Somerville Zoning Board of Appeals 02-18-2026

Good evening. I call to order this meeting of the Somerville ZBA. It's February 18th, 2026, meeting of the Somerville Zoning Board of Appeals. I'm your acting chair today, Anne Brockelman. The voting members today of the board are Anne Fullerton, who will be our acting clerk, Olivia Mobayed, Brian Cook, and myself, Anne Brockelman. The City of Somerville staff joining us this evening are Kit Luster, Alvaro Esparza, Lexi Payne, and Kristen Patnode. Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the Somerville Zoning Board of Appeals will be conducted via remote participation.

A video recording of these proceedings will be available on the City website's meetings and events page or by emailing zoningboard at somervillema.gov. So, we'll proceed with the agenda tonight. No general business. 12 Linden Street, this case was continued from The February 4th meeting, so we do not need to open it. Kit, will you welcome the applicant? Please raise their hands so staff can promote you as panelists.

This is Kit. I've just promoted Mike Ross and Yong Gi. They should be all set.

And each time you speak, because this is also audio, please state your name and address for the record. Well, especially before beginning your presentation. Okay. Welcome. If you'd like to share the screen.

Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you, Madam Chair. My name is Mike Ross. I'm an attorney at the law firm of Prince Lobel in Boston. and I'm going to share my screen. I'm here with my client Yangi. And you know, this is not a very big presentation. It's kind of a simple matter. We don't have a lot of materials to share with you, but I wanted to just pull basically what we had just to give you a sense of what's going on here. This is the site plan for 1012 Linden Street. It's a double lot, and it's one of these buildings that It's not uncommon to have parking a driveway on each side. As you can see here you have this kind of space for parking on each side. These are actual photos of the building. It was renovated several years ago and converted to condominiums.

I wasn't involved in that, but I've since become involved in just this very issue. As you can see, the left and the right very much mirror each other. They both look like driveways. When Mr. Gee bought the property, He actually thought that he had a driveway here. It was a driveway, albeit with a missing curb cut, but I think he thought that curb cut was just overlooked and it needed to be repaired or whatever he thought. He believed he was buying a unit with a parking space and just needed to simply take care of that curb cut matter. Only to later find out that it actually requires variance. It's not uncommon to have, as I mentioned, driveways on either side. This is just right up the street. This is just 35-37 Linden. A few houses up from us, you actually have the same exact condition.

You have a curb cut on the left side of the building, a curb cut on the right side of the building. and then you have the neighbor's curb cut right there, right next to it. Very similar to what we're proposing. And then this is known by the condominium association. They support Mr. Gee in getting his curb cut. And that's really it. You know, we're here on a hardship of errands. I can go through kind of The legal argument, it was presented in the staff report, but the staff did a great job of encapsulating this. I'll pause there, Madam Chair, and see if there are any questions or comments.

Are there any questions from the board? Olivia, Mobayed.

Thank you. I'm curious if the condo unit you purchased came with a deeded space?

It did not, no. I mean, you know, this is a situation where perhaps at the time there could have been discussion and dialogue with the transaction. You know, if we knew now what we knew then. Me as a lawyer, Maybe you are a lawyer. I don't know. I mean, these are fair questions, but this was Mr. Mr. Gee moved here with his family, their residents. You know, they love they love being here in Somerville. They just they need a car. One of the comments we had with staff when we prepared for this meeting, I forgot to mention it but you reminded me, is that they would not park within 20 feet of the front yard. They would agree to park within past the 20 foot front yard requirement. And so we actually do show that in the plans as well.

Chair, is it okay if I add a follow up question? Is your unit eligible for an on-street parking permit?

I believe so. Yang, do you know the answer to that question?

I believe so. I haven't looked into that yet.

Okay, I'll just note that the example you showed is a second curb cut that has been in existence for at least 14 years as long as Street View has existed. As you know, this is a transit zone that was established, I assume in coordination with the opening of Union Square Station. in 2022, which I believe is part of the reason why this would require a variance.

Yeah, I mean, maybe if I could just respond. We understand that we're not here trying to change the underlying zoning. We think that this is a very unique circumstance relating to this property. If this property had green space and if that area was actually clad in grass and bushes, I mean, I think we'd be having a slightly different conversation. It reads like a parking space. I mean, it's kind of a unique aspect to the shape and to the property itself in that it has this kind of Drive Isle there that it's interesting. I haven't seen a lot of things like that. So because of that, we're asking for the variants. As the staff report notes, there is no maximum or pardon minimums in the UR district here, so it wouldn't violate, I mean, it's Anything else?

Olivia, are you good?

If I may, one final question. Do you have the measurement between the two proposed curb cuts in front of the building?

It's very... Between our two proposed curb cuts? Correct. Let me...

I'm sorry, is it one existing and one proposed? Curb cuts, it would be... One is already there.

Right. Sorry. So between the existing one on the property and the proposed one. So how much curb length is in between the two?

Yeah, okay, so here's the proposed 10. The other one is here. I'm looking for a measurement. I think we could probably get there, but I don't have a real clean response for you. I'm looking at this I mean it's looking like it's at least 30 feet if I had to guess. We could probably add up some of these notations here but I'm sorry I don't have

There is a notation below that says 38.3, but there's a little bit extra on the right side.

Yeah, thank you, Yang. You saw what I was looking for. I couldn't find it. So let's call it 36.

Okay, thank you. That's all the questions I have right now.

So if one parking space is 19 feet long, typical, so two is... would be 38, a little shorter than two standard car lengths, maybe a car and a compact. Well, you need a turning radius as well to get in, right? Olivia, are you?

Yeah, you need two feet per Somerville parking code on either side of a driveway. So that would effectively give you 32 feet of parkable space. Yeah. Which is essentially moving it from one, I'm sorry, two on street parking spaces here to a single on street parking space.

Yes. I have one question. Currently, Mr. Yangi, how do you get your car there? You go all the way around?

No, there's no way we can get around. We either, like, no, we can't go all the way around.

You're climbing the curb.

Yes.

Okay.

You know, this was for illustrative purposes that we wanted to share this with you. But, you know, even if Mr. Gee winds up selling this unit to someone else I think this condition is going to it's not going to end the next group moving in there will probably I mean it's really it needs to be resolved and Given that the Condo Association is supporting this application as well, we think the road to least resistance would be that. Create the curve. And we think we have a pretty good case for it. But obviously, I'm not sitting where you sit. You guys have to make that determination, not us.

Thank you. We haven't opened the public portion yet. We had stopped for some questions from board members, so I think I'll go ahead and do that and then we can come back in. How's that? So I'll now open the public comment portion of this hearing. Members of the public, if you'd like to speak on this application, please raise your hand and staff will unmute you. You'll be given two minutes time for your comments. Please state your name and address for the record. Kit do you see anyone?

This is Kit. I currently do not see anyone with their hand raised. Oh, I see one person with their hand raised. Alvaro, do you mind sharing the timer before I unmute? Okay, I'm going to unmute Courtney Pollack if she could just state her name and address for the record.

Hi, my name is Courtney Pollack. I live at 14 Linden Street. So we're the driveway abutter that's in the picture that you all showed just a couple of minutes ago. We have no problems with this, so we support it. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else?

