11.16.2023 Zoning Board of Appeals

I am Joseph Pereira chairman of the zoning board of appeals for the city of Fall River it is 6:m on Thursday November 16 2023 we are meeting at one government center in the first floor hearing room personent to Mass 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 by Fall River

government TV Mr Alex melow uh is recording both a video and audio version if anyone desires to make an audio video or combination recording thereof please notify me now and I shall make that uh make a public announcement of your intention our recording secretary this evening is Nina Krueger sitting to my immediate right present this evening are uh permanent members John Frank our vice

chairman James culan our uh clerk Dan duper and Alternate members John Sylvia and Eric Kelly uh voting on matters this evening in place of our um permanent member Ricky sah who's away will be Mr Eric Kelly also with us this evening is the director of engineering and planning Mr Dan agar sitting to my far left and Chris pereno are assistant planner sitting to my fire right Nina have all

petitions to be considered been properly advertised and all interested parties notified in accordance with the rules and regulations of the zba and Mass General Law chapter 4A as amended yes I therefore declare the November 16th 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 petitioners presenting

before this board including all persons presenting before this board including all petitioners abutters anyone in support or anyone in opposition to a petition that your presentation should be limited to three minutes questions and responses must be directed through the chair the board's rules and regulations direct the board to specifically look for information which supports the petitioner claim as

such the petitioners should identify and factually support the basis for their petition I hereby advise the petitioners and all interested persons that this is the zoning board of appeals the board's Authority exists persuant to Mass General Law chapter 4A and is limited in scope and deals with the use of land as regulated by chapter 86 of the ordinances of the city of Fall River additional permits licenses reviews

Andor approvals may be required for the specific development Andor use which is the subject of the petition before the zoning board this evening the clerks in the building planning engineering and Licensing departments are competent in the discharge of their duties as clerks they are however not attorneys and not competent to give legal advice the action taken by this board has a real

and Lasting effect upon the title to your real estate I urge all petitioners to seek competent legal councel before filing your petition and after a decision of this board has been made for example there was a city ordinance 2015-11 section 10-1 requiring site plan reviews a copy of the ordinance is available in the city clerk's office or from the planning department I remind everyone that the

building inspector is the zoning enforcement Authority and that you are here this evening because the building inspector has determined that your proposed action is contrary to the city of fall River's zoning ordinances the city Charter section 9-18 mandates that all multiple member bodies developed and adopt rules or policy for public comment we have adopted such a policy which in short

provides for Citi input on zoning board specific matters at the end of this meeting there is a sign up sheet outside the doors on the table if anyone wishes to speak at the end of the uh meeting this evening I disclose that an official copy of the Fall River zoning ordinance is available at the city clerk's office and one cannot rely on the or online zoning ordinance beginning we're going to step

a little out of order if I can get back in um rather than is that in this one nice EXC um rather than going into Old business uh the first item of I'm sorry the second item under new business is uh petition for 1265 Main Street I'm sorry yeah 56 1265 Main Street LLC represented by Attorney Peter a solino this is the property at 101 President Avenue um we have receiv received

correspondents uh asking to uh extend into uh December on this I turn it to you that is correct for the record my name is Peter selino I'm a lawyer here in Paul River I represent the applicant on this petition I submitted a written request to table this petition on Tuesday to your clerk along with the $500 filing fee seeking that we be heard in December as opposed to this evening

okay to the members do we have a uh motion to allow motion motion to allow tabling the matter until the December meeting do we have a second second second welcome back um uh discussion hearing none um John Frank yes I'm sorry Eric Kelly yes Jim cins yes Dan deir yes Joseph Pereira yes thank you thank you we see so anyone who is here for 101 uh Highland AV president president AV rather will be um I did

that over here too um that'll be heard in uh December December December 21st that be our Christmas party back to our regular order of business we have one matter of old business uh item number 01 fattima Rodriguez 5 uh 452 South Main street map 1-8 Lot 4 the applicant seeks a variance to convert the existing commercial structure into five residential units and a CBD Central Business zoning

District the applicant also seeks a special permit to reduce the parking requirements uh this was uh previously tabled on October 19th representing um this

hearing good evening chairman good evening name is Chris Bela I own Federal Hill group Architects out of Providence Rhode Island uh hold license license ship in Massachusetts and representing FMA Rodriguez uh for the 452 South Main Street uh project for the special use permit in the variants mentioned earlier and please State your case thank you the project itself is an existing

three-story building in the CBD district that is bordering on the residential district uh the business occupancy has since moved out uh and they are looking to retrofit the building without addition into five residential units uh of various sizes uh there is also eight flagged parking spaces on the site by the zoning ordinance there would be a requirement for 10 uh they're looking

relief for two of those to stay at the eight that still provides uh uh a ratio of more than one uh parking spot per unit uh the current footprint will remain as is uh there is no uh there is no request to make an extension or addition uh to the footprint of the structure or the envelope or the vertical uh envelope of the roof uh the building is currently set back uh as I

mentioned before uh it was an original original uh structure built in 1965 as a residence in 1988 was converted over to commercial uh in the rare of the building uh it borders up on the residential district there are even uh some some three families already in the area uh as well as some that are zone four to8 uh within three lots uh of the property so it is an established uh part of it uh

