8.17.2023 Zoning Board of Appeals

okay all right uh good evening everyone it's six o'clock uh video are we ready to go okay thumbs up all right good evening everyone um my name is John Frank I'm the vice chairman of the zoning board of appeals the city of Fall River it's now uh 6 p.m on Thursday August 17th 2023. we have meeting in one government center in the Committee hearing room this meeting is sorry lost my place there we go this is

a meeting of the local public body and such is subject to the Mass general laws section 30A subsection 20 commonly known as the open meeting law pursuant to Mass General laws 30A section 20 to the subsection F I hereby notify all persons in attendance that this meeting is being recorded both by video and audio devices by Fall River government TV if anyone desires to make an audio video or combination reporting

thereof please notify me now and I shall make a public announcement of your intentions nope okay present this evening we have permanent members to my left James cawkins Dan De Pere Rick sahadi John Silva and Alternate Eric Kelly and John Silver's also an author um also immediately to the left Dan aguiar director of planning far to the right is Chris Perino assistant planner and to my right is Nina Kruger the

recording secretary have all petitioners been considered and properly advertised and interested in parties notified according to the rules and regulations of the Zoning Board of Appeals thank you Claire the August 17 2023 regularly scheduled meeting of the zoning board of appeals to be as it's regularly scheduled business come before the meeting is now open I remind all persons presenting before

the board including the petitioners of Butters anyone in support or anyone opposed to the position 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's claim as such the petitioner should identify

and factually support the basis for the petition I hereby advise the petitioners and all interested persons that the board of the is this board is the zoning board of appeals this board's Authority exists pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 40a and is limited in scope and deals with the use of land as regulated by chapter 86 of the ordinance of city of the city of Fall River additional permits a licenses reviews

and or approvals may require may be required for the specific development and or use which is the subject of the petition before the zoning board this evening the clerks in the building planning engineering licensing departments are competent in the discharge of their duties as Clerks they are however not lawyers and are 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 is a city ordinance 2015-11 section 10 1 requiring site plan review a copy of this ordinance is available at the city's Clerk's Office at the city's clerk's office from the

plan or from the planning department I remind everyone that the building inspector is the zoning enforcement Authority and you are here ever here this evening because the building inspector has determined that your proposed action is contrary to the city of fall River's zoning ordinance the newly adopted City Charter section 918 mandates that all Municipal member bodies develop and adopt rules or

policies for public comment we have adopted such a policy which in short provides the citizen input for the zoning board specific matters at the end of this meeting a sign up sheet is on the table in the rear of the room finally I had to close I disclose that an official copy of the Fall River zoning ordinance is available at the city clerk's office one cannot rely on the online zoning ordinance any questions

are there any questions no questions let's start them okay we're going to start with zero one of old business that is uh 67-77 Mason Street Realty Trust attorney Jeffrey Medeiros good evening Mr chairman members of the board my name is Jeffrey Medeiros I'm an attorney here in the city with the law firm of Burke espinola and Ben colon I represent the petitioner this evening John America and as a trustee to and we

ask for a special permit to subdivide the property located at 67 and 77 Mason Street that would leave a three family on one proposed lot and a three family on the second proposed law if you look at the plan that was submitted with the petition you can see that we will have access easements and utility easements that um that assist both Lots will also create some off-street parking places

to alleviate some of the parking that is on the street we have proposed the separation of the Sewer Service in the water lines shown on the plant 40a and the ability under the four of the zoning to apply for a special permit that's what my client did okay just a question you mentioned about separating utilities on the plan it says retain existing sewer service and it's a y going into it one bike so retain it as

it pertains to that particular dwelling but then there's a black so you can see where it says proposed 77 Sewer Service on show staying on the left and the new one is going to be on so that's going to be retained and then we'll have a utility easement that will be on record with the new deed as to um maintaining that sewer line in terms of avoid any questions is there anyone here

in favor of this petition anyone here opposed to this petition sure I just have one question will they have separate sewer meters then well they're going to have separate water meters okay so but that's that's what it is okay director of planning do we have any comments just the standard um site plan review to be filed to the utility separation so that way the sewer department has the ability to make

comment on the proposed method for the separation where we have it access he's been running up through the property no fencing along uh the newly created lot line and then just the standard affidavit to be filed at the registry of deeds stating that all of those utilities have been separated prior to the conveyance of either piece

Mr chairman I move we Grant the uh or approve the special permit that uh subject to uh sag review and uh recording of the separation of the utilities before the conveyance of the properties and that no borders be placed along the division lines because of easements we have a motion do we have a second second ly yeah we have the voting members on this one yeah it's going to be sorry I should

have mentioned that as a time but right we have one two three four five Mr Kelly is going to be sending this one up so one two three or five John Silver's voting on this okay Mr Hawkins yes John Silva Yes Rick zahati yes Dan de Bear yes and chairman Frank yes motion passes okay adam02 118 and 120 Jefferson Street Realty Trust attorney Jeffrey Medeiros map f01 lot 27.

once again members of the board this is uh a pre-existing non-conforming use as the two structures on one law so the petitioner therefore just as in the previous petition seeks to separate the buildings into two separate Lots leaving a two family on one lot and a four family on the other lock they are also looking for the access and utility easements they've also created um an off or two off street parking spaces

to to each building there is the proposed sewer service for 118 as well as the proposed sewer for 120 with regard to the utilities as shown on the plan

all right so there's two in the back and two in the front that is correct members of the board any questions I have a question Dan for you is that street is Jefferson due to be resurfaced or anything in the next year um which section does Jefferson has this Fallen it's uh near the Walmart great Great Festival I'm not going toward uh Brighton Avenue so yes so from rain Avenue to Warren will be reconstructed curb to

curb probably not for a year we're going to run the water line through so I think there's plenty of time to get this done but excellent question now would be the time to do it absolutely five years hey Dan any other comments nope just the same as the previous just the standard conditions that we normally apply to these is there anyone here in favor of this petition anyone opposed members of board we have a motion

hey Mr chairman I will make the motion that we approve the special permit with the usual conditions study plan review

okay we have a motion to have a second second Hawkins yes John Silver yes yes John Frank yes motion tests the members of the board have a good evening are you feeling better me too who's my wife oh yeah

did you move out for two weeks I tried to quarantined away no okay we have uh item zero three California street map j08 and lot 68.