Yeah, I'm now going to allow Philip to speak. I'm sorry, Philip. I unmuted you by accident. Please continue.

Can you hear me now?

Yes.

Terrific. I'm so sorry. No, I'm a Davis Square resident and Somerville person. Just making sure that this is in fact a meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals, is it not?

Yes, it is.

Okay, I came in late. That's the totality of my question. Thank you so much.

We're discussing Linden Street right now.

Got it. Thank you very much. Thank you so much.

This is Kit. I do not see anyone else with their hand raised.

Okay, then we'll close the public comment period. I have one question because the abutter spoke up. Would that just be a continuance of the curb cut from the abutter? Can we look at the photo again? I mean, you wouldn't have a little sliver of curb.

Yeah, it would be just a continuance. We spoke to... One of the transportation staff members to kind of figure that out, and they thought that it wouldn't be appropriate to have Are there board members?

I want to weigh in discussion and again we should discuss the three hardship criteria. Brian Cook

Thank you, Madam Chair. As always, it's criterion B that gives us often the most difficulty, which is what is the Financial, are there hardship that the applicant faces if we do accept the... The narrative in terms of criteria A and C, what's the financial hardship or other... otherwise the hardship from failing to secure the relief sought by the applicant.

It would be the loss of the parking space. It would be a financial hardship. Staff weighed in on that piece as well. They say they don't generally comment on the second hardship criteria, but they did want to note that the UR district does not have a minimum number. A maximum number of parking spaces and that the addition of this curb cut does not pose any parking maximum compliance issues. But for us, it becomes a financial hardship with the loss of parking for the unit.

Brian Cook, further discussion.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It's unclear to me what that financial hardship is. I mean, he doesn't have the parking space now. because he doesn't have access to it although he parks his car there so how is the you know no change in the status quo then depriving the applicant of something

I believe that, look, it's an argument, okay? But I believe that when he purchased this property, he believed, the client believed that he was buying a unit with a parking space. It looked like a parking space. It looked exactly like the other working space. It's a fair assumption for maybe a non... you know board member non-attorney to make a fair mistake perhaps to make and so he bought it with that in mind um and now if he's not allowed to use his parking space This will be a financial hardship for him in that he will have lost the parking space that he believed he purchased along with the... The unit, you know, again, it's it's an art. You know, he has a family. They go shopping.

They do the things that people do that, you know, want to move into a condo unit like this with parking. You know, and they will not be able to do that at this space if he's not allowed to park there.

Madam Chair, if I may just follow up on the question. Where is the entrance to the applicant's condominium? Is it from the streets front?

Yeah. Would you like to explain that, Yang? I can pull this back up.

Yeah, if you have the photo, it's right in the middle, in the center of the front part of the building.

Okay, so it's just to the left in the photo of the telephone pole that shows there. I'm sorry, to the right.

There are three doors. So those are three entrances to different units.

Okay.

And the middle door is the entrance for two units, including us, for this condo. yours is the middle door yeah yeah yeah ours is the middle door and left and right belongs to like uh our neighbors on other units so when we also add to that when we purchase the unit uh the The right part of the area we are proposing a curb car, it belongs to our unit and the left part which is an existing driveway and curb cut belongs to unit 8.

So we were under the impression that this is balanced and Our units are the same as the other units on the left hand side, except the curb cut is not existing.

But Yang, this is deeded with your unit, is that what you're saying?

Yeah, this is part of our, yeah, belongs to our unit.

All right. Well, that's relevant. I didn't know that. I apologize. So to answer the previous member's question, it is listed in the deed, this area. Maybe not listed as a parking space, but listed nonetheless.

Thank you.

In the criteria, I'm I'm reading it also says substantial hardship, financial or otherwise. Just note that for the record. Olivia and Mobayed.

Thank you. I see your point. I see why there could be confusion here, 100%. I am wondering if you noticed that the curb existed before you purchased the unit and assumed it could be addressed or you were not made aware of the fact that the curb existed.

Yeah, we noted that the curb did not exist, but we assumed, like I was informed by both my agent and the Seller that it's an easy issue to address, which I didn't realize is more complicated than I previously believed.

Okay. Just to follow up, I guess my commentary here is I recognize that this is an inconvenience. But it is not indicated in any material you reviewed that it was a parking space. And when thinking about not just clause two of the hardship variance, which is about significant financial hardship for you and inconvenience, It's not that you cannot store your car nearby if you are eligible for an on-street parking space. Many folks do use that. It's very cheap. Much cheaper than building this. And There is a loss of on-street parking when considering Part 3 impact to the neighboring community.

essentially what it's doing is privatizing an on-street parking space and putting it on your property rather than on the street available for anyone else to use

The only thing I would respond to that is that this is a double lot, as I mentioned. So theoretically, this double lot could be subdivided. It could have two separate structures, which each could have their own structure. curb cut and driveway alongside of it so it's not you know that that very well could have could have happened um where we'd be in the exact same result as where we'd be right now The other thing, and the chair kind of helped me with that a little bit with her prompt, but the non-financial hardship piece of this is that what does he do if he gets denied today? he has to i mean he has a problem on his hand he has to basically i don't know what he does i guess he digs up the The hardscape and plants it and, you know, it's just, he's being left with a problem.

The easiest solution here is to add the curb cut. Rather than to go through the process of reconfiguring the entire landscape of what is not even its shared property, it may be deeded to him, but He has to work that out with the condo. I'm sure there's rules and regs there. So it's a little bit of a conundrum to leave him there with where we are right now. Something will have to change, and whatever that change is, It might actually bring us right back here to you because we might implicate something with, you know, whenever the fix is. It becomes lengthy, it becomes time consuming, and it becomes difficult. for where we are in this, what could be a relatively simple solution.

Thank you. Attorney Mike Ross, when you say double lot, you just mean it's as wide as two lots. Able to be split. There's actually no such thing as a double lot. It's a lot, right?

Yeah, I'm not using any real terminology. It's just a double wide lot. It could be split.

It could be split, yes. Wide enough to be split.

Yeah, I believe so. I mean, I haven't studied it extensively. It looks to me like it is.

Thank you. I think we've heard your arguments several times, just inefficiently. In the interest of time, I'd like to continue to listen to the board members and I will call on you if we'd like a response because sometimes board members are asking questions for the sake of discussion or rhetorical questions so you don't need to jump in to respond until They actually seek your answer. Thank you. And Fullerton?

Thank you Madam Chair. So I think that I understand Attorney Ross's comments about the fact that this particular owner sees is a detriment to have a paved area that he can't use for his car. I also think it was pretty clear that it was not an immediate parking spot when purchasing the property and some other owner may not have cared they may have put up a fence and had a patio so I think that you can't claim just because it's Pavers that it has to be a driveway um That said, I do think the lot is wide enough to support the addition of the driveway and I think the way that is drawn where it's essentially being combined with the neighbor's driveway.

for the curb cuts makes sense it limits the amount of actual curb reduction where potentially two smaller cars could fit in front of it and probably would during a snow emergency um And I think that for this particular owner, I can see the hardship. I think that, you know, we... we take keeping owners in their homes very seriously as part of this board and trying to make Somerville as livable for everybody as possible and for this case I do support it.

