'm guessing I was not part of the initial approval but you can make it part of this one if you choose to okay I don't have the plan in front of me so I didn't know I was going to be asked that but uh we can get you the information

what we have in front of us tonight does not specify right there that's correct they're not originally as well okay and how many parking spaces are we looking at 24 on the plan Mr chairman that's 1.7 spaces per unit which is consistent with the first approval back in 19 as well as the 20 approval so basically we're asking to reinstate the variance of and expect from it so we're doing it exactly without change

there is no change the plan is exactly the same the petition is almost identical it can't be an extension of time it just has to be a reissue that is corrective yeah it has to be the issue but it's absolutely the same exactly any other questions from the board any comments from planning anybody here in favor of the petition anybody here opposed to the petition we have one piece of oh sure I'm sorry

um kind of not against it right now because I when I came here I bought them and I tried to completely wiped out the barriers for barking because there is very packed and there's very few spaces as it is and come went to forget about it they were bad so I mean I'm thinking that they we are not providing spaces I think I'm probably just make sure that's in

the rules can you just give us your name and address just so we've got you in there my name is Carlos Calavera spelled a d e aloe vera one word and um I live at 1491 Highland Ave I do own a house in the neighborhood across the street from the building and I also lived in a neighborhood when I was 12 years old for about 34 years old so I know the neighborhood very well

my parents still live there and parking there was uh was always bad when the Church of it was not as bad because you could Mentor Church you know when people talk in the church parking lot but now the uh the parking lot has been sold is all buildings so we lost Park this place over there and also now the church those houses be built the media apartment parking for sure

well make it worse and then where he is especially in the winter it's the 24 spaces right yes okay Park parking is a challenge everywhere in the city including my driveway some days uh we do have one letter that came in from First Resource companies um to the follower of a zoning board of appeals to whom it may concern 529 Eastern nav LLC on behalf of Lafayette Place Apartments First Resource

Management Company I am submitting a letter to provide information regarding the special permit hearing for relief of off street parking requirements our position is that this is not we are our position is one that is not against the creation of housing however in this particular Corner St Joseph Street is one-way Street and there are parking issues as it stands now as you know in Saints Joseph Street is comprised of

numerous single and multi-family homes as well Lafayette Place Apartments 125 units and the Stafford Apartment 74 units Lafayette Place Apartments which is located on the corner of Eastern Avenue and St Joseph Street a consisting of 125 apartments for elderly disabled and families as 100 parking spaces with 143 residents residents of legal driving age and therefore current residents use r

street parking to gain access to their Apartments if we were to follow parking requirements today we would be required to provide 188 spaces for our current apartment size at Lafayette Place Apartments furthermore during the winter months this becomes a safety issue as cars parking on the street emergency vehicles have difficulty getting through due to Vehicles not being moved from

from where they are parked Etc again First Resource Management Company Lafayette Place Apartment encourages the creation of additional housing however on this particular Street where would this where would the families park for the newly created 14 Apartments we've answered that we are very concerned that if this moves forward that the parking issue will not be resolved this would be

a serious problem in the corner of Easton Ave and St Joseph Street signed by Gretchen helger senior vice president for First Resource to the record um I think you've adequately addressed parking at the 1.7 per unit that you had before so I'm not quite she's asking where the parking would be and I'm looking at it she may not have looked at the plans and she may not realize the history of

the uh of the property either any other questions from the board comments therefore entertain a motion to approve a motion to deny what do you wish that we approve the variance as previously approved and the special permit with the change from the one year to the two-year time period on it second continuation by Jim Calkins we have a second by Rick zahati can we go with the unit sizes too that he gave us like not

to exceed you can go less if you want wanted to you know what I'm saying yeah we'll even know what that's that you had six two two bedrooms fourteen yeah a studio is considered a single right right but what I'm saying is if you have Lobby you get the six twos yes so no more than six is what I'm saying because that's when more people for more cars you know what I'm saying

they want to go less and have like six one bedroom of the building trying to specifying the motion so you get there can you live with that or do you want a table and get that information welcome to be honest it's a matter of a month and the 450 dollar fee or 350 table that's up to you um one minute rather not wait but I could call my wife at home will have the

information or a break and you make a phone call and come back yeah sure we'll do that thank you yeah you can't take it back for half an hour a phone call yeah well you can but what if that one takes five minutes seconds

do you want me to ask you to change schools

twenty fourth twenty twenties right yeah so that's about everything turn around

so that's why you want to specify it in the mission right yeah yeah we're off that list unfortunately Springfield is on it Springfield North Adams yeah Haverhill was yeah it's incredible there is since we're in a half time here hello is each calling you um there's an incredible Contemporary Art Museum in um in North Adams I'm told right my wife is an artist and she insisted that we go out there I said