African seeks permission to construct an addition onto an existing structure as well as a detached garage in a shot the applicant also seeks a variance robot coverage special event to extend expand pre-existing non-performance structure special permit allowing private garage larger than allowed in a g General District thank you Mr chair uh Peter celino on behalf of the applicant petitioner Fidel

Estrella many of you will remember that this was continued from the last meeting the reason for me making a motion to continue the petition was hearing from the butters relative to Mr estrella's construction vehicles at the site and so I have with me this evening a commercial lease that I will pass in as part of the record that indicates that Mr Estrella has found a spot in Tiverton to move his

construction vehicles to uh it's a fully executed in blue ink lease to move the vehicles off site my sincere hope is that that will quell concerns Mr Estrella has advised me this evening that there have been cameras at neighboring properties pointed on his property at all times he feels very uncomfortable with this uh he's seeking to build the garage expand the house and you know move on with his project as I

stated last time we've been before the city council for the curb cut permit so that's in place as the board will remember the relief sought here is variance for lot coverage special permit for expansion of the dwelling and a special permit for a garage greater than 750. it was a small amount of discussion last time relative to the setback on the east side of the property and I think that was well settled that

it's allowable a four foot setback is what's required for a garage so there is no need for Relief there so I'd submit to you that I think we can address the concerns of the vehicles by a submission of this lease and submitting to you that the vehicles will be off site and we'd like to go forward with the petition as presented and argued at the prior meeting in July of 2023.

and you know if I may approach and submit this as part of the record

would you just uh refresh our memories of the use of the garage yes my client runs a construction company and he has material and things of that sort um tool nephews it's a small business yeah we understand that yeah it's a small family business not a big company I think that's been argued and settled but Mr Calkins to answer your question uh personal vehicle use and materials are what's intended to go in the garage

and the construction vehicles again that were talking about last time will be at that site in Tiverton will that be frequent use of the garage it supplies are there by the other vehicles coming in and out that's not the no that's not the intent yes fair question but not the intent at all I've spoken there was an issue of they were talking about picking people up at 5 30 in the morning

missing and understood as my nephews is my family understood but we've gotten Fidel yes we understand Mr Frank I've spoken to my client about business use Etc and the design of getting those vehicles to Tiverton would be that those would be picked up and dropped off in Tiverton not on California Street okay okay members report any other questions almost at least four I haven't got the

form yet is it so one year at least one year at least okay there was some there was some equipment still there not truck spot there was stuff in the back is that that's not like some lattice and the almost is a materials for control my garage says no air stuff to the bin that's that's gonna use the one I have so I think what he's saying is he's going to use that

material to build the garage that's proposed yeah on the plan and the lease itself is specific to removal of construction equipment in vehicles any other questions um just just a hypothetical what happens after one year if the lease is not renewed it's a fair question I don't think it's a hypothetical um I think this board has the ability to impose conditions on their Grant so if there were a condition in there that

required either provision of or no commercial use we're certainly willing to accept that but I can't forecast or guarantee past that document very reasonable rent honestly it's just there there's no building oh there's no it's just just a piece so that's pretty good that's the one concern is that they will still be storage of materials tools so on and so forth because I don't suppose to any customers

what I have is that my leftovers and decide that's what I got to use on my garbage Mr Frank uh I don't let me take care of so I think ultimately I hear your concern if the board were to impose a condition saying no storage of materials for outside jobs can you live with that that's the yeah okay so that can be a condition that my client will accept have any effort been made to consult

with the neighbors on this uh no uh he's put off by this camera thing he has kids um he said he feels completely uncomfortable with it and he just wants to move on with this project okay uh uh anyone here uh uh in favor of this anyone to post ma'am could you give us a record uh my name is Lucille Bouchard and this is my this is the camera in question has been

there for five years it's been there for the previous occupant of that house I have one there and I have one in the front if you go by my house you will see that my bedroom is ground level somebody could just throw a stone anything in there and just get in that is why the camera is there it is not too spy on anyone it's there before Mr Estrella was there

second of all I just reiterating my case to me you put this out as a garage why isn't it put out as a three-star garage maybe some of the other neighbors I would assume that other neighbors in my neighborhood got letters saying about this meeting and what Mr Australia is wants to do nobody did right we did and that I say that because they're going to be looking at a three-stall garage in

in somebody's Yacht Where it's only it's too large for Beyond second thing of all yes four feet is the limit that you can put a how a garage a detached garage my house is over a hundred years old we're three feet from the property line I can't move my house when that house was built there were no rules of regulations now there are rules and regulations so why do I have to suffer

when my house is been there for all of this time I wouldn't mind a two-car garage pushed away from the house I wouldn't that wouldn't bother me but a three-car garage nobody else on the streets got notifications of this I don't I don't think it's fair for me thank you chair may I respond yes okay in response and to reiterate four feet is the allowable setback for a garage so there's no violation here

second I can't really respond to who got noticed or who didn't that's the second meeting I'm certainly sure your clerk can indicate that notices went out as per usual yes yes they did okay okay right it clearly states garage larger than allow Ed anyone else post okay yeah what's the height of a garage we're not going to exceed the allowable 18 feet because that's additional that's

one of the questions so it's 18 feet Yes to the peak okay and then um as attorney celino had stated the board has the ability to put any condition they they wish on any type of relief that they Grant but keep in mind that those conditions are then to be enforced by the zoning enforcement officer which is the building department so if this lease Runs Out in a year and

then Mr Estrella decides to move all the equipment back to California well now the chase is on for our building inspector to enforce the zoning decision that that you put in place so the teeth are there but it's a process I would recommend that that there's you know if you do wish to approve it you know some very strict conditions with regards to no commercial vehicles on site other than the one vehicle that Mr

