By Michael Coughlin Jr.
At last week’s Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) Board meeting, a project to add units to a vacant building at 98-100 Condor Street was approved.
The proposal, explained by Tyler Ross, a senior project manager at the Planning Department, calls for renovating the existing four-story industrial building at the site. The building will then contain 35 rental units. Plans also include seven parking spaces and 44 bike spaces.
Regarding the planning context for the proposal, it was noted that the project was designed to follow dimensional and use regulations under zoning closely, and because of that, Planning Department staff recommended approval.
It should also be noted that a portion of the site in the rear is located within a Chapter 91 boundary and seaward of a Designated Port Area (DPA). This made the proposal subject to regulations from the Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM).
Following a project description from Planning Department staff, Richard Lynds, the project attorney, began presenting the proposal.
Lynds provided insight regarding Chapter 91 and DPA, saying, “we’ve done a pretty thorough analysis—we’ve been at this for almost five years—and we are comfortable that the regulatory review that is necessary is very limited for this particular site based upon the fact that we are outside of Chapter 91 jurisdiction for the existing building.”
He also stated that the idea of residential reuse at the building, which Lynds said has been vacant for about six years, was “met pretty well by the community.”
Eventually, the project architect, Nerijus Bubnelis of KDI, was given the floor and provided more details about the proposal.
Bubnelis revealed details such as street trees, other landscaping, and pedestrian ramps. He also highlighted floor plans, site plans, and elevations. Concerning the unit mix, there are plans for 12 studio, 12 one-bedroom, and 11 two-bedroom units.
Following the presentation, BPDA Board members had the opportunity to comment and ask questions.
Matt O’Malley asked for more clarity concerning the Chapter 91 and DPA aspects of the proposal.
Lynds explained that “the regulatory framework says that within a DPA, residential use is forbidden. However, the location of the Chapter 91 boundary is determinative of jurisdiction.”
“So, even though the DPA will come all the way out to Condor Street proper, the Chapter 91 boundary is further seaward, and that gap in between the Chapter 91 boundary and the DPA boundary is non-regulated area, so residential can occur within that provided that zoning locally allows it.”
Kate Bennett raised concerns about a proposal of this size that does not include affordable units, even though she understood that they were not required.
It was explained that this project is part of a narrow window during which new zoning in the area, created through PLAN: East Boston, was instituted, but before the new inclusionary zoning policy.
This means the project was subject to the old Inclusionary Development Policy (IDP) regulations, which did not require affordable units for projects that did not need zoning relief.
After the explanation, Bennett wondered if there had been any thoughts of a voluntary contribution of affordable units.
Lynds explained that this project, which dates back to 2019, initially proposed 46 units, at least 13% of which would have been affordable units to comply with IDP policy.
However, he noted that as time has passed, the costs to hold and reuse the building have “strained at least some of the pro forma here for this project.”
Lynds also emphasized that the proponent has other interests in the city and is committed to affordability and “higher affordability.”
Ultimately, the proposal was approved by the BPDA Board with Bennett voting present and other members voting to support it. For more information about the project, visit https://www.bostonplans.org/projects/development-projects/98-100-condor-street