The Boston Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) voted in favor of a scaled down version of a proposed residential development project at 181 Coleridge Street earlier this month.
Dubbed “The Residences at Coleridge Coast” by developer Ryan Acone, who told the ZBA the proposed building on a vacant waterfront lot on Coleridge had undergone several alterations before the current proposal.
After a contentious Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA) meeting in September, Acone and his team went back to the drawing board and unveiled a new plan at November’s Harbor View Neighborhood Association meeting. The 19-unit, 22 parking space proposal pitched at the BPDA meeting was deemed too large.
Unable to move the needle in terms of community support despite reducing the number of units from 26 to 19 Acone pulled the project from the BPDA’s Article 80 review.
Acone and his team then went back before the HVNA with a radical change to the design and scope of the project.
“We heard the neighborhood loud and clear in terms of density, parking, design and other issues,” said Acone. “We are here with a project we think will fit better with the surrounding neighborhood.”
Acone said the new plan reduced the amount of units from 19 to 9-units but keeping the parking at 22 off-street spots. Instead of mainly one-bedroom units the new plan will be larger units geared more towards families.
Acone also eliminated the commercial space on the first floor because that was something the community wasn’t interested in.
The design is more traditional with bay windows, clapboards and other elements that harken back to the era when most of the other homes on Coleridge Street were built.
The project is still subjected to state Chapter 91 review because it is on the water. Fifty percent of the 19,000 square foot lot needs to be public open space with access to the water’s edge.
The Chapter 91 public access would consist of a harbor walk in the rear of the development that would be accessible from Rice Street.
The project still needs BPDA approval before moving forward.