Estrella would drive to and from home every day and it's to be kept in the garage no commercial equipment no backhoes no concrete mixers I don't know what construction so none of it is to be in the garage or in the yard I think there was a concern about potentially heavy equipment being stored in the rear portion of the property so you have the ability to clean up what may already be

happening there by imposing some of these conditions and it's within your purview to do so because you are relaxing you know the zoning Bible so by all means think of whatever you think would make this a little bit more acceptable to in a butter regarding what type of activity takes place you know on the property with regards to the cameras if Mr Estrella feels that that the cameras are impeding on his security or

his well-being please contact the building department and the police department and feel that your your rights are being infringed upon and and they'll take that up this is the zoning board of appeals we don't deal with that issue here but there are bodies that will so if you do honestly feel that uncomfortable about it there are agencies to seek out to resolve that happen that's all I have so therefore again

what you're saying is that if we impose those conditions as you stated then the least becomes irrelevant it doesn't matter how long it is or whatever yes conditions are there correct regardless of the lease yeah I mean the the lease at least shows you an attempt right I don't want to ask if the zoning and the peace and Tibetan is allowed because we're not dividend but um so that that gets us past maybe the first

year it doesn't say he has to go use it right you can lease it for whatever short money he's leasing it but then still work out of the house right so be creative in the conditions you place that you're comfortable with no commercial activities taking place on this property right okay regarding Vehicles equipment materials flammable materials again what kind of a contractor what kind of work do you do a

little like a carpet carpentry carpentry is General carpentry okay I am not General no General cop no yeah just yeah yeah but I I don't have any like uh only I have ladders or we don't want to see staging on the side yeah but you can't keep that you can't keep that here no I can't I don't I know that so it's gonna have to stay on the dirt and dividend yes okay you understand that yes

okay any other questions do we have a motion okay promotion to deny can we have a motion Tonight by John Silver you have a second foreign

I'll make a second vote can you do he's a voting member of the Zoning Board of Appeals okay we have a motion to deny the caucus now Johnson Yes Yes Rick sahadi no Dan De Pere no Cameron Frank yes oceans three to two does not pass do we have a motion too I'm sorry that's it the motion to deny does not carry that doesn't mean that someone can't change their mind right

so do you want to go through that motion by all means someone would have to change their vote if someone chooses to choose to make a motion to approve you have any emotions I will make the motion to approve uh with the conditions stated by the director of planning would you reiterate those then there would be no storage of commercial vehicles equipment or materials either inside or outside of the garage

or house other than the singular vehicle that the homeowner would drive to work every day so if he's got his pickup truck that's lettered that vehicle can come and go all day long materials no materials I think Dan what you've kind of brought up and what my concern is promoting no is that if a year later something happens then people are chasing the building inspector and we all know that there are not enough

people in that period of time the neighboring homeowner will be affected until that gets resolved yeah okay we have a motion to Grant do we have a second second president that'll take a boat yes James Dawkins John Silva no thanks a lot yes Dan De Pere yes John Frank no motion is denied item one

is not apologize 169 Barnes Street map k-19 lot 39 the applicant variance to build a 33 by 24 attached garage waving front yard setback lock coverage in a g General residence zoning District Mr chairman before you continue um is the applicant here tonight no so we've tried for a number of weeks to contact her because the legal advertisement has not got that outside please do you have a check to pay for the legal

advertisement tonight would you like to continue the hearing you have two options because without the check it can't go forward if you can go call her and we'll take you after she gets here with a check that I don't have a check but I do have cash or or a credit card okay so either one amazing is not around uh she is not no okay she hasn't been around for the last

few weeks and then she's actually out uh she's um back in her home country right now oh okay okay so she she won't be back for another week and a half all right I mean if the board wants to accept cash or if anyone has a checkbook with them no you said she'd be back in a weekend you know what possibly I mean she will be back in a week and a half plenty of

time for the next meeting but then they'll pay another 350 to be tabled so we can move away but can't we yeah we can't do that right if yeah if you choose to or accept cash

according to Chris we can take cash yeah okay I've never taken cash so that's fine all right how much is the fee hit the ATM the 1918 oh you know what do you want to go to the ATM and come back not at all oh he has to go to the inside wall the one his wife doesn't know about time I can come back tomorrow to get the change okay if you want to bring a check

she'll give you the 200 bill yeah you can replace it yeah if you want yeah to bring a check tomorrow yeah that's fine the retainer has been accepted for the uh tomorrow thank you excellent okay we can uh move forward with the

the engineering firm that will produce the plans that you have up on the screen my client is looking to raise the exist in the garage that's in the uh uh upper right hand corner of the uh property and she's looking to do a three-car garage up on the front the existing house right now the front of the house is sitting on the property line with a zero uh setback and she wants to attach the three-car

garage to the existing house and carry the uh the setback with that uh at the same elevation this will also reduce the uh steep uh the driveway that currently exists um so she'll be looking to do the uh topography as one of the hardships because right now there's almost an eight foot elevation between the street and the uh the driveway where it enters into the outer garage the uh the only relief that we'll be looking

for is just the front asset back it meets the other side that uh setbacks the other relief that we'll be looking for is the amount of impervious uh coverage on the lot uh with the three-car garage you would bring up the impervious coverage to uh out of 92 percent on the property 92 or 73 the plan says 73. yeah uh originally it's uh 73 but it's it's a 92 because of the add-on on the garage

there's I know on the plan it says we're out of 73 on the original table but up on the variance right underneath the uh stamp it's 92 okay so it is a at 92.