the pros to it uh is that obviously there is less vehicular traffic coming into the site uh as well as uh we feel a pro is going to be the addition of much needed residential uh in the area uh I will table the rest of my time for any questions or concerns that might be had by the members of the zoning board I thank you and yield my time you came

from Federal Hill did you bring canoli zeppa they're in the car they're in the car leave leave the gun take the canoli right oh perfect line perfect line well played um this was built as as residential was it not back in 1965 yes sir 65 65 looks much older than on auto uh the that's when it was deed we couldn't I we have evidence that uh it's older than that

but we couldn't find evidence so we have to State it's 1965 uh but it was uh converted over 1988 okay five units you're accommodating eight barking spaces correct okay what's the makeup of the apartments uh as as far as number of bedrooms uh combination ones and twos okay questions from the board at this point comment from planning director I mean I think it's an appropriate use for

the surrounding area the only concerns that I would have is that we don't have a dimension of the access aisle between the proposed parking and the building which is required 2 ft so I'm not sure if they've got room to access the parking that's being proposed the dimension is not shown yeah it look pretty narrow looks pretty tight so the ability to back out of those spaces and get out of that I'm

not sure if the parking propos is ausy or not but other than that I mean the proposal seems fine as far as use the only relief being asked for is the number of units in the building and the number of parking spaces can can you speak through the design of the aisle for the uh for the parking the parking spaces that are shown right there are existing uh and have successfully served the commercial

occupancy there for a number of years uh there hasn't been an issue so far uh so we stand on those merits hi can I just introduce myself my name is bmer rodrig I own the property and I I own Alexandria's downtown uh the modern furniture building the capital building we lived in that store I grew my business there for 25 years and we were very successful the parking lot was never an

issue uh with customers parking getting out um we did that for 25 years um we we build beautiful places and we just feel like that's an isore right now because the building is empty and we really just want to take it and make it really like luxury high-end apartments and make it a building that looks attractive and you know beautiful to downtown because that's what we do MH we make downtown

beautiful all right questions anyone comments you said one two bedroom unit combination of ones and twos any uh you have two twos three ones good thank you turning to the general public is there anyone who wishes to speak in support of this proposal anyone who wishes to speak in opposition they're hearing none I turn to the board for a uh for a motion Mr chairman I Mo approval of the request as submitted two V

two different votes on the parking I find that there is no substantial detriment to the area and that I move approval and finding that there is no substan second okay motion and second discussion on the motion this would cover our special permit for the parking um Eric Kelly yes John Frank yes Jim Caulkins Dan deir yes jerman Prairie yes and on the variance and I also move that we Grant the variance as requested

conditions provided pardon unit count and bedroom count that was provided yeah in accordance with the plans and the appliation provided I'll second okay second by Dan deir on the motion Dan deir yes Jim ckins yes John Frank yes Eric Kelly yes chairman Prairie yes go make it beautiful that's what we do down thank you so much for your time thank you have a great evening all right item number one under

new business Highland Farms 2 Development LLC being represented by Attorney Peter selino uh 67 Fieldstone Lane map u04 lot 51 the applican seeks a variance to wave side yard uh setback from 15 to 10 foot5 in a s single family zoning District good evening for the record Peter seleno on behalf of the applicant um in terms of this petition and just so there's no question here um this is not jiujitsu

this is straight up and after the fact ter this is a straight up after the fact request for a variance uh the house foundation was poured 10 1 12 ft uh from the sideline and the setback required in the S district is 15 so we're asking for a 4 and 1 half foot waiver I think I can certainly argue to you the merits of the hardship component of this variance

petition because as you can see on the plan in the southernly side which would be screen left on this plan there are significant Wetlands on this property and ultimately that's why the house hugs that property line it just hugs it a little too close and it was a bad measurement so ultimately I'd submit to you here that we can meet the 4A standard in terms of topography and soil condition and I'd further argue to you

that ultimately that the fact that the foundation is there um the alternative if not if the relief is not granted would be that the foundation would have to be jackhammered out and report so I'm happy to take any questions uh regarding the petition but that's it in a nutshell it's there and we're asking for forgiveness so the the the dash line on here is that the Wetland boundary yes

okay this isn't the first it is not forgiveness that we've had at Highland farm so that's why I put it right out there Mr chair you know it's my favor what say uh what says the planning department on this one well I would offer you know in response to the to your last comment the last time that they applied for something similar to this um rather than continue forward with the relief they actually removed

the entire foundation and shifted it and made the correction because they had the opportunity to do so on this one from what I understand after speaking to the um engineering firm it was originally contemplated to move that lot line um further north by five feet however the adjacent home and property was sold prior to they made that lot line changing so I think that was generally what ended up

happening I say Jackhammer make the uh surveyor pay for it um in all seriousness I um I took a drive by actually after one of the rainstorms that is a w a lot so any questions from the uh from the board turning to the public is there anyone here wishing to speak in favor of the petition anyone here wishing to speak in opposition there seeing No Hands going up um turn to the

board I make a motion to okay want to condition that in any way down should I no pretty straightforward it's been through site plan review it got all the right already has all it already has yeah with with this Dimension no I believe site plan review showed the the lot line change I think that's when you see why the house to the north is actually shifted further away yeah because I believe when it went

