By Michael Coughlin Jr.
During its monthly meeting on Monday, the Orient Heights Neighborhood Council (OHNC) learned more about a proposal to bring two new buildings to 28-30 Swan Avenue.
The project, which has origins that date back to 2021, was presented by Attorney Richard Lynds and would involve building two separate multifamily dwellings, each with four units on three existing vacant lots at the site totaling more than 10,000 square feet combined.
The latest version of this proposal is scaled down from what was initially proposed a couple of years ago. In 2021, the project called for a total of 12 units.
Moreover, the proposal includes eight parking spaces — one space per unit — and the units are proposed to be condominiums that would be professionally managed.
While Lynds acknowledged that the current zoning subdistrict for the area is 2F-5,000, meaning the project would need zoning relief to build more than two units on each lot, he pointed out that there are proposed zoning changes from the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) that could be coming through PLAN: East Boston.
“Even though we have current zoning in place that this probably wouldn’t conform to, we are moving toward new zoning, and because of that, we are trying to adopt a plan that would meet the BPDA’s recommendation for PLAN: East Boston,” said Lynds.
He explained that Swan Avenue is proposed to be zoned in a new residential subdistrict — East Boston Residential-2 (EBR-2) — through the BPDA’s neighborhood planning initiative.
Specifically, EBR-2, as currently proposed, would allow for buildings three stories tall with three units. However, there is a provision in the proposed subdistrict that would allow for buildings with six units if a lot has a width greater than or equal to 50 feet, which Lynds mentioned was the case for these lots.
Lynds also pointed out that the proposed subdistrict allows for multi-family use and that the project would only slightly exceed the maximum proposed building footprint of 60%.
With all this being said, it should be noted and was also acknowledged by Lynds that if the project were to proceed before new zoning is enacted, it would require “a number of variances.”
Also, during the presentation, Lynds went through prior renderings and explained that the project had undergone some design changes to fit better with the surrounding neighborhood context.
For example, he spoke about how the project previously included design elements such as roof decks, and the buildings had more of a triple-decker orientation, which has been changed.
“They didn’t necessarily capture any of the architecture that you normally would see in this particular neighborhood,” said Lynds.
Following Lynds’ presentation, the floor was opened for discussion, and several topics were broached.
One attendee asked about aspects of the project that would not comply with the proposed PLAN: East Boston zoning and cited the rear yard setback and maximum permeable space.
Regarding permeable space, Lynds identified that there was a metric the project needs to meet and that there is work to do on it.
As for the rear setback, he mentioned that the depth of the rear lot is proposed at a little over 20 feet, but the front of the building is around 12.5 feet off the front property line.
“In total, we have almost about 33 feet of space that’s not occupied by the building, which would allow us to shift our building even more forward, but we want to at least hear what the BPDA has to say about that,” said Lynds.
Another significant topic discussed was parking, with residents of Swan Avenue — a private way — expressing frustration with the parking situation on their street.
Attendees also expressed concern about the potential for heavy equipment coming to the site and how that might affect the surrounding area.
However, Lynds said, “The nice part about this site is it’s relatively large considering other sites that we see around the neighborhood. A lot of sites in this community are about 20 feet wide; this is over 100 feet wide.”
“A lot of the work that we can do when we’re, for example, digging our first foundation, we can do it from within the site; we don’t have to really occupy any portion of Swan Ave,” he added.
Other aspects of the project discussed included potentially maintaining trees in the back of the site and rodent control measures.
As the OHNC advertised this proposal as a first presentation, no vote was held. The OHNC will have the month of December off and reconvene in January.