Thank you. Does everyone feel that they'd like to respond to Ann, board members, or Ready to vote or should we go one, two, three with the hardship considerations? Brian Cook.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It would help me to hear how we will articulate The findings with respect to each of the criteria. I mean, we have the narrative from the applicant. We have the staff report which addresses A and C criteria essentially repeating the... The narrative of the applicant and the staff also adds they don't see it as a... They don't see a problem with criterion C, but I'd like to hear either what other board members have to say. or if there's anything that should be added to what we have in the documents in terms of findings that go with the criteria.

Madam Chair, I couldn't Through you, I can take a shot at those first criteria run through and we can adjust if that works.

Yes, please.

Okay, so special circumstances related to soil condition shape or topography of the parcel. The special conditions related to the parcel is that it is a double wide lot with a side-by-side multifamily on it. It does have enough width between the parcel boundary, right hand boundary, and the side of the building to fit. A driveway that is compliant. Criteria two, literal enforcement would would create A impact to the family. I am not yet convinced of the financial impact, but I do think it impacts the family in the livability of the home.

and making the home accessible for the family's use. And criteria three, the substantial detriment to the public good. without nullifying or substantially derogating from the intent of the purpose of the UR district. I believe that... that because we're looking at a limited driveway width that is being combined with an already existing curb cut it will it will insubstantially impact the neighborhood and reduce the curb parking as minimally as possible

Thank you. Does anyone have anything to add, board members?

I will just note if I may, there are multiple other properties in the neighborhood that have a similar setup and do not have a second curb cut. This one is uniquely wide. I will recognize that, but there are similar ones with a similar layout with the amount of space needed on either side of the building, a multifamily. I would also mention that in terms of the second one, There to me is no impact if they are able to park their car within the immediate vicinity of their property. in terms of inconvenience in terms of the value of their condo based on what they had

interpreted in terms of having a parking space that's a different story but you know there are many units in this area It's been designated as a transit zone specifically because it has density and walkability and multimodal access. who do not have a car or park on the street. So this does not seem like a unique case for me for the neighborhood.

Thank you. Excuse me, anyone else? Brian Cook?

I'm literally on the fence, so to speak. And I've heard strong arguments. So... Unless, Madam Chair, you have something to add.

I think what Anne Fullerton said in the beginning that the symmetry of the way the house sits the two families on the lot would lead one to assume that the site plan would be symmetrical as well. So to me, it's an anomaly not to have The other side of the driveway have a curb cut. So it seems to be putting right something that looks eccentric in terms of how the building sits and there's a left right in the building with the site plan so I'm I'm okay to Proceed with granting variants.

You will need all four, is that right? Four hardship variants, all four votes.

Madam Chair, through you, Mr. Ross, at the moment, the straw poll looks like that's not in your favor.

Well, I guess point of clarification by May, is it not a majority of those present that would carry the day?

No, because we only have four today. It would be four out of five. Typically it would be four out of five. So you'll need all four votes today because only four are here.

Does he have the option to continue if he wanted to have it be four out of five?

Yes, it's your case. You can continue. You can... We can... Brian Cook, do you feel... like we should further discuss it not to put you on the spot

Thank you, Madam Chair. Unless they have some new information or new conception of the curb cut and its approach, I don't think there's anything new. More we would learn, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with continuing it just to get an additional vote, but our rules don't prohibit it, I don't believe, so... And it is their case, so they may wish to do what they want with it. But were we strictly following Robert's Rules of Orders? I'd call a question, but I'm not going to do that.

I mean, the applicant can do as they wish.

I'm just pulling up your rules. It specifically says four or it says a majority of those present?

Staff, would you like to... This is Kit.

Let me just pull up our RPP as well. It was my understanding that it was if there was only four that you needed four. All four to approve our hardship variance, but let me fact check.

I just have the number of members that must vote in favor of a motion for it to pass the same as the number of members required for a quorum. Form is four.

I add a five. We have four today. Hold on, I'm just doing a fact check. But typically, in my experience, when it's a hardship variance and there are only four, we start right off the bat telling the applicant that This is what's needed tonight, so I apologize if that was not done today.

Yeah, no, thank you for mentioning that. I guess, could I ask you, Madam Chair? I mean, it's the fifth member. Do we know of the fifth member? Would it be worth my... Does it make sense for me to wait? If you were me, I mean, I don't know the characteristics of the fifth member. The only thing I could offer, I mean, Member Cook mentioned, like, is there any other information? We could also, we could abide by a 20, you know, the 20 foot requirement. I don't know if that was specifically put into the vote, but it might be appealing to the members to say, and you know, must park within 20 feet back.

I did think that too because often applicants will come in and offer A promise to do the right thing, but we don't enforce. So if you could create something in the condo rules or something... We could. You could work on that between now and the next time so that you're not parking in the front lot.

Yeah, but we could commit to doing that, to adding them to the master deed.

Can I add something to it? Yes. So from our experience like practically with or without this Our proposed curb cut, there will be two cars parked in the space between the two curbs. and the current situation is right now because of like the longer There are sometimes the additional third car parked behind the second car, which certainly like include all our area and partially like the area of 14 Linden Street. So that's just a practical issue that we are facing here.

Thank you. And again, you are parking there right now, right? You're not saying it's Photoshop. In the photo, that car physically climbed the curb. It's not photoshopped in to show that it fits? No. Okay, okay. So you park there anyway and sometimes you do get blocked because there's no curb cut?

Yes.

Well, applicant and attorney, what would you like to do? We have two more cases tonight.

Yeah, understood. It just seems like if I need four votes, it doesn't sound like I'm going to get it tonight. notwithstanding you know all the thoughtful comments so I guess we'll continue it to the next meeting and wait for the fifth member and in between that time we'll work on some language for our Master Deed and propose it at the next meeting and hopefully that will win the day.

That sounds like concrete steps you could take between now and and the next meeting. Do you have the date for the next meeting?

This is Kit. We do have, I believe, The next meeting could be fairly lengthy just due to the case that is confirmed for March 4th. So I would say because that case has to go first due to... Staff from other departments coming to the meeting, I would suggest March 18th, unless the applicant is comfortable understanding that. There's a lengthy case before on March 4th.

No, we really appreciate you pointing that out, as you actually did for this meeting, too. So thank you for that both times. March 18th works for us.

Okay, and Kit, I'm sorry if I don't know, but are they supposed to fill out paperwork with you after the fact?

I believe since we're doing this at the meeting, the board needs to make a motion and vote on the continuance Okay

Will the acting clerk make a motion?

Sure. I make a motion to continue the case of 12 Linden Street, ZP 25-0001. 1-2 to the March 18th meeting.

Do I have a second?

Second.

A roll call vote. Brian Cook?

Aye. Aye.

and Fullerton, Olivia Mobayed, and myself and Brockelman.

Thank you for your thoughtful conversation today.

Continuance is granted. Thank you. See you next time. Okay, have a good night. Applicants first or open it first? Kit, please advise.

