By Michael Coughlin Jr.
Last week, the city’s Planning Department hosted a public meeting in which plans for constructing a new building at 99-105 Addison Street were presented.
As part of the project, the existing multi-family building on the 10,000-square-foot lot would be demolished, and a 20-unit Coastal Flood Resilience Overlay District (CFROD) compliant multi-family building would be constructed.
Regarding what a CFROD-compliant building means, Attorney Richard Lynds, who presented the proposal, explained that in the East Boston Residential (EBR)-4 zoning subdistrict, which is where this lot is located, the maximum height allowed is four stories and 50 feet above grade.
However, it was explained that because the lot is located in the CFROD, height is measured from whichever is higher, grade, or the design flood elevation. In this case, the design flood elevation is higher, so for zoning purposes, height is measured from that design flood elevation.
Essentially, this means, “You’ll actually see five levels, but the first story is actually the first main level where the residents will be located,” said Lynds.
Additionally, this project is slated to have 10 vehicle parking spaces, 22 bike parking spaces, a common roof deck, and a courtyard. Concerning the unit mix, there are plans for four one-bedroom units and 16 two-bedroom units, all of which are intended for homeownership.
Moreover, Lynds indicated that this project has been created to comply fully with the zoning regulations in EBR-4.
Since this project is not slated to need relief from the Zoning Board of Appeal, Lynds noted that no inclusionary development policy (IDP) units are planned.
“Because this project is fully compliant with the Boston zoning code, or intended to be fully compliant with Boston zoning code, and we filed this before October 1st of this year, which is when the new rules for IDP and affordable housing went into effect under Article 79 of the code we’re not going to be subject to those requirements because we are compliant with the zoning code, [and] require no relief either by way of variance or conditional use permit,” said Lynds.
As the presentation continued, Alex Yoon from Monte French Design Studio reviewed the design and landscape plans. Yoon touched on several proposed aspects of the project, such as sidewalk improvements in front of the building, the addition of street trees, and much more.
“We are proposing something that we hope is conforming and in the spirit of the new zoning and the new density that we believe the city is requesting as part of the zoning,” said Yoon.
After Yoon outlined floor plans, renderings, and more, the presentation ended. Typically, attendees would ask questions or comment on the proposal after the presentation.
However, in this case, nobody asked any questions or made any comments, and the meeting ended shortly thereafter.
For more information about the project, to view the meeting recording, and to make comments, visit https://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/99-105-addison-street.