[Mike Caldera]: Hello and welcome to this regular meeting of the Medford Zoning Board of Appeals. We're going to take a quick roll call and then we'll get started. Andre Larue?
[Andre Leroux]: Present.
[Mike Caldera]: Christy Avetta? Here. Mary Lee?
[Mary Lee]: Present.
[Mike Caldera]: Mike Caldera is present. I believe Yvette Velez and Jim Tirani are both absent today. So we have four, which is a quorum. and so we can get started. Dennis, can you please kick us off?
[Denis MacDougall]: 121 2nd Street, continue from June 26, 2025. Applicant and owner, Panagiotis Mamounas, to replace an existing single-family building with a two-family building in the general residence zoning district allowed use with insufficient lot size, width, and coverage, and front yard setbacks per the City of Manfred's Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 94, Table B, Table of Dimensional Requirements.
[Mike Caldera]: All right. Hi, good evening. How are you?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Mute your speaker, please. Not your microphone, but your speaker. Sorry, we have multiple computers in our office here. So I'm just asking them to mute so we won't have a reverb.
[Mike Caldera]: Oh, yeah.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Sorry. My first time. Mr. Chair, tell me what to do.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, absolutely. Welcome. I just want to point one thing out. So we did continue this matter from our prior meeting, but since we didn't hear any testimony, it's effectively a fresh case for us. So we have four members present, which is a quorum for the relief you're seeking. So anyways, welcome and please go ahead.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Thank you very much. So we are seeking to RAISE is a structure that was built in and around 1920. The plot of land was created in 1919. The structure itself is 1920. It sits on a corner lot of Second Street and Henley Streets. And we are looking to take down the structure and build a two-family. My client is also proposing four parking places as well, so it is parking compliant. I always start with that because I know that's one of the most important things to people is the parking. So, you know, one of the things that we wanted to, I did put together a new zoning chart, because we, the building commissioner wanted both front side of second Avenue, second street, and Henley Street so I did give that to the city as well as our new architectural drawings. per feedback as well from the commissioner. So what you have before you today, and I think our architect is here as well, Mr. Frangos. Bill, are you around?
[Mike Caldera]: I do see a Bill on the call, so that might be the architect.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Can you hear me? Hello? Yeah, I can hear you.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Yes. Hi, Bill.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Hi, how are you, DeeDee?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Good.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Welcome.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: So I just want to make sure he's on point to walk through the project. But I just kind of want to describe the neighborhood a bit. It is right off the Fellsway, about a block off the Fellsway. It is surrounded by single-family homes, but the majority of homes that it surrounds are two-family homes, including right next door and right across the street. And it actually has 4,350 square feet of space on that lot, whereas it would make it one of the larger lots for a two family. Most of the two families are in the 36 to 3,900 range on the block. So it's going to be very consistent with the neighborhood itself. They're on the odd side of Second Street. went to the GIS map to look at both the whole neighborhood as a whole. And just on the odd side of second, there is 15 houses, seven of which are already two families, and the entirety of the backside of that lot on First Street, both sides. of First Street also have all two families, including all across the street from our property on Henley. So we just want to make sure that we're not proposing anything that's out of the ordinary for the block. And so with that, we're proposing a duplex style that has four bedrooms, two baths, and two half baths. parking compliant with two tandem spaces, four spaces altogether. With that, I'm going to turn it over to my expert, Mr. Fringos.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Hello. Yeah. As David mentioned, it's a two-family and We are, yeah, she mentioned the park and I don't know if there's any questions other than which she had described.
[Mike Caldera]: So we'd love it if you could show us the plans and walk us through what's proposed.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, unfortunately, I didn't last minute. I thought we're gonna have a meeting. I didn't realize it was gonna be zoom tool.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Am I am I allowed to drive the bus here? I will be more than happy to.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, you you're Yeah, absolutely.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: I thought Mr. Chair, do I have to be able to share my screen?
[Mike Caldera]: Um, If not, Dennis will grant you that permission. Attorney Edmondson, you're all set.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Okay. Thank you, sir. Um, I didn't know if you wanted to drive the bus, Dennis or me. So, but I have both. So, um, I'm just gonna share my screen here. Maybe. All right.