gotcha at that point any reason why the two tables are different uh other than this equipment is ever no okay

okay so is the existing garage going to be raised yes yes what's going back in that place that is uh she wants to create a patio extend the patio expanding the patio as well right which is not shown on the planet uh no it it only States uh the uh patio it's an existing patio right and that's going to extend to uh the uh at a garage area and where the driveway is being removed

too that's going to be patio uh up to the grass area behind the garage to the patio that's all going to be patio no the grassy area right behind the garage is remaining okay so with the grass that's behind the garage and the grass that runs along the west side of this property yeah that's still that's only eight percent grass yeah it's about almost eight yeah

so where the garage is proposed there was like three or four cars parked in that driveway and it looks like they put a whole new patio thing in there yeah are they going to tear all that up there no the she's keeping the existing the patio they're removing the garage and or their uh terracing the patios because of the steepness that is going on right now so the grass area behind because that

driveway there it looked like it was all stone patio in there where you have the grass area do you have an aerial photograph no no Eric's looking at a very good aerial that gives you okay unless unless they uh just added that in uh because I know when we ended up doing the plan there was grass at that no no there's grass I think yeah it was really yeah I'll I'll unless she

already had uh it changed that without my knowledge

yeah there's a multi-level uh I don't know terrorism right now on the back over there so that triangular patio I guess that runs up to the stairway to the back Terrace yeah and it and that's all uh multi-level you go up into one then you go up to another that's all staying yes but the garage is there now is coming out yes the Terrace patios patio going back into that place

yeah so that does show that there's going to be some grass area behind the garage the new garage being built well the uh the grass area is supposed to stay uh but oh wait a minute which grass area are we talking about the one that is right behind the our garage that's shown on the plan okay on your way Chris is pointing to on the big screen yeah yeah no no right there yeah there's

gonna be grass there but there's also going to be grass on the other side of the garage yes yep no driveway uh none because of the garage will be a three-car garage and they'll be at the same offset as the house so they're gonna pull in right into the garage and there'll be no other uh access on the property

yeah so did you already go for a curb cut not yet no because we're 16 feet right unless you ask for they have to go to the city council for approval right because if it's a three-stall garage and it's 33 feet yeah if that's 33 feet that's yeah that's 33 minus 16. so it would be taking a spot off the street yeah because I mean I'm looking back to how

it lays out yeah it's tight I'm looking at the parking on the on the aerial map and there's a lot of cars here so to the at the garage to the right of the garage that's going to be landscaped or paste no she's gonna so there's some Shrubbery going down the Western Property Line she's going to bring the strawberry all the way down to the street line and then that's going to be

a grass there's going to be more grass along that right there's going to be a grass over on this one that's 17 feet that's right

okay members of the board and the questions anyone here in favor anyone opposed Dan do you have any other comments the only the only comment I have is with the proximity of the garage to the street where people would be backing directly out into the street we would prefer that that be set back from the street a distance to allow people to back out and have some visibility at least in the Westerly

Direction you won't have anything in the in the easily Direction because the existing single-family house is there but um anything would be better than constructing on the street line where theoretically they would have to excavate into the street to even pour a footing or a foundation um so I would I would request that it be set back a distance whatever that distance is I mean the front yard setback is is there

a reason that it can't be set back no uh actually the the garage if if we pull the garage back eight feet from the street so it would be almost a little over half the what's required uh she would be uh comfortable with that as well so you have eight feet from this from the property line then you've got about another six feet of sidewalk space so that brings you about

14 feet of space for a vehicle to sit and see coming in coming out other vehicles seeing a vehicle coming in or coming out only issue with that is your lock coverage will now increase because now you're building a driveway so they would have to you can still leave it at 92 and through site plan review some patio or the replacement of that existing garage with patio space may may have to come off

so they'll be bound by 92 percent cloud coverage and this is a one story correct it's a one family house it's actually no garage oh oh yeah yeah it's all our one story uh oh 12 feet high it's gonna be a flat roof like a deck yes they add to the resort

she's actually put in a lot of work to the house or from when she bought it certainly yeah it's her little Oasis if you will sure so through site plan review just when you're thinking of lot coverage and we've talked about this we do have the ability through a lot coverage now to require roof runoff infiltration to be added to these developments so we can offset the increase in lot

coverage by collecting whatever we can for rain water off of both structures the existing single family home the existing accessory structure to the rear and this one and and pipe that water into the ground rather than letting it run off so we can handle that in-house through site plan review okay so we don't need the table in order to have a offer to move that back no it can be

we've done in the past but you just conditioned what the minimum front yard setback would be and what the what the maximum lot coverage would be on and then they would come to site plan review with those two conditions and have to comply with them okay and you're comfortable with eight feet yes

okay so that is the new petition does anyone uh have a motion

thank you motion permission to approve with the site plan review uh and the uh moving the garage back on the street and maximum lot coverage of 92 percent yes thank you you have a second I'll second emotional James Hawkins yes councilman Yes Rick sahadi yes Andrew pair yes John Frank yes thank you all right thank you have a good night

item number two takes 44 and 648 Rodman Street map I-20 lot 7 14 and 15. the African seek the special permit under 86 425 B in the city of Florida zoning ordinance to construct a 28 725 square foot addition to 648 Rodman Street good evening for the record my name is Jeff Tallman I'm an engineer with Northeast engineers and Consultants I'm here on behalf of the petitioner Candelaria LLC uh we filed a special

permit pursuant to section 86 425a of the zoning ordinance to allow the extension of existing non-conforming structure uh some of you all of you should be aware of this property I think you're all on the board at the time we did come in back in I believe it was March April of 2023 uh for a variance for number 644 uh Rodney Street which is the two-story 20 000 square foot Warehouse uh closest

to the river trail that variance was granted by the board uh it has not been exercised as of yet since that variance was granted the the owner of the property was approached by the Benavides family who are the managers of Candelaria LLC and they're also the owners and operators of portugalia Market they've been searching for warehouse space in the city for quite some time and they expressed interest in

not only buying the the other 10 000 square foot Warehouse that was still available but the entire property so basically what we're looking to do is uh even with the amount of storage that those two existing structures would provide they're looking to expand the existing 10 000 square foot building which is on the corner of Rodman and Lawrence Street maintaining the five foot setback to