You could ask the applicants to raise their hand while the clerk reads it into the record.

and Fullerton, would you like to identify the next case? Sure.

I call to order The Case of 148 Morrison Avenue, ZP 25-000089 Mbah Builders Andrea Morelli Proposes modifications to an existing non-conforming building in the neighborhood residence, i.e. NR zoning district, which requires a special permit.

So applicants team, please raise their hands. Everyone, staff can promote you as panelists. And please remember to state your name and address for the record before beginning your presentation. Good evening. Is your whole team here? I see a few names.

I think we are.

Whenever you're ready, introduce yourself, your team and if you'd like to present, staff will let you share the screen.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay, I think everyone else is muted. There we go. There's Layton.

Yeah, we're the homeowners.

So should do you need us to present or it seemed like you thoroughly knew the project and we read your comments and it seemed like we were I'll be so bold as to say in pretty good shape.

I think you've been communicating with staff. This is the ZBA board, so we do get your packet of materials, you know, the The week before, but we have not had communication with you. It always helps to hear directly from you, summarize the architect and homeowners. So proceed as you like.

Great. Well, I wonder, Leighton, do you want to maybe say a few words as the homeowner what your intention is here?

Sure. This is Leighton and Kathy Collis. We're fourth generation Somerville residents. We bought this... Mansard Townhouse, which is not covered by the current building code, and Charles will go into that in more detail. What we wanted to do is figure out how to clean up a corner that's kind of right across the street from the rail trail that has a big three car garage from a long time ago and a couple of of additions from the 80s and our goal is to wipe those away reduce the amount of space that's covered by Cars and Asphalt, put a small addition on the back, dig out our basement so that that basement unit and a rear unit can be rented to long-term residents. Long-term rental people so that's sort of our our plan is to

really kind of not only make a lovely place for ourselves but to return a kind of an ugly corner to something that's a little bit more true to the original structure so Charles take it away

Thank you. So I'll just make some observations about the project. And then if there's any specific questions, we'd be more than happy to address them. I should first say that our office is about a block and a half away from this property, and it's actually a street I walked down yesterday. at least several times a week so I know it well and we love Somerville and we've been here for 20 plus years 25 years um The it is true. If you go by this site, it's a very rundown corner. The side street kind of sort of merges almost with the site. There's a lot of paving. and the house had an unfortunate addition made to it, which was really out of keeping historically. We're removing that.

And then, frankly, the plan for the site is almost directly out of the Somerville zoning plan. Manual in that it's, you know, it gives you the little guest house at the back of the property. The interventions that we've done, we've worked really, really hard to be within the historic sensibility of the house. and obviously we went through those hurdles to get to this point. We've had good outreach with the community. and you know I think it's a pretty straightforward proposal for this site which I believe is quite conforming in

In every way with the spirit of the zoning code.

And we're not asking for a variance. It's just because we have this is a Mansford townhouse that's not covered by the current code. We have to we come before you to ask for permission to do this. Charles, do we have that slide deck to give them visual?

You're muted, Dan.

Yeah, I can bring that up. Shall I go ahead and bring that up?

Yes, I think so. I do see 30 participants, so I can assume that people are interested in this case. This is a... Public hearing. So why don't you do that and then I'll open up the public portion.

Okay, I've just got to share it. Hold on one second. So I'm going to walk you through the various plans. Can everyone see my screen?

Yes.

So below grade in what currently is the basement We are just fixing up that space into, it actually is a two-bedroom apartment. It's snug. and it has its own access here from the outside through a door into this single unit here. There's a little eating area, kitchen nook, a kitchen, back bedroom. and a front bedroom which faces on Morrison Avenue. There are windows there, but these all are within... Most of the windows are captured within a window well. You can see one here in this open sunken garden which we're going to plant and one here

at the Morrison Avenue side. This is the setback line. And then over here is the basement level of the proposed new cottage at the back of the property. If you move up to the ground level floor, We've carefully complied with all the impervious requirements for the site and pervious requirements. and it's largely planted so there's a garden along Morrison Avenue at the corner here. This is Clifton Street here. We've planted all of this area as well.

and then we've planted behind this entry to the back unit and along this edge here at the edge of the property. So in terms of the landscape, we worked hard to conform with all the planting parameters. We've included some nice trees in the planting to re-establish the sense of an urban edge within the city. This ground floor unit then, this is a two-story unit, which is where the homeowners will live. It's a living room. An area here, which is the dining area.

There's a little kitchen in the back here, and it looks out at a pervious terrace. There's a privacy screen here to provide privacy from the neighbors. And then in the back is the first level of a two story Unit at the back of the property If you go Upstairs, here is the primary unit. It's a master bedroom, a bath, a A closet space here, a second bedroom here. It's quite a small bedroom. And then a third bedroom out at the corner of the house.

You can see this is the edge of the Mansard roof, which we're preserving on the outside of the building. Oh, and the upper floor of this small apartment at the back is just a bedroom, a little sitting area, a bathroom. So it's quite a simple plan with some and then this is a roof plan so you can see the mansard roof remains intact We have another small roof over the master bedroom. The air handlers are hidden in a lower roof here, so they're not really visible from the neighborhood. And then The back unit has two dormers. Again, straight out of the zoning report.

So those are the plans. And let me see if I can share. Excuse me, I'm having trouble.

Sorry.

Okay. The... So this is a view of the house that exists right now. So Morris Avenue is here. This is the corner. Obviously, we're removing the fire escape. We're removing this raised deck elevation. And even though a lot of people objected, we've decided to remove this garage because we felt it really didn't fit in with the neighborhood that well. That was an attempt at humor. You can see our unit then that we're working with is through here. So that roof line is preserved. The mansard roof is preserved there.

This is a view from the side street. You can see there's a low open fence along the front of the property. Here's the restored Mansard Pavilion. Here's the new addition. Here and here is the cottage at the end of the property to the right. You can see the... Right in this area is the open permeable terrace between those two buildings. Here's another view from the corner. Here is the landscape plan that was submitted. So you can see we're adding some larger trees.

Let me just slide this down. and one at the end here and then the rest of the property has been pretty heavily planted with much with lower shrubbery here and then these are garden beds for a more formal garden there and you can see the permeable pavers uh here here and leading into this unit at the end here and this is obviously the existing path up to the original building um There's not much other to tell you there. Obviously, this is all quite detailed in the drawings and shows all the compliance with the various codes.

Here is just the existing view from Morris Avenue. You know, this fence will be replaced with a much nicer fence and obviously all of this landscape will be enhanced. So we're really trying to clean up. That edge of the property. I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything. You can see where this is a paved area here, which we're removing. This is the existing garage that we're removing. And then we are removing this.

addition that was made which is really out of character with the building I've shown you these plans any questions about this or anything I should have brought up

I think we typically present, we let the public comment, and then we'll come back to discussion.

Okay, great.

Is that okay with you, homeowners?

Absolutely.

Okay, so I'll now open the public comment portion of this hearing. Members of the public, if you'd like to speak on this application, please raise your hand and staff will unmute you. You'll be given two minutes to provide your comments, two minutes each. Please state your name and address for the record.