through plan review it showed the lot line being moved over however following through with that anr actual subdivision changing that lot line is what did not take place before they conveyed the house next door but all the conservation everything else with the distances that they were off of the Wetland that's all consistent with what was approved they can get no closer to the we the change by 4 and a

half ft doesn't put them back in front of planning no not at all okay so I see no no conditions Dan do we have a second second by Jim ckins discussion then on the motion uh Eric Kelly yes John Frank yes Jim cins Daner yes chairman Prairie yes thank you I am disappointed that so I can understand your disappointment Mr chairman item number two is the one that we just moved out item number

three um 164 Elm Street LLC care of Attorney Peter seleno 164 Elm Street map in1 lot 43 the applicant seeks a special permit to convert the existing 4unit apartment building into an 8un uh apartment building waving lot area and front yard setbacks the applicant also seeks another special permit to reduce the parking r requirement the property is located in a BL local business zoning District aod Arts overlay

District uh and an HD1 Housing Development overlay District good evening Mr chairman could I respectfully move the board to put me at the end of the line for this file my client's not here I spoke to him by telephone he said he was targeting approximately 6:30 he lives in quinsey he's not here I'd like him to be here to answer any questions so if I may be asked to be pushed to the

end of the line see no problem with that um just a quick motion then to keep I detractors happy quick motion to move item number three to the end of the agenda so move second moved in second uh Eric Kelly yes John Frank yes Jim ckins Dan de yes chair the Prairie yes thank you very much item number four

um Robert W sea is that correct 2011 and 213 pekam Street and zero Veil street map g-13 moots 2 3 and 79 the applicant seeks a variance to subdivide the existing parcel into three lots uh leaving the existing three family dwelling on a 5,22 ft lot with 50 ft of Frontage on pekham Street uh on one lot the existing automotive repair facility on a 10,998 ft lot with 58 ft of

Frontage on pekam Street uh on a second lot and to construct a detached private Garage on a 2916 squ foot lot with 54t of front of John Veil Street uh on the third lot wavering requirements in an A2 P zoning District good evening uh Mr chairman uh members of the board for record attorney Gregory brilliant on behalf of the petitioner I'm here with uh Jeff tomman who is the engineer on this particular project

before I get started so much help in determining one I'm talking about I some people look at the ti piece of real EST this is uh the petition tonight before you is to subdivide the piece of property into three lots as you can see from the pictures I just handed out to you lot one will Encompass a three family home and as you can see from the pictures um it's already really been

divided so to speak by Jersey barriers which allow cars to get to the back of that building there's three parking spaces already that are just for the three Family House lot two is the existing pekam Street Garage with which is operated by the petitioner Bob Survivor and that particular you can see by that it will continue to be maintained as as a Repair Garage is has ample parking there's eight parking

spaces that's already delineated on the plan and again I I I mentioned it that it's already pretty much subdivided by the Jersey barriers the third lot has a separate Frontage the frontage is on Veil street it's completely fenced in I made I've given you pictures of all three uh uh Lots it's completely fenced in right now and it's actually used privately to to have cars over there you

can see there's four cars there right now that was taken this morning what my uh client would like to do is to erect a garage and I think some uh amended plans have been submitted to you that the garage is going to be 42 feet in in width by 40 ft that there will be at least it will be used for private cars it's not a business it's not operation

of a business out of that it's going to be for private cars there'll be at least four cars inside the garage and still ample um area in front of that particular garage to to store cars as well when I say store I mean pot cars it's going to be remaining uh fenced in as it has been that that lot right now is not used in conjunction with the existing business and has not been used

um that's just again and the person that's going to be occupying that actually at this point in time occupies a garage on the other side of Mr survivor's um building three family building the reason why they want to do this is because the person that owns the garage that's presently being used on the other side of Mr sur's building is in his 80s and has told um As Told Mr

surviva uh that you know he's getting up there in age and you know this they may not be allowed to use it much longer so we want to be proactive and again we feel as though that it would be a actually a benefit to the neighborhood because now on the uh the veil Street side it would become much more aesthetically pleasing to the neighborhood take you know the cars actually off of the the sight view of

the other neighbors and um other than that everything's going to be maintained and and STS its existing use um Mr toman's here to answer any questions relative to the plan Mr Survivor is also here as well and so if there's any questions we'd be happy to answer those questions okay thank you very much uh correct me if I'm wrong in the A2 District garage is an accessory to um a residential property can we we

we caning they're seeking relief right to to build the garage so yes that does require relief because we're going to have it on a separate on a separate lot correct and it's specific in the A2 to a three car garage as well which is so we're the use is we have an exception to the use and we have an exception to the the number of of cars that can be allowed by the

way you said you said there's ample room in front of the garage to park out the cars yes there will be sideways there only 10 ft there yeah and I'm sorry I'd be happy to answer that it it is kind of tight there is there's only a 10t strip between the the front property line and the garage itself y um and and on the plan um which uh labeled asphalt to be removed that's

actually compacted gravel I went by there today to take a a look at it so that whole um where where you see lot three that is all compacted gravel uh not asphalt as shown on the plan just as a correction excuse me so we have a lot coverage yeah I think we um application well yes uh that would be something that we'd be seeking relief from as well um obviously given the size