it's in North Adams and she's so so what there's going to be some great restaurants and we went to look excuse me went to North Adams and went to the uh went to the museum and then went down into the perkships to go find lunch I mean you know it's it's I think they've tried you know they you know Fall River Shrine New Bedford has done a great job I'm not quite sure what taunton's doing

but I think they're just so remote out there that yeah yeah if you like modern art it's a Contemporary Arts tremendous Museum I'll have to force my way to take a long ride

see you as well you can't I have a question so you know with the with these like units if is it two parking spots no matter the number of bedrooms like a studio still would be two spots yes that way zoning is Rich okay so his face is per unit I could have ten minutes so we're back all right so uh Roland just called his wife too because the unit count changed a couple times based

on the historic uh preservation side they wanted a minimum evasive I don't you know the building so like they didn't even want me to replace windows and stuff so some of the units got smaller so the count is three Studios three two bed eight one bed just three too bad don't differentiate between singles and Studios right let's call them all singles so you get 11. you got 11 ones

six one unit a six two unit eight no no no we just changed it three two three two three two three two eight one so eleven eleven ones yeah which only helps with your pockets three of those ones right

all right we have a motion made by Jim Calkins we have a second by uh Rick sahadi sir sorry about this question parking stays the same point four spaces correct yes correct that does not change what are we writing those in uh to your motion gym 11 11 ones and three twos is that part of your motion bedroom count if somebody wants to amend it that's I'll accept the amendment

do you have any problem with the no with us including it you know it seems like they battled that outward historic already so are you suggesting that Amendment yes with 11 ones and three two's you're accepting the amendment you you obviously have seconded so okay any further discussion on the motion to uh to Grant um no John Frank yes uh Jim Calkins yes Dan De Pere Yes Rick sahadi yes and chairman Prairie yes no

that's a two-year two years two years two years two years okay all right thank you all thank you thank you have a good night guys

Marino Benavides 482 486 Snell street map I-24 Lot 23 applicant seeks a variance to subdivide the existing parcel into three lots the existing three family dwelling and 482 Snell Street which will be on one lot the existing single-family dwelling 486 Snell Street to be on another and to construct a new two-family dwelling on the third lot the applicant seeks relief for lot area

lot coverage Frontage side and rear yard setbacks A2 Apartments zoning District thank you for enumerating the variances because not everybody does bugaboo in mind thank you very welcome good evening for the record my name is Jeff Palmer from Northeast engineers and Consultants with me here tonight is Mourinho Benavides the owner of the property we have filed a variance on this property in order to um

to divide well first of all let me backtrack the property itself is located at 482 486 snow Street there are currently two dwellings located on the property towards the west side of the property is an existing multi-family which is 482 towards the street and there's an existing single family number 486 located at the rear of the property there's also a large vacant parcel which looking at Old assesses Maps was

formerly lock 22 on map flight 24 that due to emerging statute has been merged with the Abundant property what we're looking to do is what we file the variants to do is to divide the property to separate the two dwellings that we have on the property create separate lots for those and also to re-establish lot 22 um in the create into uh construct a duplex on that property of 32 by 48 duplex

the um as you can see if you look at the it doesn't show up on the plan that's on the screen here but it's on the plan that you have in front of you the the separation of the two existent dwellings would be done in a similar fashion and I would say the same exact fashion as what you see a couple of lots to the east which is the old I-20 uh map I-24 a lot

20 and then the creation of lot 91 out front to the uh for the multi-family dwelling in that case um the the construction of the the duplex that we're proposing on lot 22 would would kind of mirror the lot next door uh they would be within a couple of square feet uh exactly the same same size and area with the same Frontage that particular lot has a three family on it we are

posing uh a two film the what I would submit to this board that you know this property is located in the A2 apartment District the lot itself is non-conforming due to light area with the number of units that are currently on the property it does not conform to the required lot area so we potentially could have come in with a special permit request and asked for an extension of a non-conforming use in you know

proposed in addition to the existing multi-family up front knocking down a single family in the back and creating the you know three additional units that we're showing here and providing off street parking for those units um obviously that would there's a lot of work involved and that would be a hardship on on the petitioner so quite simply what we're looking to do is uh and what we file the variance for was to