This is Kit. I'm going to allow John Golson to speak first. You should be able to unmute now.

Can everyone hear me?

Yes, go ahead.

Hi, John Golson. We live at 146, the neighboring unit. First of all, we appreciate and welcome all these additions it's going to improve everything overall our main concern which we have brought up several times in previous meetings with zoning and planning that's never been really acknowledged and isn't really shown in these plans is the shared property line. So we appreciate that the rear additions are directly on our property line. The main concern is the area where we have the shared deck in the back. Our deck is connected to the house. The plan is to demolish that portion of the house, which is fine, and rebuild it. But the new plans are adding a second story to that

Shared properly line and it is perpendicular to our rear bedroom window which is the only source of natural light in the rear of the house obviously because we are a row house. So now there's going to be a wall, second story height wall, three feet from our bedroom window impacting that. and without having it on a setback it's it's literally three feet from our bedroom window um if there was you know a setback or anything like that it would maybe be a little better but it's going to drastically impact the light in our house the view from our house and things like that so that's that's our main concern outside everything else we you know welcome the the neighbors and they've been Great with sharing things, and we've had some conflicts along the way, but this is just the one thing that's kind of never been addressed.

Can we have the timer? The other screen, I think. I guess would the architect or applicant like to respond right away or we just note these comments?

I'll take a stab at it. You know, we're... There are five of us who are all in a townhouse set up and all of our lots touch one another. I think the idea of a setback is something... One of the things we're trying to figure out here is to balance how to return a lot of green space to this lot. And what we've really tried to do here is wipe away a lot of built and a lot of asphalt stuff. If we pinch over, and by the way, we pursued with the city a really helpful process at the very beginning of this almost two years ago. And we said, please advise us on how we should What can we build here? What makes sense? And it was the city's recommendation that a two-story addition would best meet. We'd be allowed to do that.

I don't think that... And again, this is where I don't know anything about code, but I don't think there's anything that says a setback is required. We have... To try to be a good neighbor on that second story addition, which is our bedroom, we originally had planned to have windows there and we've taken them away so that that That wall was a solid wall and the privacy is as good as we possibly can make it. So Charles, is there anything on the permit side or on the code side that you want to add to that?

Well, certainly what we have meets code, obviously. But I do want to say that I am sharing right now, and I don't know if... People can see what I'm sharing? Yeah.

We see the timer. Oh, I see the rendering, the elevation.

Because we did render that just... To deal with it a little bit. Should I reshare it or... at any rate the the rendering that's up right now and I was looking to see if I had a photo of this but at the right side of the rendering you can see the The edge of the existing roof and this is the wall that's in the adjacent unit looking out into the back. So right now it's a structure that's, I believe, about this height, maybe to here. and in response to that we've really limited the number of windows here

Just to help with a sense of privacy from the adjacent unit. The only windows we've included are these two windows which are kitchen windows. which allows some light to get in but the i think the point is that you know we've we've we've added probably that much height here um So we've really, in how we sort of organized the project, we've really tried to minimize any sort of, We also try to

To keep that extension as far towards Morissab as we could to take into consideration the idea of still allowing a lot of light into the neighbor's space.

Okay.

Just two more quick thoughts. The depth of the addition itself while we are allowed to make it Thank you for joining us. and the back of the houses all face southwest. And so we do get some rather glorious light. It's not a north-facing side.

One last question before we go back to the next public comment. But you did demo an edition, correct? This is also in...

We will be done. Yeah, there's a, thank you. There's a deeper edition that exists now. That's a one story edition, but it's something.

One story, okay.

Yeah, it's like 24 feet.

It goes beyond what is shown here.

That's right.

That's right.

Like 20, 24 feet, I think, if I remember correctly, something like that.

Thank you. I'd like to move on with the next public comment.

This is Kit. If we could just have the architect unshare the screen for the time being, just so that we can have the timer be...

Absolutely.

Thank you. And we've got one more hand raised currently. I'm going to allow Cassie Arnaud to talk. You should be all set to unmute.

Hi, everyone. Thank you for this. And I echo John's comments about the designs and our interactions with the... Your name and address, please. Oh, I apologize. My name is Cassie Arnault and I'm at 142 Morrison Avenue, which is one of the five attached row houses. And I just wanted to echo what John had said during these presentations. It really looks like this is sort of additions to a single family house that's detached. And it's hard for all of us to understand that. How these fairly substantial changes are going to be able to be implemented with... Given the fact that we're attached and these houses are very old and fairly fragile. So I think the Golsons were interested in just understanding some of the logistics as, you know, in terms of both the designs.

And then I think all of us are interested in understanding how excavating when we have shared party walls and things like that will work. and I also just want to share broadly while this these designs look beautiful in the context of what is there. We all have been living under this very strict historic regime where we have not been allowed to make even the most minor changes. So I think the other owners were quite shocked at the extensive changes that the Historic Commission approved. So I think we're trying to sort of wrap our heads around this new era. and understanding how this will impact us as as things get implemented as I think you are about to discuss the existing edition while very ugly is very low

So what they're proposing with the rear, you know, two and a half story addition attached to the house and the backyard cottage will be a big impact. But I, you know, as somebody further away from it, it's aesthetically pleasing to me, but obviously impactful to the Golsons. Thank you.

Any other hands? This is Kit.

I see Phillip and I will unmute if you could just say your name and address for the record.

Hi there, everybody. My name is Philip, and I live across the street, kind of, sort of, at 169 Morrison Avenue. And so, at the very least, I wanted to say hello and... Nice to meet you to our neighbors, which I don't think I know personally. Charles, their architect, I do know, and of course his office is around the corner, as he notes. I will concur with what Charles and I think everybody has said, which is that the garage, the existing garage, Addition Building, and the way that whole site is configured is just terrible. I do hope they'll be able to figure things out with their butters, among other things, perhaps most important, because is it true that there's a historic plaque? right on your house can someone actually just speak to that really quickly yes yes that's true and that whole row i think one of your neighbors just spoke to that a moment ago is historic in that regard

Yes, it is.

Yeah, yeah. So I just hope you'll be able to figure that part out. I'll put one thing in there. I did not attend the Historic Commission, so I'm sorry about that piece. and this is probably a larger issue involving planning. I'm sure you guys know about the Morrison sewer separation that's coming up, a lot of streetscape plans that are attached to that. I've always thought that neck of the woods leading down to the Mixit studio, The edge of your property being kind of the abutter to that would be an awesome location for what's called a Woonerf. I don't know if you're familiar with this. It's a pedestrian road. It's basically a streetscape that's shared by automobiles, people, and landscaping. and my time's about to be over here so I won't belabor this but I and I recognize the last piece is that there's a big investment on your part in our neighborhood and so I'm appreciative of that and I and I do wish you well okay thank you thanks Philip

Thank you. I'd like to ask the architect to explain the involvement of historic commission. Have you gone in front of them? You know, are they Waiting for our... No, we're through them.

What we've shown you, they've approved.

Okay.

