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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
 Posted - 09/18/2008 : 10:22:05 PM
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I went back and picked up this week's Independent again today. In the classified section, there was a legal notice for a Board of Appeals hearing on October 6th at 7:00 PM in the Keverian Room, One of the items on the agenda was a hearing for variances that would be required for plans submitted for the redevelopment of the Devens School. The hearing will address a number of violations of zoning laws that were uncovered by the building department in its review of the plans for the rehab of the building. Some of them should be expected given the size of building versus the size of the lot; I ultimately don't think that those type of problems will be an issue in this case. Some of the violations are related to parking spaces but there is no violation listed that said there were not enough planned parking spaces. There was no mention of how many parking spaces there will be on the site either.
There are two issues in particular that appear in the hearing notice that I believe could be a problem. The first is that submitted plan is not for 25 units. That's all that the violation says. Earlier in the notice, it is noted that the plan was supposed to be for 25 units and the BOA's approval was for 22 units. So I'm not sure what all that means. Due to the way that it's worded, you just can't tell. I guess that we'll have to wait until the hearing to find out for sure.
The second violation that could be a problem is with the curb cut they are requesting for their driveway on the Liberty Street side. They want a curb cut of 110'; the maximum allowable under current zoning is 30'. What this means to me is that they are asking for the elimination of three to four street parking spaces on Liberty Street. I'm not sure how that will go over with the residents of the area.
I did a little reconnaissance of the area myself tonight. Liberty Street is one-sided parking and it's currently on the school side. Most of the houses have driveways. There are no trees in the area of the school that would have to be removed in order to support this curb cut. When I went by tonight, there was only one car parked in the area of the school and there was some other street spaces that weren't occupied. Not living there, I don't know how typical this; therefore, it's hard to guess what the impact of losing spaces might mean.
The parking situation in the area will depend on a number of things. The present situation must be taken into account. The number of units in the building which, from above, is a little unclear. The number of on-site spaces allocated per unit. I think that .5 car per unit was what I heard in prior meetings. This was supposed to be acceptable because of the age restriction of the residents. The real problem is the actual number of spaces that the development needs won't really be known until people move in. The requirements could fluctuate over time as residents move in and out of the as well.
One idea that could be considered that could help to keep everybody somewhat happy would be to move the one-side parking to the other side of the the street. I don't know what the net gain or loss of parking spaces might be if that were done; but, it might be something they could do if the residents were willing to consider it.
Again I'm not a resident of the area but I thought that I'd share the information that I found with them (if any of them happen to stop by here) and let them decide what to do for themselves.
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Edited by - tetris on 09/18/2008 10:23:18 PM |
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tetris
Moderator
2040 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2008 : 9:45:36 PM
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A couple of updates since my original post.
I may have resolved the issue with the number of units. In the Advocate thread, I found a reference to the article published when the purchase and sales agreement was signed. It stated that the number of units was set at 19 and that the existing tenants will remain. Not having seen any plans, I can't be sure; but it's as good an explanation of the Building Department's issue as any.
Now that we some idea of units there will be, it's possible to take a closer look at how much on-site parking there might be. It would certainly appear that the developer has gone forward with the assumption that he will only be required to have .5 parking spaces per unit. Parking spaces must be a minimum of 18' x 9'. Since they are looking for 110' curb, there would be the possibility for up to 12 parking spaces on the Liberty Street side. However, when a parking area is designated for more than five cars, the total area must allow for 275' square feet per car. Since the math works out so nicely (11 * 25 = 275), it might be a good assumption that the actual number of parking spaces in that area wiil be 11. Without seeing the plan, it is difficult to know if there are any other areas of the lot where on-site parking is being considered. |
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Board of Appeals