of the garage the um we we'd be asking to pave obviously the front of the garage between the the sidewalk walk and the um garage stalls which would be that 10t strip but everything else would be green space going around it so that would all be removed all that compact with gravel single story no not nothing apartment above it um I I believe the maximum height would be 15 fet yeah in

accordance with his own B Mr Frank not asking for any wavers of those things no I mean it it is it's it's it's a big it's a big stretch in in coverage percentage I mean what are we 70% is that called up the permit and just vacant from the plans at this point I mean you can calculate easy enough by by the square footage if you want to give it I mean you say you're going

heard the plan yep it's where we're aware of that and and it's just that the the four cars like I said they're there on a daily basis they just is not obviously encompassed by a a garage you want to just get get them out of the weather and uh you know and again clean up the lot of bit the lot's kept kept neat but it's it's it's it is the gravel lot and uh

you know that's what he would like to do in order to get the cars off the street so not not that it not that it matters to me or my decision Lot number three is that being sold or just rented it is going to be sold okay just Survivor is going it's being sold to the same person that's choosing it right now they're they're best friends and uh he's trying

to them up all right and the board should know that that what's proposed lot three was a standalone lot until purchased it add a later date after owning the abing properties and didn't understand you know that those lots would merge and it was the reason why we came to this just so again for full transparency is they went to make the the transfer and they came to my office

and then I had to determine that it was by going to the city that it had merged because it was always mortgage separately they had a discharge in the mortgage of one line so they thought it was a separate and distinct lot so that's how we got to the board Mr chairman everybody gets here somehow Jeff do you know what this what the setback is going to be to the existing Automotive Repair Garage to the

new lot lines the um four does it say four on there you're going to have you're going to have um six feet sorry the existing garage is 6 ft off of the property line so the new division line at between lot three in in lot two is 6 feet so you're going to have 4et on the new garage side 6et oh um on the south side or on no between the three between one and

two two yeah two property lines there that don't have a dimension yes um I just want to make sure that whoever keeps the repair facility has room to get around their building there will be the the intent I I want to say it's 4T at at the closest point which would be the division line going going north or south between the two um there is uh we will have an access easement that would

allow access you know because there is a garage stall on the um I'll call it the the left side or or the west side of the existing garage um that does have one garage door that's really they don't use it now and in that that side of the uh garage houses the uh like Mechanicals for the building and everything there is a garage door there that they to maintain access to they don't use it on

a daily basis uh similar like like typical automotive repair the like the other stalls but access is required is that access over lot one or is that over lot one correct it is okay yes it's over the driveway on lot one just to get back so it it is it's it's lot one's driveway so they their tenants their tenants are using that to get to those parking spaces in the back and it

also allows access to that wing of the the the auto repair accurate it's creative it's it wasn't a bad thing Jeff it was well the actual juice on the ground will not change no exactly it's just it's just a matter of drawing lines this all it is to be honest with you like the what this division allows you to do is you maintain the 10,000 foot lot around the existing garage Yeah by

incorporating um that that addition on the side and so it kind of frees up that other lot on Veil Street which really it it it it's kind of awkward where it serves a purpose the lot but it doesn't not directly you know it's kind of like a standalone little lot over there with its own entrance so questions from the board I just have a couple questions how many stalls are is the garage going to

be two three I I on the revised plan I put three I believe it's going to be a three store garage it's going to be 40 foot in width um which would I guess could be four technically but I think the plan is for it to be three what's the height 15t 15 yeah it's going to comply to the standard it's going to look like a commercial garage more than just a private garage yeah and obviously

it's deep enough so you've got two cars deep so you've got a six car capacity he's got four be hon he's got four cars that he's trying to get off the street that's what he has he has three on the on the other lot that he has that he uses now and he has one more so I I know I I think it is suggested to be three but I would like permission to that

we're not violating anything by saying if there's a fourth garage door Mr Sylvia okay any other questions I thought you had to no okay anyone else anyone in uh wish to speak in favor of this uh proposal anyone wish to speak in opposition they're hearing none members of the board what are your wishes make sure gets the revised you want to keep them uh you can keep it I'll make a motion to Grant

second okay strictly as presented does this need uh planning at this point there's no new building so I mean the new construction building would require some level of site plan review because we're going to want to make them do some type of drainage for the coverage

issues and you've probably already got separate utilities from the three family and the uh the business correct I believe there is a condition I would do that's fine we're okay with that I believe there is but the condition is is fine with us and the uh parking as stated too we got three for the three family Mr Frank and we have eight shown on the plan for the for the garage and that's existing

anyway okay that's my motion is there any reflection on on the recording of the eement yeah no the easement doesn't the parking doesn't affect the eement no no no okay out of our purview so we have the motion to uh approve in accordance with plans and presentation um with uh with planning board for the new uh for the new garage base on on the new lot three do we have a second yes

second second by Jim ckins discussion on the motion hearing none Dan dear yes Jim ckins yes John Frank yes Eric Kelly yes chairman perer yes