May I go back and just address one thing and... I wanna share a drawing that I think would be helpful. So this is the exist, can everyone see this? This is the existing footprint. So you can see here is the row house. It comes through here. It goes to here and comes back. We then have a slightly taller addition here that we're removing. And then obviously we're removing this piece here. But that piece... You know, this area right here is where we are going to.

We're tearing this out, but then we're putting our addition on to the side of the row house.

A smaller one.

A smaller edition. So that's quite built up. And I just wanted to see, unfortunately, we don't... Let me just go back. So you can see that existing edition that we're pulling off is right here. and so This is the neighbor's adjacent house. We're basically just building there, but then pushing all of this away and creating an open space here. So, you know, really the only part of their house that changes relative to what we're proposing is here.

and you know it's there still will be I really do think ample light in in this part of of their facade so I and I'd be more than happy to meet with you at the site and just show you that but I really I think the benefit of getting rid of all of this and the amount of light that's going to let into the yard will be very beneficial. It also, if we just take this one step further, So there is already an addition to the neighbor's house here.

What we're building will be sort of, I think it's more to about there. and that space on the ground will actually get more light because we have cut away this part of the addition here. I think it's a pretty good solution.

Thank you. I'd like to check with staff. Kit, is it okay that with each public Comment, we respond. I find that it's more useful to

Thank you so much for joining us. Typically each member of the public is given one two-minute segment to speak, so I just want to make sure we're refraining from... responding um maybe to the public commenter um that being said I do have the abutter raising his hand so it would be up to the board if you want to permit um another two minute segment since they were spoken to by the applicant. But typically any discussions like that would happen outside of the board hearing.

Understood. I think I'd like to permit the abutter but please don't repeat what we've already heard. If you have New information or comments then I think it is efficient to hear it now. Thank you.

Okay, I'm going to allow John Golson to speak. Alvaro, could we have the timer again, please? Thank you. All right, you should have the ability to unmute once again.

Okay, great. Thanks for the opportunity to reply. I'll take up the full two minutes just to clarify that the issue is adding the second Story. I'm looking right out our window now. You add a second story, it is going to block light coming into our rear bedroom window, which is three feet away from the shared property line. The demolition of the extended unit doesn't impact us. Light comes from above. A single story is not impacting the light on our second story and first story floor. The deck that we have in that area is right now a single story wall. You're going to add a second story to it. It's going to impact our life. That's it.

Thanks. I think the architect and the owner team have expressed willingness to continue to discuss with the abutter and I think the light is um objective you can do a light study and show exactly when it's blocking when it's not blocking So that's one way to do a shadow study.

Can I make one comment on that? Sure. I'm going to share a screen. You can see up at the right side here. So south is the upper right corner here. North is in this direction. So the sun is moving here. And because of the location of this at the northwestern side, It doesn't reduce... It's not like we're building south of this window. We're building to the northwest of this building and... The impact on the light, it's not going to be that dramatic.

So I just wanted to say that given the orientation of the building.

Thank you. Let's move on. I do have one question on the historic designation. It's just the row house, right? It's not the, it's just the shoebox. It's not the... Everybody has seems to have additions in the back.

Exactly.

So, and the historic designation governs the exterior. So as long as you're keeping the exterior Mansard you are refreshing it but keeping it as is you can do you know you can change the configuration of the interior and then add on or demo We're actually restoring some of the brackets that have rotted out and that kind of thing.

And the Historic Commission asked us to return the Mansard to the back, which we're doing. It's actually not there. I saw. To their own credit, they said, you know what, it'll look better if you have that return and that the addition, the seam of where the addition comes into the back is clear. And so that's, I think... We spent a lot of time in the rendering so that that commission could see everything and see how it all comes together.

Yes, they like a clear delineation between old and new, and you were fortunate enough to own the end of it exactly three facades to be historic stewards of precisely thank you um anyone else staff in the public or we could leave it open

This, sorry, this is Kit. I do not see any other members of the public with their hand raised currently.

Okay. And so I think we'll leave the public portion open. Can you remind us, before we go to board member discussion, how many public meetings? There was one with a city councilor as well.

This is the third public meeting. So we had one for historic. We had another one... A couple of months ago, that was part of the first ZBA, and then there's this one. And so this is the third public meeting we've had.

I'm sorry, I also meant neighborhood meeting.

That's what I mean. I'm sorry.

A neighborhood. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Let's go to board members who would like to weigh in or ask the applicant architect team. Clarifying Questions, Ann Fullerton.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. and Mrs. Colas, I think it's a lovely, a lovely update. and I appreciate the time and effort that's gone into it thus far. I do suggest though that you work with the Golson family to to mitigate their concerns, either by producing a shadow study, asking Mr. Rose's office to produce a shadow study, or in some other way. I think that they're going to be your neighbors longer than you're going to know any of us and you're going to be sharing walls with them and typically For us to approve substantial changes like this, we like the neighbors to all be on board with

The goals of the change and since they're your immediate abutter and they seem to have a concern that they feel is significant to them. Thank you so much for joining us.

Was that it, Anne Fullerton? Okay. Brian Cook, see your hand.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to follow up on Member Fullerton's suggestion, is it permissible for us to add a condition to the special permit? that refers to either cooperation with the abutting neighbor or the production of a... Shadow study, if we think that's appropriate as a condition.

I think that you can condition a shadow study, but I just worry that Cooperation with neighbors may be too vague for a condition, but I think if you were asking them to produce and submit a shadow study to planning staff, that would be fine.

Thank you.

Olivia, Mobayed, anything, any questions for the team from you?

Madam Chair, I don't have any questions on this one that haven't already been answered. Thank you.

Okay, I do have one. I'm looking at the packet, which is a little different from what you're showing us. Plans and Elevations, page 8. Did you say that you moved the mechanical equipment? Because I'm seeing it in the drawings that I have. It's on top of your new two-story addition.

Yeah, no, we moved it. It's in response to the Golson's concern about... Looking at ugly mini splits, which we all have that concern. It was originally on that edition and it has been moved to the seam, which is this three foot seam that's depressed in between the two roofs. And it'll be clad in some kind of of Cedar.

I was going to ask for updated drawings, but I do see that it's your A2 Point 13 does show it where it should be, right? It's just the rendering is probably older and the record drawings are what's correct. So we don't need to ask for an update.

And by the way, that was not that you may care about this level of minutiae, but that was a concern that the Golsons raised when we were in the historic commission session. And so we and it was made as a condition for that approval and so that's why we of course moved it and it's a better place for it to be. if we could put it on the ground and still meet all of the zoning restrictions we would put them on the ground but we just can't find anywhere else to stick them

um any anything else from the board yes Anne Fullerton uh within that line of questioning the drawings show

what looks like a single window over the sink of the primary unit but the elevations show what looks like a pair of windows can you confirm which is accurate it's a pair of windows And has your neighbor seen the pair of windows? had the opportunity in public meetings to see the paraffin does.

In the second public meeting, we had some of the same discussion. And so we commissioned a rendering of the back of the building. and the side of the building so that everyone could see how does it work when it's... from everyone's driveways in essence in the back. And so those were, in addition to, we published them in a group email to everyone some months ago and asked for comments, didn't get anything back from anyone. But we're trying to communicate well.