Lawrence Street putting on the addition which is just under 29 000 square feet and also connecting the two buildings with a 726 square foot Edition um this this would all be done under like I said section 86425a which allows uh the extension or expansion of existing non-conformant structure um as long as the proposal is you know not substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood which in this case I would

say that any Improvement to the site over the existing condition what it is now would certainly be a benefit to the neighborhood the structures themselves are in the the bones of the structures are in relatively good shape the exterior of the structures need a little TLC and this project would certainly help clean up the site and I think it would be a benefit uh to the neighborhood yeah the

parking that would be required for the warehousing the total warehousing If This Were to be approved would be 58 765 square feet which under the ordinance would require 19 parking spots so what was shown on the plan we we do provide 36 parking spots to satisfy that requirement so really the only relief we're seeking with this petition is the special permit for the expansion of the existing non-conformist structure

see the issue I have is as you all willing to in your your statements is that if it isn't proved then then it's an improvement but I I don't know how we condition and it that the whole property be improved uh because if not then I wouldn't find that I would find that it would be more detrimental to the area uh we usually don't get into issue the quality of of the buildings but without

an improvement I had what what what fear do you have about what part not being improved you mean the existing buildings well the whole complex yeah well so all you grant is zoning relief yeah I know that site plan review would condition the project that you know the parking lot needs to be built the Landscaping needs to be done all of those things before an occupancy permit is given so so

different you know level of of Permitting right no not before this board you could you could of course make a condition that the existing structure the exterior of the existing structures get replaced yeah and uh can we do that online you can do whatever you want whether whether an applicant wants to if they don't like it they can appeal it but no we're certainly not opposed to that that's the plan if it's going to

make you feel comfortable I I am sure that those buildings are going to be resided reconstructed new window or whatever okay so the existing the one that we approved in April April March April I believe it was as much gone this one right here well this would be a beautiful the beautiful condos on the railway um this this would certainly take its place if this moves forward yeah okay

and that threw a curveball at me because I was thinking this was part of that yeah no at that point the plan was just to rehab that building with the 16 residential apartments and still have the warehouse you know for it was on a separate lot for a separate use if anybody was interested it's just that you know somebody came along that wanted to buy the whole property and it made

sense to okay abandon that one if this does happen and go through and move on with this proposal that's before you tonight okay any other questions about the board anyone here in favor of this um

I'd like to speak favor of the project um as you know this project has gone through many different gyrations including potential residential use obviously moving forward in the residential Direction it poses its own challenges some of which were acknowledged During the period in which they were seeking to convert the front building for that purpose and then as time move forward some of those

challenges became a little bit too difficult to to entertain to actually get the building to perform as they were hoping to so as a result the Bennett leading's family has come forward and has entered into a purchase and celebrate of the purchase of the entire Apostle so that they can facilitate their growth at portugalia you know that portugalia has been pretty much a uh when the success story is in Fall River

in terms of its appearance in terms of its marketability in terms of its attractiveness and the benefits family has been looking for close to a year for warehouse space there isn't a lot of warehouse space in the city even in the industrial park there's there's a lack of warehouse space and the benefit of this particular area is it's relatively close to their facility so in terms of

them being able to move forward back and forth with regard to product I think lends itself to that effect and if you just look at the Quality to Mr clarkin's comments if you look at the quality of construction and Aesthetics that be secured at portugalia certainly the benefits family is not going to put up a building here that they are not they themselves and as a result of their improvements to

that building I think the whole neighborhood will be equally as proud to have that building there and quite frankly as Mr Tallman said while the buildings may have some lip balms the exterior is really in bad shape right now so this Improvement to the to the building and for that parcel land would be a tremendous Improvement to the neighborhood it would help facilitate the solidification of an

existing business within the city and it would also keep a warehouse in the city as opposed to it moving forward outside the city so for those reasons and others I'd like to weigh in in favor of the project there isn't anyone here the petition correct no I believe they're away in Portugal a couple questions that are running through my mind now is our our premise with this whole thing originally was to uh

convert this whole area into more of a residential area now we go back to a warehouse now we have to be concerned about deliveries tractor trailers coming in day night all around and it's completely surrounded by Residential Properties now um I think that's something that we should take into effect you know yeah it's not completely um you know obviously you have the incinerator yeah across Lawrence Street

there were other commercial businesses heading west on Rodman Street as well um yeah there's a large portion that has but I mean this is zoned for this type of use and it means maybe not for way housing but it's been operated as a warehouse for many many years and it's going to be a continuation of that use um I think personally of all the proposals I've seen on this site this makes the most sense

um in talking I've met on site with Mike Benavides and he kind of gave me an overview of what what he's looking to do and I just think it makes a ton of sense the loading docks the the addition that they'd be putting on would move the loading docks on the west side of the building facing the river trail in all the commercial properties on Rodney Street it wouldn't be on the residential

side they would block off all the access into the buildings from large from Lawrence and that would be the uh the means of you know getting deliveries and stuff like that so it wouldn't impact it would be hidden from the Residential Properties that you're concerned about only entrances on Rodman Street then yes correct Mr chairman if I could add as you know this parcel as well as the Apostle across the street

were permitted for multi-family housing both Property Owners this and across the street have been unable to find a developer to come and build those buildings in that neighborhood so although it it may have been you know the approach that everyone wanted to head in again needing relief to do so um the appetite the appetite for multi-family housing to build it everywhere in the city is flourishing

except here they haven't been able to find somebody to come in and do this and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that you know we do have an incinerator at the end of Lewiston Street and ABC ABC Supply which is on the opposite side of of the rail trail

s that's right we had one in favor that threw me off okay uh we asked if anyone anyone else in favor yes um when I first looked at this if you just give uh give your name please Veronica Jordan 912 Pierce Street thank you when I first looked at this and I was the numbers and I wasn't quite sure on Rodman Street we were talking about but now being a native of Fall River

I have a clue where we're speaking and you know given the condition of that neighborhood and it's saying that I believe I didn't know the benefits family in Portugal but they certainly have done a great job there was Mr fire was broke so it this doesn't strike me as a family that is or you know just gonna throw up a bunch of cinder blocks and walk away so as a citizen of Fall River

I approve thank you okay is there anywhere else in favor anyone opposed cameras of the board do we have a motion Mr chairman I move approval of the special permit uh based on the fact that subject to work site approval that it will not be more detrimental to the area and that it be granted if I forget a hearing we have to have two votes but yes yes do I have a second on the second