okay who Nancy do item number five Nancy M blle 171 Ratcliff Street lot l16 I'm sorry map l16 lot 13 applicant seeks a variance to convert the finished space located above the existing two car two stall garage into a studio apartment in the S single family zoning District thank you Mr for the recity BR on behalf of Miss BL Mr tomman is here with me to do the engineering work I know I'm like

a pitchy kind of guy because I way I understand things this is the this is the structure that's in question here um it's an existing uh garage with uh a complete space above it okay um and we want to convert that second floor of that unit that building excuse me into a studio apartment okay I I I I got to stress two things there going to be no structural changes whatsoever to this

building and secondarily we are not asking for a subdivision so this is not like a speculative thing that is going to be sold off and and that's the reason for it okay so I want to stress that first and foremost secondarily I also have copies of the building permit to make sure this is not a situation we're trying to write or wrong that the space above uh was put in play um in a mistake

was made or anything along those lines this has fully been legally built was back in 2008 permission was given at that time for storage um which the which the family has done um and they they were given permission to put water sewer and gas up to the uh garage which has been done okay so I just want to make that clear that this is not a mistake it's not anything that that happened

that that makes Miss ble come here um in fact we're here because Miss ble has has had some changes in a family Dynamic and she lives in a single family house and one of her family members is going to come and live with her well live in the hopefully granted studio apartment in order to help her out um right now I have pictures of what exists there as well because I know that the plan said a

finished uh situation up there it and sorry about these these are not very good pictures but this is this is how you get in and this is also the upstairs space it has not been finished in any capacity and you can see that her intent is to make a studio apartment um with the hopes of one of her family members coming into the unit in order to assist her um in you know some of these trying

times right now but I want to make sure that I want to make it clear no structural changes we may put one door in that's going to go to the to the stairs um but there's not going to be any structural changes to the unit in any capacity you can see by looking at the pictures uh gentlemen that there is this one is definitely ample parking there's three parking spaces is in the

first floor of the existing garage which we're asking to go above it there's another garage on the front of the building on Ratliff Street and as you see from the driveway there's probably an additional four cars allowable with ease in the front of the building it's going to be a studio apartment okay one bedroom um hoping if it's granted and we we're lucky enough to get this granted

to be a single person so parking will not be an issue in any way shape or form over there there's more than ample parking my client who's been in the in the neighborhood for a considerable amount of time has gone to all of our neighbors a Butters and a Butters to a Butters and everybody I think and I hope I'm right maybe I'm not but everybody has signed off for a position that

they're in agreement with this uh being utilized uh as a a studio apartment um she's a very good neighbor again been there for a considerable amount of time um and I think one of the main things I know that Mr agar and the members of the board are looking into situations for access uses the building I think this is I know it's not in place yet but this is this is a typical situation um and again

I just want to stress two things we are absolutely not going to change the the the the the structure of the building it's going to stay as is it's more than ample room in the second floor by the pitches you can see they have a studio apartment there's plenty of pocket and there is no subdivision she's not trying to create another lot to go you know make a financial impact and sell it it's

going to be for her her family and um and and that's that's what it is uh all the neighbors are for it um and based on that if you have any questions uh I feel free to feel free to ask them to either myself M tomman and Miss blle is here tonight the only thing I would add I'm sorry to the presentation would be the only mistake um on this is the labeling

on the plan that it has been finished um I was unaware I have not seen the upstairs of the garage I did label it as finished space on the plan and obviously based on the pictures that the attorney brilliant has provided it is it's not finished unless they went in and pulled down sheetrock today uh Council I would have to ask since this is a use variance it's a hardship well the hardship is that the

existing building Mr Mr Pera is such that by its shape and and and configuration it's really being underutilized um because it's up there as you can see from the pictures it's its best use would be for a studio apartment based on its configuration and and how it's laid out on the second floor Mr pero questions from the board I just have one quick question I probably know the answer this is going to change this

from a single family house to a two family house correct correct two two Family Properties majority of the property is surrounding single family hous everything is two family house yep okay opinion from uh planning director I would reiterate what um attorney brilliant said was that you know we are in fact moving forward with some type of an accessory apartment um in all of the single family residential districts that

takes time um this is exactly a scenario that we would want to apply that to the size of it it's 864 square feet which is minimal to living for a single person um it is in an existing structure so that's a lot of the your buing communities in their bylaws state that these accessories structures or ACC accessory uses are allowed in existing structures so we're not building a new structure

we're not blocking anyone's sunlight we're not we're adding one very minimal you know occupation of that structure there are all kinds of ways to get around zoning the applicant could theoretically connect this with some type of convoluted Breezeway or make it an addition to the house and they could use the bathroom or not so we should be encouraging to allow people to not not circumnavigate zoning and follow the

proper procedures to get what they legally are required so that someone could live in a safe environment um that's been inspected by the building department so I wish we had moved quicker um you know this just came up maybe two hearings ago when we started to have this discussion three um and we'll be uh we'll be moving that forward that's all and Mr per I will say that you know Miss blle did speak to a

contractor just even before she decided to do that and that was explained to her relative to connecting the building but in consultation with me I I just didn't think it was the right look for the neighborhood she's a very good neighbor as you can see by everybody signed the petition she wanted to do this right she didn't and and again you can see this is not one of those situation where

