By Adam Swift
The zoning board of appeals (ZBA) approved a special permit and variances for a nine-unit apartment development at a former funeral home at 123 Washington Ave. at its regular meeting last week.
The project includes one commercial space on the bottom floor, which will likely be used as office space, according to project attorney Anthony Rossi.
At the request of the planning board, the developer made several changes to the project from the original plans that were initially presented to the ZBA.
“We went in front of the planning board on two occasions, and they made numerous requests for changes and modifications,” said Rossi. “They didn’t want to see two retail stores in the front, so we reduced it to one retail. They also wanted to see larger units, to have more families available.”
The nine units include one four-bedroom, six three-bedrooms, and one one-bedroom.
“So now we have seven units that are three or four bedrooms, which is quadruple the size of what we originally proposed, but we incorporated a lot of the large retail into the residential,” said Rossi. “Aesthetically, … if you look at the structure now, … it blends more with the neighborhood. They wanted to create those bumpouts, going all the way down, which we did.”
There are 11 parking spaces for the project, which makes it compliant with zoning, Rossi said. He noted that there would likely be a lower traffic impact on the neighborhood than there was with the funeral home.
The front of the building in the new plan was also brought out further to make the retail space more accessible, Rossi said.
“I actually think it came out as a prettier site, and it goes more with the neighborhood,” said Rossi.
In other business, the board continued a public hearing on a proposed conversion of a three-unit building at 46-48 Library St. to a future meeting.
The developers of a proposed 67-unit development at 320 Revere Beach Parkway withdrew their proposal without prejudice so that they could submit it at a future date when there will be a full ZBA to hear cases.
The board also heard from Frantz Noel concerning his catering business at 103 Broadway and his request for the extension of the current use of a catering service to also include fast food restaurant take-out delivery service to individual customers. That proposal will be before the planning board later this month before coming back to the ZBA for a potential vote in February.