separate the existing dwellings again in the same manner as what we have two lots to the east uh create you have a 12-foot trip going to the single family dwelling at the rear of the property and having the multi-family up front with 42.45 feet of Frontage the same Frontage as what number 514 has and then again creating and building a um a duplex on the on the newly created lot

three that we have shown on the plan um in preparation of the meeting tonight and and talking to the petitioner I've also I prepared a revised plan um to provide more Wall Street parking and what we're showing here we're showing the four spaces that would be needed for the uh for the proposed duplex on the revised plan which I can pass out copies now

on the revised Point what I've done is expanded the parking area to the west to provide four additional parking spots the the you know it's not a not a big difference from what I have shown here but it does you know again provide those four additional parking spots which would certainly help out with the parking um that we have in the neighborhood as you can see on as shown on the plan

there is an existing curb cut that goes to that lot there's also a set of stairs that comes over from the multi-family that goes up there's a grass embankment there leads to the top of that it indicates that lot 22 may have been developed at some point in the past I've researched it I haven't come up with anything actually there was a fight family or a game of five family I don't know how it started so

okay well your research then it's better than mine so um again at the site formerly of five family on there what we're looking to do is just um instruct the duplex so uh you know what we have here with the number of units that we would have on this site it does the use itself is a conforming use in the A2 Zone it's just that the nature of having separate buildings and separating

the Lots uh the the instructions on separate Lots create the need for a variance so that's why we hit tonight so I've been answering the questions that the board might have I mean what you're proposing on lot one and two we see all the time is fairly common um I thank you for the additional four parking spaces I went down there twice last week just to take a look around

uh I went twice because the first time I went down I found absolutely no place to park on Snell Street and it was one of the lousier weather days when they came back again I still had to park a block away um you are because the curb Cuts there and people are parking in front of it now that's a guaranteed losing two parking spaces right off the bat so I

would I would suggest that that would be one spot where the curb cut is it's should be and every time I've gone down it always it depends on there's no lines on the street to indicate the parking so it just kind of happens still correct um so you're going to do an easement between the two lots then foreign parking spaces yes there would be an easement that would go across the strip

the narrow strip on the leading to the back a lot too and also an easement of pedestrian easement on lot one to allow the use of the walkway uh that you see on the plan here uh for the for the owners of LA too to cross over lot one and you realize that walkway and uh that cut that's strictly a walkway that's going back to lock too that was never raised that was never a

driveway or anything no and that was one thing we looked at possibly putting in a driveway to lot two but then that just creates more issues where you're you know you have another curb cut you're taking away mall parking on the street and it doesn't between the driveways it doesn't leave you enough room to park so you would actually be losing three three maybe possibly four spots by doing that questions

Rick you've been the question separate utilities yeah it's already it's already all separate each building has its own gas meter the electric it will be provided important no water and soil for the back out so that's separate right now there's no off street parking there at all those units hasn't been about ideas so it is kind of tight so it doesn't make sense because we've basically taken four cars off the street

is there I mean are you guys going to run into a problem where it looks like half the law is going to be concrete and that's a pretty big decent sized house where they have will they are they not going to meet that or is that one of they they requested that section of relief okay it will require significant drainage Improvement in order to accommodate that yeah that's but that's not before this board right and you've

got a lot of terrain there so you're probably going to want to bring that lot down which is not us so it'll be up to the Builder that whoever picks up the lot planning is going to have a lot to say about it too because of the drainage so expect that you've been here before yeah it's I mean this is if I recall correctly it's pretty steep right now um from east to west

yeah going downhill dramatically I thought from yeah this way right even one of those steps are I mean it's it's about on the lot itself there is a pretty good thing on my sidewalk and then continues to rise so it seems I'm just thinking of down gradient about us as far as drainage goes yeah we've got to make sure that yeah yeah we take care of that okay and with the questions

we have our loan of Butters here did the best of us anybody here to speak in favor here to speak against you just identify yourself and your address sir um also like to represent our neighbors and Al de Silva at 506 snow Street which directly above the property now um of course I need to be the dead boss obviously the issue comes down to the pocket um thank you for going up up and down

that or up the street is the one way um he has mentioned the issue of pocket um again I've been there for basically 54 years of my life soon to be 55 years um my parents have owned the house I've never seen any house on that property since I've been living there it's a five family um basically that lot for the most spots been owned by the same people prior to

