By Michael Coughlin Jr.
Those in attendance at the monthly meeting of the Harbor View Neighborhood Association (HVNA) on Monday, May 1, were all ears listening to presentations for two projects in the neighborhood – one at 74 Horace Street and the other at 125 Addison Street.
The project at 74 Horace Street proposes to demolish the existing building on the site – a two-family home – in order to build a new six-unit building that offers six parking spaces.
This project was initially presented at an earlier HVNA meeting on Monday, Dec. 5, meaning that a vote followed the second presentation conducted last week. Evidently, residents who cast their votes were not fans of the proposal, as a vote of 21-7 opposed it.
The results of the vote for the Horace Street proposal might not come as a surprise, as there seemed to be some sense of brewing opposition on an HVNA Facebook post advertising the abutters meeting for the project on Thursday, Feb. 16.
These posts alluded to the idea that there has been an abundance of units built on Horace Street over the years and that projects like this are ruining the neighborhood.
In addition, to hearing more about and subsequently opposing the project at 74 Horace Street, residents in attendance at the latest HVNA meeting heard about a somewhat new proposal at 125 Addison Street.
As aforementioned, the 125 Addison Street project is only somewhat new – an informational meeting with the HVNA was held about a previous iteration of the project in November of 2019. Initially, the proposal was for nine executive suites at the site.
Attorney Richard Lynds explained that, at that time, executive suites were permitted as a matter of right, and the project’s previous iteration required no zoning relief. However, during that period, the city made zoning changes while the previous application was pending.
“In that zoning change, it indicated that executive suites became what’s called a conditional use. So although it’s not forbidden in the district – it’s conditional,” said Lynds, and he explained that these changes required the proponents to get a “special permit.”
He said the proponents went before the Zoning Board of Appeal (ZBA), “Not only appealing the decision to require us to take a conditional use permit but also to request the alternative conditional use permit,” and were denied.
The new iteration presented last week proposes to demolish the existing single-family home to create nine residential units intended for home ownership with the inclusion of seven parking spaces. As part of the nine residential units, two of them will be IDP units.
“There is no requirement that we presently offer any IDP units for this proposal – this is completely voluntary on behalf of the developer,” said Lynds.
In addition to the unrequired inclusion of two IDP units – seemingly to add more public benefit to the project – the proponents are committing to make contributions to both the Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts and Tree Eastie.
Lynds mentioned that the contribution to Tree Eastie would be used to plant trees in the Harbor View neighborhood specifically.
“So those are two additional contributions we’re willing to make in addition to the affordable housing component that we’re including with this project,” said Lynds.
Overall, there seemed to be opposition to this project as one resident read a statement on behalf of abutters.
The resident, seemingly reading from the statement, said, “In the past six years, Addison Street has been subject to some awful development, removing single-family homes without any consideration for property owners that are affected by it the most.”
The resident also added, “We’re not looking to say nothing should be built here. We have no problem with being built, but this is an overreach – what’s happening right now – it’s a money grab.”
As of this writing, the ZBA appeal tracker lists the project for a hearing on Tuesday, May 23, meaning it does not seem like an HVNA vote will be able to be conducted before the slated hearing, as this was only the first presentation and the next HVNA meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 5.