John Silver's second okay motion we have yes James cawkin yes John Silva Yes Rick Saudi yes Dan De Pere yes John Frank yes okay now we have a motion to approve move to approved subject again until we're inside um approval or reveal do you have a second second oh God second on the motion James Watkins yes John Silva Yes Rick sahadi yes Dan De Pere yes John Frank yes doesn't matter

thank you okay thank you thank you item number three Stephen a Camaro 55 Byron Street map p03 lot 54. the applicant seeks a special permit to construct a 400 square foot Edition to an existing non-conforming dwelling this property is located in s single family zoning District

okay uh good evening for the record my name is Jeff Tallman with Northeast engineers and Consultants here with me tonight Steve Camara the owner of the property um as you stated the property is located in the S single family District the lot itself will get the lot itself is non-conforming due to area and Frontage does not meet the requirements of the S district and the house itself is not

conforming due to front side and rear setback requirements um so with the petitioner look is looking to do on this particular site is just to add a 400 square foot addition to the southwest corner of the uh of the of the dwelling obviously with any addition on this house would would need relief because of the non-conforming nature of the structure um the purpose of the the addition would

be to enclose a a pool area to be used to get privacy and to be able to be used year-round um again this is an expansion of a pre-existing non-conformance structure I don't believe this will be more detrimental to the neighborhood as part of this proposal what the petitioner is doing is he has already started to remove some of the asphalt and impervious area from the site and replace it with pavers

so at the end of this particular project there will be a reduction in lot coverage um so I think that would be a benefit to the neighborhood so therefore would be this project would be more beneficial in my opinion to the neighborhood so with that I'd be happy to answer any questions information I'm going to give you each a pamphlet which shows a photograph of the type of structure that is being planned thank you

we're looking at the quaso uh follow which is the model that I'm just showing you thank you thanks and on the other side I hand it to you showing Picasso um this company is a New Jersey company that constructs these uh and the other caution it's a retractable collapse enclosure the other portion of it is on the back side of the crossover which is uh the style the one

that's called style s t y l e so it's actually two gloss enclosures to accommodate to the two L's two legs of the L shaped our borders fan this house for my parents in 2007 they built the house in uh 1970 uh so it's been in my family since 1970 and I intend to hopefully have it as a place where I can spend uh the rest of my years and hopefully get some exercise in what

would be an enclosed uh pool so it would be more secure than just fencing it in although the rest of the decking area will be fenced in as well to accommodate the depth between the deck and the lot where is the area that it's being removed that you said that you're removing part of it will increase it's the green area well no it's it's replacing the asphalt driveway and walkway that was in the

front of the house with pavers so it's labeled on the planet as well the asphalt driveway it's late walkway so it's not reducing the paper well it's it's it's not considered a previous area because of the pavers that are being installed but it's not put in Green Space and one of the concerns who what is currently being done there now how much has been done there uh just the pavers so the decking and they they've not

completed the decking because the enclosure will dictate the rest of the decking so a cement area in the back half is where papers have been removed because it looks like a foundation has been poured there only only for the the enclosure the uh there's a concrete slab around an L-shaped slab to accommodate the uh proposed enclosure and to be covered with pavers it will be covered with papers up to

whatever the enclosure space between the enclosure and the rest of the decking and what's around the was being what what is already been put around the pool area uh is um Trex a composite material just on the perimeter of the area around the pool the rest of it are pavers Cambridge papers in fact by brand name okay so there's a pool it looks like there was already something dug there

but is it above ground is it an ingrown pool or is it was an exercise it's a small uh pool it's really just suitable for a single person maybe two people at the most uh it has a uh rotating um swim spa um and it's built in Fall River it's built at swim x uh at the industrial park support any questions

is there anyone here in favor this petition anyone opposed I have one to a PhD so what Mr Camara has done on the property it's essentially here patio off the back of the house which it's already there and I'm assuming the board's not going to they can take it down at this point the concern I have it in the neighborhood we live in I have low-lying to land lower lying land than Michigan

so now from my sun porch when I'm on my sun porch and I look out I obviously see this three-tier patio which is very well done I have no complaints about to do something else very well done is the Camaro has provided us with this which is the neighbors I I'm not opposed to Mexico with other neighbors and we're not opposed to a structure but we do have a concern about privacy for everyone

because of the height that it's built at so there's a fourth foot chain link fence right now but at the height it's built that essentially there's there's no privacy like you can see this so what the neighbors are asking is yeah contingent on this your vote that offense some type of privacy offense be included in this and one other concern we have I don't know how familiar you are with peer street but when it rains

Mr Camaro could come swim in front of my house so one of the questions I'm the other concern is runoff as I said because there are two lower lying properties actually it's two lower lying properties so we're just concerned about you know Mother Nature's runoff if that's I don't know if that's if Steve has any plans about that or if that's yeah so because he's higher than you that

doesn't necessarily that means that the runoff runs towards you we couldn't run towards the street I don't know what the Topography is because we haven't seen it um so if what happens is at the top of Ward Street at the end of the background Street the top of Ward Street is probably I'm going to guess um 20 feet higher than LeBaron Street and there's a lot of wedge up there so the water all naturally drains

from that higher location cuts through my neighbor's yard put the water from Mr cameras that run onto your land because right now we can only control so if we have the ability to make that better so maybe you just want to have it go through site plan review if you choose to so that we can look at potentially making some dreams yeah Mr Tallman is more than capable of providing that information at the same

plan review so that that's just another look at that I'm a little higher and I have a dry basement which property is yours man 912 yes so I Heats Steve is not directly behind him nice yeah and the barrier that you're suggestions would be alone um

right you know I mean essentially if it puts up a four foot high fence as decking I mean it isn't necessarily going to add the Privacy that I'm sure Steve would like and the neighborhood would like the neighbors would like yeah I I just want to assure Rana that I want privacy uh you know I'm doing I'm doing this so I can have a private space in fact the enclosure of the pool means

that the everything within the pool will be invisible because the glass is going to be a a um not able to see into the pool and then as as far as the rest of the decking that will all be Highland fence which I'm sure you're familiar with is uh is the company that will be putting privacy fencing uh around both sides the back side as well as the uh that would be the

west side of the property so okay it would be totally fenced in because the favor seemed to be elevated four feet right so it's going to be another time so you know the Ryan won't be saying anything not that she wants to see me but you know but she's we've been neighbors ever since I moved there and uh we have a good neighborhood everyone sort of keeps an eye on each