somebody goes oops I got an apartment up there I got caught so now I'm going to go before the court no I mean and that and that's very clear and you know I and I appreciate as you've just said and certainly as our planning director has said coming up with crazy ways to link buildings together and it it it ends up wasting the the property owner's money it ends up creating something that looks

bizarre and cuts off sections of of the property Etc so no I I agree um okay turning to the general public anybody here wish to speak in favor of the petition anyone wish to speak in opposition they're hearing none I turn to the board for any other the questions that they have uh and if there are none then uh a motion Mr chairman I move approval to uh have a studio apartment built in that

according to plan submitted we have a second from Dan dear um we don't need anything further we don't need uh we don't need zoning uh planning rather so in that case on the motion uh Eric Kelly yes John Frank yeah Jim Caulkins yes Dana yes never thought I'd ever do this chairman Prairie yes thank you Mr chairman members of the board have a good night thank you have a great night good luck with everything thank

you item number six hide Development LLC 394 Hope Street map I think we can do attorney knows is an El yeah but we move back to the end oh Tom is here as well Tom's here either way sorry go ahead I'll continue sorry uh High Development LLC 394 Hope Street map i07 lot 34 the applicant seeks a variance to demolish an existing automobile repair facility and construct two triple Flex dwellings totaling six residential

units on a 15518 ft lot waving unit density sidey yard rear yard setbacks as well as lot area and lot coverage requirements in an A2 apartment zoning District this is being represented by attorney Thomas colorin who get out of the grasp of Somerset this evening so were there any were there any fights tonight over there or I got out before the fights so thank you uh for the record attorney

Thomas clone representing the applicant with me is uh Jeff tomman who drafted the site plan that's before you uh as the chairman stated uh what we're seeking to do is uh take a pre-existing non-conforming use um in a A2 district and uh replace it with um three excuse me two uh Triplex uh townhouse style buildings uh this an existing Auto Repair Garage uh on the property um it's situated on the Northerly side of the

property um the curb cut opening along uh Grant Street um is is kind of wide open as it presently stands the intention would be is to put some uh new curbing in um have two points of Ingress and egress off of Grant Street um there'll be 13 parking spaces so there'll be a total of uh six units with 13 parking spaces so we provide just slightly more than 2:1 uh parking ratio

um also by the installation of the new curbing around the property we'll be able to create three off street parking spaces as well uh so really uh through this Redevelopment there would be 16 parking spaces Associated uh with the property again we've got an existing Auto Repair Garage the property itself presently is pretty much asphalted to its limits um this Redevelopment will create some green space again a better

configur duration for traffic flow to and from the site so I suggest to the board that it's a significant improvement over the uh existing use of the property and it's more in concert with the surrounding neighborhood again we're in an A2 District um we do certainly need relief based upon the number of units that we're requesting um but this isn't uncommon if you take a look around at the surrounding

properties um there's a lot of very undersized Lots in this area uh that have existing U multif family dwellings and some instances two dwellings uh on one parcel of land many of which don't comply with the uh zoning setback so you've got a lot of pre-existing non non-conforming structures um in and around this property here uh the lot in question is certainly significantly larger than most of the surrounding Lots

especially the ones that are utilized for residential purposes uh so we suggest to the board that this re the repurposing of this property uh from an auto repair garage and converting it to uh two triplexes townhouse style triplexes is more in Conformity with the neighborhood um and certainly an improvement uh from a um from an overall lock coverage uh standpoint even though we're looking for some relief for lock

coverage uh right now we've got it asphalted out to its limits um and we'll have uh significant Green Space I would suggest to the board um especially when you take into consideration again the surrounding neighborhood um the green space that we'll be able to provide here is certainly equal to were greater than a lot of the surrounding Lots so with that um I'll I'll yield to the board and

certainly entertain um any questions from you or anybody who's in attendance this evening I was going to say you could you could put a plant pot here and you'd have more green space than you do so thank you um uh is is this designed so flow of traffic is is enter from Hope Street and exit onto Grant or is that really not specified it's all on Grant Street the access and exit everything's the two

entrances would be closing down the um the access to um the H Street all right so we pick up a parking space there how many B um each unit would have three bedrooms uh two and a half bathrooms these in these units I know the board's familiar with the um there's a five unit townhouse that's being constructed on Spring Street um that the board approved you know few meetings back these units would be the similar

type of design so it' basically be the same unit just in two separate buildings cor yep familiar with it um from planning I I would offer the the first thing is that we H we currently have a pre-existing non-conforming condition correct both to building building setback lot coverage and more particularly use where we have an automotive rep use which is not allowed in the A2 District so at at first flush

the apartment use is much more in keeping with what the A2 District you know calls out for and and allows for no parking waivers which is very odd these days not to see that they have added pedestrian access sidewalks to both streets this is an area that's very walkable to a number of different locations along columia it's not far from there and the the band club is directly next door the institution of

some new Green Space around these buildings I think is um is very uh respectable they they could have you know there could be developers that would come in and would have pushed the limits for building setback and try to get another three-unit building in and ask for a waiver of parking but they did not go to that extent so yeah no I I honestly have nothing negative to say about it and I think it would actually