Thank you for the answer. Okay. So just for the last time, anybody in the public that has not spoken yet? Kit, do you see any hands?

I do not see the hand of anyone who has not spoken.

So I appreciate the thorough presentation, discussions. And again, it's worth saying that this is in front of us because it's for a special permit. We're not asking for hardship variance. and it dimensionally complies with everything in the Somerville zoning ordinance. No dimensional variations from Setbacks are being requested. So I don't have any issue. Is the board ready to vote? Thumbs up. Brian Cook is at You'd like to speak or thumbs up?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to add that I'm ready. And I think that we could, for efficiency's sake, incorporate the staff memo in terms of the findings. on the specific elements of the special permit requirements. If there's more that we need to add to that language in the staff memo, then we would have to contribute that but I don't find their necessity and although I suggested the possibility of a shadow study condition I don't really think that's necessary either yes I I would

Well, what do you think, Anne Fullerton? I don't think it's a condition. We would like you to continue to have open dialogue with your neighbors, right? it's legal that's what we're here to to determine but you know as to you know the impact on the neighbors that is Thank you for joining us. and what is actually what I appreciate most is actually the changing of the site from an asphalt wasteland to pervious planted surface. I think that's

you know one one lot at a time changing our to the city one can dream right now it yeah So I feel like it really maximizes the green space in this little lot, so that's appreciated. So I'm ready to vote as well. Okay, so will you make a motion, clerk?

I'd be happy to, Madam Chair. I do want to note really quickly, I support conditioning the shadow study. I have full faith that the Colossus would deliver it anyway, but I think that it helps, um, It helps respond to an abutter's comment.

Sure, absolutely.

In the matter of 148 Morrison, Av, Z.P., 25-000089. I make a motion to approve the special permit based on the staff memo findings and discussion by the board. We also would like to include a condition that a shadow study is submitted to the planning team and also shared with neighbors.

Thank you. Do we have a second?

Second.

Roll call for the vote. Brian Cook?

Aye.

Ann Fullerton? Aye. Olivia Mobayed?

Aye.

And myself, Ann Brockelman, aye. That's four, unanimous. Thank you and good luck.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Madam Chair.

Yes.

May we have a five-minute relief break?

Yes. I think the clerk has to make the motion.

Yep. I make a motion for a... Brief recess until 7.40 p.m. Second.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Thank you. See you in a bit.

We have everyone? 740? Kit?

Yep, looks like everyone is back.

Um... Do I... Call to order to resume the meeting. Open the meeting. What do I do, Kit?

Yes, just note for the record what time the meeting was resumed.

For the record, we're resuming the meeting at 741. This is Somerville Zoning Board of Appeals, February 18 meeting. And we have our third and last meeting. Case. Anne Fullerton, would the clerk like to open the meeting?

Sure. I Hereby open the case of 307-309 Highland Avenue, ZP 25-000110. Adam Dash representing Silva Realty 9 LLC seeks a hardship variance for principal entrance orientation of an existing detached house in a neighborhood residence. i.e. NR zoning district.

Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Dash. Is your team here? Just you tonight? Are we waiting for people?

In the attendees list is Mark Silva, who's the client, and Tanya Carrier, who's the architect, if we could promote them, and Tanya needs to share her screen. In the meantime, I'm Adam Dasch. 48 Grove Street in Somerville, attorney for Silver Realty 9 LLC, who's the owner and applicant here. Mark Silva is here from Silver Realty 9 as his tiny carrier of KDI architects who will be sharing the slides as I think she's doing right now. The applicant is seeking a hardship variance for the principal entrance orientation of an existing detached house in the NR zoning district. Tanya, can you go to the second slide once you get it? The House is not moving, but there's a proposed lot split that's a separate application. that would cause the principal entrance to the remaining existing house to no longer be oriented towards the front lot line. This is really a technical matter that's requiring a variance.

I think the next slide, Tonya, might be better. that shows the existing condition. Yeah, so what we have here is this is an unusual situation. It is one large lot with two principal structures and one accessory garage at the corner of Highland Avenue and Cherry Street. This condition is not shared by others in the neighborhood. It is a kind of an odd one. So you can see the house in the far left back there along Cherry Street is the one that we're talking about. You can see how it's currently facing Highland Avenue because this is one lot. Can we go to the next slide, Tonya? So again, this is not on for tonight, but we have a separate application to split this into four lots, four zoning compliant lots. In doing so, the house that's in the upper left, which would be on what's called lot one at that point,

will no longer be facing a thoroughfare technically because those lots two and three below it will be created. The house on the lot is still about to thoroughfare. It's on Cherry Street. But its front door will not face Cherry Street because the house isn't moving. The front door is still going to face Highland Avenue, but there will be two lots between it and the house. So therefore, even though the house on lot one isn't moving, The lot split makes the front door orientation technically not facing a front lot line because that's no longer a front lot line once the lot split happens. There's substantial hardship here because This is a special circumstance because the only way for the house on that lot one to comply would be to evict the tenants, demolish the house. and build a new structure that faces Cherry Street and then we wouldn't need a variance at all. But that is not what the applicant wants to do. Evicting the tenants and demolishing the building doesn't further the goals of the zoning ordinance or the summer vision strategic plan.

Tanya, did you want to go through some things briefly?

Sure. You covered most of it, but I'll go through a couple of slides. Tanya Carrier from CULSA Design. Here's just a color view to show you a little bit clearer. So our existing lot, as Adam mentioned, is very unique in that it contains two principal structures, which is not permitted in the NR zone. So one of the goals that this lot split will achieve is having one principal structure on each lot fully zoning compliant except for this one issue. And here you can see The building we're talking about today, the way the building is laid out makes a renovation just to move the door to the front quite unfeasible without basically a full Redo of the building. So the front has two units that are stacked.

And the rear has a unit separate so it has no access to the front area. And each of these areas of the building have their own front door here. setback quite far from Highland Ave much more than the allowed maximum setback currently so those doors we would propose to remain as is and here's a nice actual picture showing those doors how they could remain here but with a lot split line coming in and just one other slide So in doing this, it would actually correct several nonconformities with both lots with just adding this one new nonconformity.

We'd correct the two building issue, we'd correct setback issues, maximums, facade build-out issues, and other zoning items. So this is just showing the proposed... what we intend to do possibly in the future two new lots here adding housing fully zoning compliant and then potentially a backyard cottage We'd be removing the driveway access so you'd have a nice clear entrance into the side of the building for this lot. So I think that's all I'll say unless there are questions.

Well, thank you, Tanya. Let me just wrap up real quick before we get into that, I guess. There's no substantial detriment in granting the variance which would allow the property to be brought more into zoning compliance as Tanya described. by eliminating the two large setback and eliminating the two principal structures on one lot by splitting the lots and by adding much needed housing on these lots two and three and a backyard cottage on lot one as you see in the upper right corner. We're not here. About the new houses, those aren't designed yet. We're here just about the door orientation on the existing building. The variants will also avoid the demolition of that existing structure and disruption that would cause in the eviction of the tenants. As stated in the staff memo, the granting of the requested hardship variance would not cause substantial detriment or substantially derogate from the intent and purpose of the NR district. It would support the broader intent of the Somerville zoning ordinance and help to preserve

and enhance the existing character of Somerville's traditional housing and respect the existing built form and development patterns. And therefore the applicant requests that the hardship variance for principal entrance orientation be granted.