other uh and this is not going to be detrimental to the quality of our neighborhood anyone else opposed than any other comments about the nope I mean other than if you're concerned about stormwater runoff which which then you know feel better questioned you could require it to go through site plan review you know you know just to make sure that you know this is not again we're not charged with

fixing a drainage issue but we can't make one worse yeah I also have the discussions of the company that's putting and and they're gonna there's a gun a system throughout the Edition there was a drainage system okay built into the system you're welcome to have a copy of this I only have like one copy yeah we can submit it once I plan review comes yeah okay if they choose to go that direction okay

um do we have a motion Mr chairman this would be a two motion again one minute it's not so I would make the motion that it is not substantially detrimental to the neighborhood until we have a second second change Target yes Johnson yes Rex yes Dan De Pere yes John Frank yes do we have a motion motion to Grant the special permits subject to uh site review committees uh review of drainage issues and and uh

uh fencing her borders do we have a second second okay James Dawkins yes John Silver Yes Rick zahati yes Dan De Pere yes John Frank yes motion is granted thank you very much thank you thank you item number four Michael Pereira the care of Attorney Peter celino 1069 Wood Street map D 10 lot 73 the applicant seeks of variance slash special permit to construction addition to an existing structure for use as an

in-law type apartment waving front yard setback lot coverage in an R8 single family Zone District Council good evening for the record Peter celino on behalf of the petitioner applicant Michael Pereira with me is Mr Pereira as well as his wife Maureen and His Daughter Molly in the audience the petition that's submitted in this case is to expand those little Jackson and little Jackson I'm sorry

um so the proposal before the board and this petition is as follows my client would like to construct an addition to his existing single-family home at 1069 Wood Street here in Fall River the addition is an in-law style uh dwelling in closing or having a garage on the first floor and a dwelling above The Proposal would enable Mr Pereira to connect this property to the city sewer system The Proposal would be to retain

one address for the property um thank you Chris The Proposal would also um keep the family together in one dwelling or in two dwelling units on one lot the zoning is R8 in this District and as the board knows that's a single family Zone we do not oddly in Fall River have an in-law apartment by law I regularly appear in Somerset Swansea Westport and all those towns have a bylaw that would allow this type of use

for a related uh family we do not have that Fall River so the requested relief here would be a variance for use because this type of use for two dwellings on one lot is not allowed in the zoning District we would additionally need a variance for lot coverage the requirement in the R8 zoning district is 25 percent The Proposal is 30 so there's a five percent variance there um I've checked the box for a special

permit for the expansion of the existing uh dwelling which does not conform the lack of Conformity relates to the existing deck on the rear of the property and the porch on the front of the property uh both of which don't meet front or rear setbacks and um the building inspector concluded that we also need a front yard setback variants in terms of the different relief needed I'm going to start with

the expansion of the non-conforming structure so we all know that the litmus test here would be would this expansion be more detrimental or substantially more detrimental than what's already there and I'd submit to you the answer to that question is no first The Proposal would include a effectively five people living in this dwelling unit which are Mike Maureen Molly and Jackson and then Molly's

fiance and what was his name Christopher Rogers Christopher Rogers so you have five people it's not a entirely dense use the property is one of the few left near the watap upon that are on a septic system so I drove out there today and Mike has a septic system and a couple of his neighbors have a septic system but during the Lambert Administration sewer was brought down to that neighborhood

and this proposal would enable this property to connect to the sewer system so I think to me that a racism detriment that's clearly present currently in the neighborhood all of the parking for this project will be able to be housed on Mike's property so with the proposed driveway as well as the garage there are not going to be cars in the street for the normal use of the property and then

finally and interestingly as I drove around today looking at the neighborhood the neighborhood is kind of an Eclectic mix of property there are some old Cottages as you get into Lake and New Hall there are some what I would consider opulent newer homes on Hancock and Bradbury and I also found a four family dwelling at 1082 Hancock Street so I don't think although it's zoned R8 like much of Fall River I don't

think I can say unequivocally that it's a hundred percent a single-family newly developed area as it relates to the hardship component of the petition I think the hardship really is the proximity to the pond and the soil um when you look at the Fall River GIS this property is 40 feet above the pond it is 535 linear feet from the pond and it has a septic system so I would submit to you that there's a significant

hardship there where if there's an issue with the septic system you have refuse rolling down the hill into the pond and or contaminating other properties so I think if the requested relief is granted that hardship can be obviated and it's not only good for the petitioner but it's good for the neighborhood and it's good for the users of the pond and so I like to deviate from my normal protocol because Mike feels very

passionately about this project and let him have a few words relative to why this project is important to him and why it's filed in the manner that it's filed in thank you chairman Frank board members Mr aggia um most of you guys do know me um I just wanted to tell you a little history about the property my father-in-law bought that a lot when he um got out of the Navy after his tour in

World War II about that allowed for one dollar and he sat on it for a little while then as his family grown and as he became a police officer in Fall River as well he um he built a cottage on that land and he used to he used to put all the kids my wife has uh three siblings he would put them all in the station wagon and he'd Drive

up South Main Street and he'd go to a Little Compton and take like an hour drive and then he would bring him to the cottage and he would tell the kids that they were in Maine or New Hampshire right so I mean this this is a lot of memories for my wife and as um as I was getting ready to retire and and we were talking about different things and meet

you know a lot of a lot of my colleagues a lot of your colleagues move out of the area um my wife was like no we're definitely not doing that we want to stay here in Fall River so and so do I we're following the people who invested in Fall River I've um I've dedicated my career and um and my and a lot of my life to servicing Fall River so as my wife she works for

the school department um my daughter and her fiance Chris they both work um for Market Basket you know manage management and department head of capability capacity okay so um they're not going anywhere um we'd like to just I'd like to see my daughter and her son and her family grow up where they grew up where my two daughters grew up that that as simple as that I mean there's no rent going to be

and we're staying in our apartment I guess that's the industry term but it's it's all going to be one family well you know my wife and I are going to live in the apartment it's not it's on that or the new edition they're going to take over the home you know so it's not like we're looking to go somewhere down the line even after obviously we're all not going to be around forever but even