be a benefit to the neighborhood and increase in property values for the surrounding for the surrounding people okay that um the the part thank you very much Dan the parking spaces towards um Hope Street itself th those are going to be on isn't there um some elevation change in there there is an elevation change there may be a slight retaining wall that's required along there um but

we felt the best because of the the grade change going down there to keep everything off a grant it makes more sense to have one entrance and one exit off a grant and and close that there isn't there is a an opening now going out the hole but there is a a bit of a pitch right yeah so yeah and all that would be obviously addressed through side point good very good questions just

just a point of clarification that's that's Hunter Street yeah I that's not Grand Street oh I apologize um earlier tonight when I was uh taking a look at the plan um and I was looking at uh Google Maps uh Mr duper is correct that that is actually Hunter Street and not Grand Street yeah just wanted to clarify because it is Hun the street garage so why it's label Grant Street I'd love to be able

to bling somebody else in my office but it's 100% Grant's the other one yeah we got two grand streets now that's uh copy and paste is a terrible thing and I honestly when I rolled out there to take a look at this I didn't even bother look at the street sign so thank you Dan entrance will be on Hunter Street doesn't change the ad doesn't doesn't change the the the advertisement

because it's hope and that's uh we've got the correct map and lot numbers uh any other questions from the board comments from the board now is the time no turn to the general public anyone present wishing to speak uh in favor of the petition anyone wishing to speak in opposition to the petition sir can you uh please identify yourself and your address I'm with the club at y we're obviously a marching B Club

has been there for 32 years uh we do have a function hall um which on the weekends we do have functions till 1: a.m. there I just want to make sure that that's you know that's aware and there is noise that comes out of that side there obviously with the massive parking lot in garage doesn't really affect anything uh but we just want to go on record saying that we do have functions

and uh if you know the noise there is noise that comes out of that side of the building because we do have three Windows there with is it noise or is it music it's music okay some people music right um so we just want to go on record saying that uh you know we've been using that as a function hall on that rear side of the building um and that's how we maintain um you know the

money to pay the bills and whatnot so that's kind of a necessity so we just want to go on a record saying that there was going to be some noise and hopefully um they take that into account because we're concerned about uh the tenants you know calling the police because of noise it's most on the weekends obviously um and if we have police there at the weekend that's going to affect um you

know renting out that space and paying the bill okay and thank you that's you know that I appreciate you coming out on that you look surprised no no I I don't think the board is looking for any input for me on that I understand that no just don't let your neighbors or your attendants interfere with their music just show it just show it during the week that is correctly labeled on plans

of Music H by the way so anybody bu in should say that beware yeah I mean it's a pretty good indication right it's like no surpris y okay anything else on the motion then or on the uh petition move approval subject to uh work site site plan review I'll second okay motion second uh then on the motion Dan deir yes Jim ckins yes John Frank yes and Eric Kelly yes chairman PR yes best of

luck with it I think it's a great plan thank you thank you very much you too all right where are we item number two no it's not three item number three 164 Elm Street LLC care of Attorney Peter selino 164 Elm Street map in 10 lot 43 the applicant seeks a special permit to to convert the existing 4unit apartment building into an 8 unit apartment building waving lot area and front yard setbacks the applicant also

seeks um another special permit to reduce parking requirements the property is located in a BL local business zoning District aod Arts overlay district and an HD1 Housing Development overlay District good evening hello again and thank you for the courtesy of moving on to the end of the agenda so my client could get here uh Peter shelino for the record on behalf of the applicant 164 Elm Street LLC The Proposal as Mr

chairman read is to convert the pre-existing non-conforming four family structure into an 8 unit structure The Proposal includes creating a curb cut on the easterly side of the property which would be screen right to allow for a traffic flow and circulation The Proposal includes eight spaces on site um and in the back there I'm sorry 10 total two on the side eight in the back for 10 total uh which obviously leaves a

deficiency um which I will certainly address in my presentation um the board may be familiar with this petition from a prior instance in which it was filed as a variance subsequently withdrawn by my client and prior counsel so we are uh refiling it as a request for a special permit the waivers include uh parking the lot area and uh arguably a front yard setback um in the words of the great David Assad I

have done uh independent research and I'd like to present the board with a series of photos uh through the chairman but uh there's plenty for everyone to look at in the top right hand corner I've labeled them that is my poor penmanship in blue ink to indicate the date and time I took the photo with my phone because admittedly I couldn't figure out how to put the uh Tim stamp

on them but every night this week I've gone to the location um to scour the parking component of this petition and from my research I would submit to you that regardless or not regardless but uh even with the deficiency of onsite parking every night this week I was able to see 10 approximately 10 Open Spaces whether they be on dery Street facing south which is a one way um Elm Street Facing