Mr Benavides and that has basically five eight nine ten apartments and our families not once has there ever been off-site pockets um I have multiple pitches up the street but no need you took the ride yourself again to repeat when other people of the city say when it snows parking ban you have everyone from also Rodman Street now upon Snell Street one side of the street is covered snow

removal I will tell you personally is my worst nightmare knock on wood we've had it very uh like winter but that is not your problem though I'm Mr Benavides problem um I doubt very much if it is um owner occupied which is very shocking in that neighborhood especially since I lived there I've watched every yard um that has been on that street now it turns into possibly a driveway and or other properties again

um St Peter and Falls School we're at the top of the street walk there every day that is now I believe in Atlantis Charter School um three for the area very difficult for the street again also my my mother represent her and Marina solo same address been there for all her life or married life I would say she's 75 years old she cannot leave the house when it snows so she refuses to leave the house when

it sits because when she gets back there's no place and potentially could walk half the walk distances and unfortunately those cars are left there during the snow um until the fall again that's when it snows so that's my only opposition much like many others in here in this room this evening um and that's that's basically my question uh you are putting in parking spaces but um you're going to be removing them off

the street very very sentient the ones you know you're not moving Apartments of those houses you're just removing spots from the street to a new house that's that's basically my issues did you see the new plan they showed some additional patterns I think I gave away all the comments you can see that would help with the um the current residents that the three family and the cottage in the correct yes

three family and then you have another five family in the cottage plus a three family plus a three family plus a three family across the street

um that's why we revived the plan to put up four more parking spaces off the street right but that and total units there we only have three people that have caused the other ones yeah right now but right as as we heard prior uh that could change in a hobby um like I said I've been there that I was aware of and there was no no clocking then still no parking down where's the parking

also that proposed patio right inside my neighbor's window but that's me the handle that the only thing I would say to that is the plan the revised plan that I presented here tonight would be an improvement over existing Edition what's out there now without the construction of the duplex by providing four additional off-shoot parking spots um as Mr Benavides just relayed to me uh

the current residents and I noticed the subject had changed but the current Resonance of the both Wongs on the property have three cars so we could meet the park and demand of those units as as they exist right now on site um so this would be an improvement to the to the neighborhood in terms of all street parking somebody right now I believe one of the apartments are empty and just as many cars

and the other thing I noted on the revised plan um that it would be a sign parking for those spots so it wouldn't be you know a case where somebody would have three cars in one unit and they'd be able to take up three spots and you know everybody else would be out of luck it would be it would be a sign no more than one spot pretty the point is currently

the residents in Loveland Lot 2 are parking on the street correct okay and these properties when they're being sold they're going to be sold to as own occupies the back house the tenant and the front building is already wants to buy the back house so they're basically going to be owner occupied when it's sold okay I can't say that the um the patios are those decks or patios so it's ground level ground level

similar to the one that's being built on Purchase Street attacker would need right because it's within the 10 feet right that's what I was curious about yeah and chances are due to the the Topography of that lot even though it's not shown in there that would be brought down in a retaining wall would be put on the side so it you know and there'd probably be a fence put up on top of the

wall for screening for privacy um but benefit of both bodies involved what is uh I I may have missed this what is the hardship we have these uh a bigger a lot and we're putting a duplex on this other law adding more people um to the area what is the hardship for having to build that duplex the hardship is the configuration of the existing dwellings um if like I mentioned in the

presentation I mean we could take the existing multi-family out in the front and add on to that knock down the single family add the additional units that we have here provide the off street parking which would be an expansion of a you know existing non-conformity which could be done by special pyramid um but we you know the hardship would be we'd have to knock down the single family in the back and then

aesthetically uh to me that would be a nightmare to try to add on to that existing multi-family in the front it just makes more sense uh to construct a a new dwelling on the on the vacant lot which would be in conformance with the rest of the neighborhood if you look at the neighborhood I mean this this site ultimately if this gets approved is going to basically mirror on the two

properties or the three properties that are directly to the east of it is there any you talked about the steps does does this and I apologize you know I did not go look at it as well because topography wasn't shown does is the grass area sit well below where the existing three inch single are they at different elevations now or is it is it flat throughout the property I don't know if there's nothing the

vacant lot which I'm calling lot 22.

they form a lot 22.

so it actually sits higher so so that the grass area sits higher than the house correct okay I have the very funny feeling though whatever was there said I mean that's you don't remember ever seeing another structure there right yeah George do you know where you where you came across I was told there was a store there and a playground and that that's what it was called really that's since 1978.