after my my daughter's not going to rent it out later on her family is going to live in that in that uh piece of of the problem so I think that this is um a good thing for for us obviously for for our family to stay together and um some of you know that means a lot to me personally and as far as the neighborhood um I've talked to all my neighbors when I get the list

um from Peter to I talked to all the abutters and we actually have two letters um I didn't really feel comfortable uh asking people to come here and speak in favor of it I mean I don't think you know that that was necessary but I do I do have letters for my both my physical about his person behind me to the South and the family um to the to the right of me uh to the

west and if you if you're looking at the house and they're in favor of it the people in front of me the nice family in front of me that grow that they've been there for 25 years they you know they saw Molly and Sarah grow up and when I when they when they found out Molly was having a baby everybody was delighted they were the other family in front of

me even the people up Wood Street that I really don't know um because it's kind of a neighborhood we don't have neighborhood parties everyone kind of sticks Minds their business and stays to themselves but it's all very very decent and hard-working people you know and that's that's all we're trying to do we're trying to make something nice here and something wholesome and one of my uh

neighbors wrote a letter last night for me and she said and she I don't know if these have to be read into the record yes but she hit the nail on the head we've lived here in Harmony and that's I want to continue that that's all with that my arrest thank you guys thank you and if I could uh pass forward the letters of Barbara Crowell and Mr and Mrs Phillip Allard uh which would be

um the single family dwelling label 73 Bradbury on the plan and the existing dwelling labeled 1047 wood on the planet foreign

I have two uh two letters in uh favor uh dated August 16th uh we fill up as Allard and Edith RL out of 73 Bradbury Street in Colorado Mass I've been neighbors of Mike and Maureen per hour since 19 won the property of butts are property to the north side of the house you see the drawings for the proposed garage slash farming we have the short the good faith by Mike that Maureen that the

structure will be used as a vendor requirement furthermore if you have any insurances purpose and structure furthermore current houses aligned with the other house no objection to the proposed board any questions please call us at second letter is dear Fall River zoning board of appeals my name is Barbara Crowell address of 1047 Wood Street Fall River Mass directly a butts Mike and Morgan pereira's home at 1069 Wood

Street what's the direction his neighbors are the most part of my internal life my child we have lived on Wood Street in harmony for many years and told me about their plans to build the addition my daughter Molly and raised with their children warm safe neighborhood I think it's a wonderful idea and I have no issues it's proposal go into the record thank you one question I have is the

pools going right yeah actually where the house is going to be that's whether the where the addition is that's what it pulls you I think until it's September I kept the pool of summer because I do the weather was too hot but uh yeah and the other question I have is is it a is it a garage with a unit above yes is that what it is okay because it doesn't I

wasn't clear yeah with the petition so it's going to be like a two-star garage with a well one yeah with a Breezeway as well okay connected two-star garage so it's two-story um one bedroom two bedroom one bedroom one bedroom bathrooms kitchen and a living room front to back like an open floor plan type thing okay the existing deck behind the addition where now is part of the pool setup it is what's happening

with that that uh no no no no uh yeah the deck that's off the pool is you're going to take the pool and the back no the pool in deck is going oh come on the new house or on the Edition no it's going to be the same line as the back of our house that's what that's what Miss allado was referring to that we're not going closer to her property

and there's going to be an additional driveway expansion to accommodate the garage doors yeah well the driver we have now is out too that's that's going to be probably grassy area leading up to uh um up to a uh on the Breezeway walkway but then the garage will have a driveway of course yes okay so the existing asphalt drive that's dotted is out and the proposed asphalt driveway is that no yeah 100 yes

or any questions I have a question would this change just like a two family property is that what it would happen with it technically absolutely

any other questions anyone here in favor of this petition Jackson anywhere close okay do you have any comments uh no I mean I can understand the value of it I mean it is a zoning variance as John stated um so if to appease John or to make him feel more comfortable about it again we talked about all night that there were different types of conditions that you can place on a project

um one you know a few conditions that you could think of here would be one bedroom only it is um that no condiment no condium no condominiumizing uh the units at another time owner occupied at least one of the two things and something that wasn't proposed but just so that Mike understands you could put a deck out the west side if you chose to because you would you could meet this building set up

a patio on the second floor okay so as long as it's not every as you'll be fine because you have plenty of room on that side the other um egress I guess okay yeah so yeah I mean getting it off septic is always a good thing I actually designed the septic system in 1999.

um I found that in the file today so that was pretty interesting I'll tell you what I've had one problem with it yeah must have been the installation of the design yeah so no and I can also offer that you know we've had discussions again I've been here a year year and a half and we've talked about different zoning uh changes that we need to make you know the ability to create an in-law

uh bylaw is something that's on the on the Forefront just not in place right now um so with that you know we would look at square footage size of what the units could be bedroom count and no Condominiums so these are all things that we would probably most likely be including in a bylaw once we got there the timeline for such I can't promise you when that would happen so that's all I have to offer

okay any other questions Mr chairman as relates to the special permit I find that it is not substantially um more detrimental to the area and that permit be granted the special permit be granted do we have second oh second second James Calkins yes John Silver yes Rick's eye yes Dan De Pere yes John Frank yes so the motion for the special movement not being more detrimental now we have that variant the variance Mr

chairman I move that we Grant the variance subject to site review uh is it's in the city interest to require a sewage connection there's no room for a septic systems the septic system there now is pretty big okay

and the other three uh owner-occupied one bedroom no condo yeah that's fine with me that's fine yes yes acceptable thank you do we have a how SEC did you get that oops no I'm sorry that was quick no condo no condo owner occupied one bedroom one okay do we have a second I'll second second hand repair okay on the motion James Hawkins yes John Silva Yes Rick sahadi yes Dan dupe

yes John Frank yes oceans granted thank you thank you thank you congratulations okay item number five citizen input don't say anything I'd like to say I don't see anything and do we have the minutes from the July 20th meeting yes Mr chairman I move waving of the reading of the minutes and accepting of the minutes do we have a second second okay James Calkins yes John Silva yes it's a hottie yes yes John Frank

and we have a motion to adjust motion to adjourn second anybody I'll second it let me get out of here