East so um like I said I have each uh photo labeled um in the top right hand corner with the date and time that I took the photo so I would submit to you that as a consequence of the plentiful on street parking I think we can reasonably supplement the parking requirement on this petition um with the street parking that's available um in the neighborhood uh last night for example on derky Street in front of um

the creative class building there are 10 empty spaces there at 545 um so for instance or I'm sorry strike that 551 um but more or less quarter to six last night that entire side was empty so I'd submit to you that the proposal itself is appropriate it's a special permit I don't think that the proposal is substantially more detrimental than what is there and for the record what is

there is a blue board building that is stuck in a phase of lack of construction as a result of um some rulings of the uh building department so happy to take any questions Mr Kelly's here he's the developer uh owner on the project um the board may recall that he's uh not from Fall River he's from quinsey he bought this building uh with some misperceptions surrounding uh what he could do with the building I think they

were innocent misperceptions um so we've tried to create and come back with a better uh presentation for the board's consider itation very good was it was it 8 units the last time yes yeah I thought so yes and has has anything else been done to the building I I did not go buy this one because I remember yeah nothing has been done it's completely closed in um I walk the site with him um just to go

around the back and understand the flow of parking but obviously that curb cut on the East is not there currently right questions from the board the last time as Was Heard didn't we have opposition from the developer of the dery building we did uh that's a fair question and my client can certainly speak to a conversation he had with Mr mumber on that uh component all right members of the board thank you for

having me Austin Kelly for the record um I spoke to Alan mackenberg we actually walked the property together um asking him for advice because he's been there before uh and he said he has no oppositions to this project I explained to him what was going on what would be the flow what would be the parking lot and he said it's going to be a a very nice building and he thought that the

exceptions that he has had on his property he will be able to provide or there there's adequate parking in that area when if that gets occupied I don't know exactly what he thought I can say is he's not here yeah that that's a big he would have I think what I think at the last meeting I think his actual words were that he was not opposed to the correct and would

like to see the the building renovated but he was concerned about the part he just he was granted the same level go and that he had looked at and provided information of where Entre parking is that is available right to everyone um the only concerns I would have here as well first of all as attorney seleno stated this isn't an Arts overlay District correct so this board has the ability to Grant all this and then some

with a bunch of different variables it was not presented that way the first time and that's why the applicant has now come back spent more dollars to try to come back and complete this project only question I have is I only count nine spaces two on the side and Eight in the back um which is still fine is greater than the one to one ratio ever the board should vote um based on the

based upon providing nine spaces I don't see how you could provide 10 um sorry so in the back you're saying there's only seven no there's eight eight and two is nine on the side it's labeled two spaces yeah and in the back it's label eight right so no count how many are in the back it's labeled oh that's what I'm saying so there's seven in the back seven in the back two

correct so not withstanding the label of eight there's actually seven seven that's correct just when you do Grant no you cannot so just I just want to make sure that when you make the the decision that it's based upon nine spaces nine spaces not 10 okay anyone else from the board unit size uh the proposal is three bedrooms all of them yes wow building's bigger than I thought yeah ultimately the basement or

the lower level yeah uh has two you know it's two units on each floor eff if you remember if you went by you look at the street pictures there like a garden level yeah that's that's where in fact there's a garage door like right in the front garage door there's a little bit when you come up from uh the housing project there's a bit of a hill there to so I think that's why you have that

it's an I mean it's an interesting Building architecture not it's like I'd love to find some photos of this once upon a time um okay no other questions from the board at this point is there anyone here to speak in favor of this petition anyone to speak in opposition they're hearing none turn to the board what are our wishes Mr chairman I move approval of the variance as requested it's a it's

not a variance special yeah I find that yeah that it is not substantially more detrimental to the area that it Beed you going to try to put them together y yeah okay do we have a second on that second and we're going with nine spaces nine spaces as indicated the plan shows nine but says eight says 10 the application says 10 the application says narrative on the plan says 10 so I just

want to make sure yeah I want to get the site plan review and then I've got to tell them hey you got to give us 10 spaces and there's no way to come up yeah no way no less than nine they can squeeze another one in there I don't think so already have you walk that property no all right very good so uh the motion is to it it is not more detrimental to the

neighborhood uh and to Grant uh with the stipulation that there shall be nine spaces no less than nine spaces as as shown on the plans we have a second on that second very good discussion hearing none Eric Kelly yes uh John Frank yes Jim C yes Panda yes chairman Perera yes good luck with this that's a it's going to be a great cleanup good Lu home you get stck in the traffic on the

North End of 24 why why is Peter going home so early after work at 6 o' it's a ninja move that's it no no one's expecting you right I mean you can stop off the point where you say what time I start you know you know I know what thank you thank you all all right moving on citizens input yay approval of minutes wait wait do I forget I I the agenda was look

at you what are you doing to me just the meeting schedule ah yes the schedule for 2024 did everybody receive that in your email sure January 18th February 15 so you don't have to worry about Valentine's Day March 21 April 18th so we miss bunker we miss uh Patriots Day May 16th June 20th third so we miss juneth it's my birthday juneth so we can have a party July 18th

August 15th we have to be no longer than an hour that night September 19th August 17th November 21st and December 19th we're further away from uh further away from Christmas next year than we have this year move approval of calendar for next year sorry we have a motion to approve the calendar for next year can I have a second please thank you on the motion Eric Kelly John Frank yes Jim ckins Dana chairman Prairie

yes all right yes thank you and then to um CTI import shot by the approval of minutes waving of the reading of the minutes and approval of the minutes second second John beer on the motion uh Eric Kelly yes John Frank yes Jim car danir and chairman per yes motion to adjourn do we have a second second all in favor opposed we'll get hung