Thank you. Mr. Dash, before you continue, Anne Fullerton has had her hand up.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Dash, so just so I understand clearly, does the address change to a Cherry Street address, but the functioning front doors remain where they are?

I think the address would be an engineering department question at the building permit stage. Oftentimes when you're adding new units, they will and many more. Clearcut, a whole site like the old Star Market where we had a whole big conversation with a lot of people about what are these addresses of these new buildings. Here, I mean, these two buildings are remaining. We're just infilling. I don't know what the addresses will be, but it will. There will be front. We're not creating a nonconformity about frontage, just to be clear. The building will still front onto Cherry Street. The problem is that the door will not be facing Cherry Street because the door is where the door is today. It isn't changing.

I appreciate the clarity. Thank you.

No, no problem. It's a little odd. This is such a weird, I've never seen this, to be honest with you, this situation. So it is an odd one. Tanya, you can probably take that off the screen so everyone can see each other.

Let me just move to the public portion. Okay, so I'll open the public comment portion of this hearing. Kit, do you see any hands?

Mrs. Kitt, I see one hand. Lexi, do you mind sharing the timer?

So if you'd like to speak, please, staff will unmute you. Yes, you'll be given two minutes. Please state your name and address for the record.

Thank you, Lexi. I'm going to allow J.O. to speak.

Hi, my name is Audrey Orenstein. I live at 315 Highland across the street. I'm wondering about the parking spots that are where the new front door is going to go. If they're going to be removed or if they're going to be pushed out closer to 315. And the reason I ask is because it's already very challenging to navigate getting into those hour parking spots behind our apartment because of how close it is in.

I think it's a little bit outside of the purview of what we're discussing today, but Mr. Dash, would you like to? Do you know anything about the parking situation or the property owner maybe?

Tanya might have a better idea about that.

Sure. Yeah, we're not actually adding new front doors or moving them, so it would not affect parking in any way. The doors and everything would remain as is, except for adding basically a lot line in the future should this get approved. um so nothing on the actual parking street parking if you're talking about would would change we're actually closing in a curb cut um It's not a curb cut, but there is a driveway, no actual curb on that street, but that we'd be removing. So if anything, we'd be making it slightly better. Does that answer your question?

I think so. So there's not actually going to be a door that opens.

It's just a Yeah, the doors to the house, what we're here to ask is that they remain exactly where they are without any renovation. yeah if we were to make it if we weren't to come to this meeting we'd have to basically move the door to the front and then we'd have that issue because the front wall is exactly on the property line so we can't fit a porch like you're saying

Right. Okay. Thank you for responding that to me.

No problem.

Any other hands?

I don't see any other hands at the moment. Again, if you'd like to speak, just raise your hand. You'll be given two minutes.

Give everyone a minute. Okay, let's move to board discussion then. Anyone else besides Ann Fullerton have questions for the applicant team? Okay, seeing none, I have one. Just to confirm again, nothing is physically changing.

I think- On that house we're discussing- Madam Chair, correct. The irony is we are seeking relief to keep it the same.

Yes, you're seeking relief to be allowed to be non-compliant.

Because the house, when we do the lot split, which is all going to be compliant, it's just going to throw, that lot line will no longer be a front where the door faces, it'll be a side.

Yes, so I think my question is more procedural because the lot isn't split yet.

That application is pending, this happening. so that's that application is being held until the because if the variance isn't allowed or is allowed that changes possibly what we do but that application has been filed it just hasn't been heard or dealt with I should say

Okay, so we say that if we went through and granted the hardship variance, it would be for the future lot split. of this house fronting Cherry Street is allowed to not have its principal entrance on Cherry Street.

Right. It would be so it would be so that the existing houses front door would not would not would be allowed to not face Cherry Street.

Yes.

Which is what the situation is today. But with the lot split. That application for the variance we were told this application could be filed at the same time, which they were, but the variance has to be heard first before the lot split can be doubled.

Okay.

So those have the lot split application is waiting for a decision from you. Because obviously, if you won't let us do this, then that throws the lot split off.

We won't let you

do nothing as to as in not move the front door we would probably end up having to i'd have to talk to the client but i think the fallback could be to tear the house down and build a house that then faces Cherry Street with the front door and pull it back so the portrait could be put there like Tanya described that would that would need a variance at all but then of course you'd have to evict the tenants and tear the house down and that's kind of the We don't want to do that and there's no real gain to anybody doing that. So it seems like this is a technical relief, honestly, that just saves a lot of heartache for a lot of people.

I understand, but in the future, If they wanted to punch an opening on Cherry Street, they could.

It doesn't sound like that is like what Tanya was saying. That's quite that simple to do because of the house as it is. Because of the interior.

The front door or the front wall is exactly on the lot line so and the first floor is up higher than grade so we'd have to have a whole interior lobby with steps so it would be all all new structure. We couldn't enter. Yeah.

Okay. Should we go through the hardship criteria steps? How does everyone feel?

I can take a first shot at them.

Thank you, Ann Fullerton.

So regarding special circumstances existing relating to soil condition shape or topography of the parcel. The unusual condition is that it's a multi-building parcel and that the existing house in question is set at the back of the parcel with its front door facing facing Highland Ave, not facing the closest street. Literal enforcement of the provision of the ordinance for the district. where the subject land or structure is located would involve substantial hardship, financial otherwise. I think it's pretty clear that

they are not able to add a front door physically without rebuilding a substantial part of the structure a front door physically facing Cherry Street rather without substantially altering the structure, if not completely rebuilding it. And then three, desirable relief could be granted without causing substantial detriment to the public good. and without nullifying or substantially derogating the intent and purpose of the NR district. I think that It is a unique condition. I think as long as engineering ultimately helps with the wayfinding aspect, it does not create a public realm issue.

Thank you. Anyone have anything to add? Board members? Okay, are we ready to vote? Okay, I see nods. Make a motion, please.

In the matter of 307-309 Thailand Ave, case number ZP25-000110. Second Second Second Second Second

Roll Call Vote, Ann Fullerton, Olivia Mobayed, Brian Cook, myself, I, Ann Brockelman, that's all four of us, The motion passes. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, members of the board. Have a good evening. Thank you, Mr. Cook, for the break.

Good night.

Good night.

Kit, do we have anything else? Should we adjourn?

There was no other business. Just next meeting is March 4th.

Okay. Motion to adjourn, please.

Yep. I make a motion to adjourn the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting for the night of February 18th, 2026. Second.

Seconded by Brian Cook. Roll call. and Fullerton. Aye. Olivia Mobayed.

Aye.

Ryan Cook.

Aye.

And me and Brockelman, aye. Motion passes. We are adjourned tonight.

Thank you, Acting Madam Chair.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

And Acting Clerk.

Your turn next, Brian.

Oh, really? Okay.

Okay, have a good night, everyone.

Thank you. And thanks for your help, Kit.

Have a good night.

Okay.