longest time that time and once the driveway went in on off the street we thought it was going to be put there for parking and it's always been obviously multi-residency so walking has been that's your next job right any other questions any other there's nobody left from the public so what is our desire and it is your wish to replace this plan with the revised plan that is correct the pocket

you have that the new plan preserved yeah make a motion a grant with the eight off street parking places parking spots separated utilities separate utilities plan site plan yeah site plan is automatic but seem to always put it in as a good reminder uh the easements all have to happen anyways that site plan recorded easements for the parking that's my motion do we have a second on that oh a sec

second by Jim Calkins any discussion being the case uh let's see let's not down the other end okay Rick so hardy yes no very good Jim Calkins yes and John Frank yes chairman uh Ferrera yes thank you the best of luck with it thank you very much

turn 11.

thank you for your patience hopefully the quickest petition yeah I don't have anything exciting for you tonight no slide presentation you didn't even bring anything with you he's an old petition number seven John Santos Jr of Santos Family Trust care of attorney Mark at 11 the 16 30 16 30 to Meridian Street map u-408 lot 520 the applicant puts forth a motion to extend time for relief of the

previously granted decision dated January 20th 2022 the applicant wishes to extend the variance for a period of six months which is uh typical commencing on January 20 2023.

board board members my name is Mark Levin 138 Rock Street for Massachusetts Happy New Year I have a nice non-controversial one for you tonight you approved or many of you approve this variance a year ago for my client I wasn't involved then during that time as you may remember that that was really because in a lot extremely lives a lot he's creating a subdivision but his house in his daughter's house

black Frontage when you separate him to its own lots and not creating one lot with a small area and then a very huge lot on the property he was doing what he wanted to do was create the subdivision unfortunately after he started this process he hired it he had to get a new engineer because current engineer was now employed by the city of Fall River I believe no I was not are you worth the

event okay so he uh he was doing his work with the engineer that he hired they determined that and a property budding his had a drainage line that runs through their property and ends up draining water onto his property to the rear and uh on the side of Meridian Street which then needed now re-flagging for Wetlands which he insists there were no Wetlands when he originally bought the house he's sought

investigation in hiring companies to scope out where the pipe runs and who installed it we don't know if it was a city or some other subdivision that there but created problems for his design to build the road that he got approved here the problem was that the apples and armagers he really needed to come before you to wave the frontage of the one house before he went to the planning board because if he had a

planning board approval approve proved and came here and you said no we want you to change the frontage he'd have to go back to them so we started here which was a logical thing to do to go the planning board unfortunately we're at crunch time where he didn't have all his plans done to make the decision how to re-configure the Lots he needs to do so we're asking for the time

so that he can complete his engineering hopefully not to come back to you to change the the lot shapes but that's a possibility thank you okay questions on the board what time are you looking for now six months six months that's all you can do this that's it so he's got a he's got a hustle yeah I'll make a motion six months extension second second from Jim Calkins discussion hearing none Sean Frank yes

Jim Calkins yeah yes yes chairman prayer yes thank you Mark thank you for your patience well this happens thank you everybody if the pendulum goes the other way sometimes yeah you're right and I'm I'm glad you guys are here because you were very patient with everyone tonight okay next piece of business receipt of Correspondence which you've all received um if you have read that I was uh related to mass deps

determine what it is is just an aul that's been placed on the Apostle of land at the bottom of Plymouth Avenue where they're building the new storage facility that's all it is it just puts everyone on notice everyone every Department gets a copy of it I would recommend that you just place it on file so noted we had opened a discussion regarding item number nine of the fee schedule for

post rescheduled for 2023 and this is I think now the third meeting where we've taken a peek at this um I know that uh someone mentioned in the last meeting leave it the way it is and I will take the wisdom of the board as a whole do we want to I think I have the currency schedule someplace I think it was attached I think at the last meeting the decision

was wait for the new board to be constituted yeah so we did have some members and walks yep um so you may now want to table it so that you all can actually look at it thoroughly and have a federal discussion and vote potentially at the next meeting but by all means if you want to take the time to have any initial discussion wise decision at the end of the long night

wise recommendation would we like to do that because Rick I'm not sure you looked at it before and we're going to I'd like to just make a motion to the table promotions table do we have a second one motion second was Madison next month seconds this side of the table here now uh that being the case no discussion I would assume uh John

yes Frank yes chairman yes table what does that leave us with Citizen's input signed up adoption of minutes is everybody taking a look at the movies and acceptance of the minutes so moved by Jim Calkins do we have a second second on that discussion hearing none John Frank yes Jim Hawkins yes Dan De Pere yes Rick sahadi yes chairman Prairie yes and we have a motion to adjourn we've got a

motion to adjourn Dan De Pere second someone yes Jim in second discussion of course not John Frank yeah in the motion too yes uh Jim caucus yes adjourned for the January 2023 it's only four appeals here and thank you Fred