[Unidentified]: Maybe.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: All right. OK. So Bill, I'll be glad to control it if you want to walk through. This is the first floor in the basement.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: The plan on the right of this sheet, on the left-hand side of that right side plan, there's an indented area. That's the main entry on Henley Street. The common wall intersects that indented area. you know, the first unit, let's say on the top portion of the plan and the second unit on the lower portion, they're identical, you know, they're mirror images. Um, so basically you walk in, um, if you walk in, you know, the front stair, it's, it is elevated. You come up to a landing and you enter, um, the doors within that covered, indented entry area, the portico, let's call it. And so you see the stair going upstairs, and then you have the living room and the dining area, and then the kitchen in the back. And yeah, half bath and storage area, that sort of thing. There's also the deck opposite Henley Street is like a small deck to exit with a stair. Adjacent to that is a wealth to enter to the basement portion of that unit.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: This is the basement?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Yes, so if you take the stair down, you enter the living area, bedroom, bath and closet storage.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: So just to summarize, first floor, we have the living area with the kitchen and the dining room. in the basement area, there will be two bathrooms with a half bath and a full bath or just a half bath, Bill?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: It's a full bath in the basement.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Okay. The half bath is on the first floor. Excellent. And then we're going to go to the second.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. I thought you were referring to the basement.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: And so these are the second and third floors?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: This is the, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm looking at, yeah, these are the second and third floors.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Where the master bedroom is on the second floor and with another bedroom?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Correct, yeah. And then two full baths?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: One full bath and a half bath. Yeah. All right, and then on the top floor, you have another bath and a suite up here.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I apologize, because I'm looking at my phone. I can't zoom in. Wait a minute. Let me just. So actually, there are two full baths. There's no half bath on that second floor.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: OK.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah. And yeah, there are two bedrooms. On the attic level, yeah, on the third floor level, there's, yeah, another bedroom, like a living area. You know, it's all one area. It's like a studio.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Like a loft area.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, correct. And, yeah, there's a full bath, storage, mechanical. There's also like porches on each side, you know, mirroring each other, outdoor decks that are covered porches.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Okay. Move everybody over to the left here. Here we go. This is the roof plan and area plans.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Correct.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Runoff and drainage. Here's a prettier picture of what it's supposed to look like. Is this the front view? This is the front view off Henley.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, off Henley, correct, with that entry over there. Or to go correct. Yep.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: You got those two side view from looking at it from second street.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Correct. Yes.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: And then one other thing I'd like to show this is I know the parking. Let me just make this a little bit larger for everybody. So we have, this is the tandem spots. Right now, there is a big garage here. And it can hold basically one car, maybe two if it's a really small second car. But this will take this off the, be parking compliant for the space. And does anybody would like, I can also pull up the plot plan as well, if you would like to see the plot plan.
[Mike Caldera]: Before we do that, I'll just check in with the board. Do we have questions so far from members of the board? Andre, go ahead.
[Andre Leroux]: Could you just point out where the utilities are? Were they in the basement?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: third floor and possibly in the basement as well, the storage area, but that's, there's the potential to have it. I do have it currently in the third floor.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: I'm just going to enlarge the third floor so the gentlemen can see the mechanical room here.
[Andre Leroux]: You just need to share your screen again.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Oh, I guess I should. My apologies. All right, here we go. So here's a larger version. I'm just going to enlarge it just a tad here so we can see the mechanical room and storage on the third floor. And also, I can move to the basement as well when you tell me to.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, and currently, as intended, it's on the third floor. But yeah, it can possibly be on the basement level.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: And here's the basement level. And so we could recreate these two rooms to be a mechanical as well.
[Andre Leroux]: OK, thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Other questions from the board so far?
[Chris D'Aveta]: Mr. Chair, if I may. Yes, please go ahead. Could we throw up a site plan of the whole property?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Yes, sir. Hold on just one second, let me pull that up. Just to make sure, is everybody seeing plot plans right now?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Okay. I love it when technology works. So this is the current plot plan as it stands on, as the current structure is located. This is the current one and a half story dwelling. And here's the garage. And then go down to here. Here is our proposed prop plan with the current proposed building and the proposed driveway.
[Mike Caldera]: Chris, do you have specific questions about that, or did you just want to see it?
[Chris D'Aveta]: Yes, Mr. Chair. I was going to ask later, but perhaps the applicant can explain the relief required along the setbacks and the reasoning for it.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely. Let me just pull up my, my zoning chart. I think I always want to lead with that because that is, I don't know if you have it, I've just submitted it recently but I'm just going to pull this up. Helps me to answer your question more fully, sir. So here's our zoning chart. Everything that is needed as far as a variance is concerned is denoted with a V next to it. The three issues that really can't be changed about the property, because it was created in 1919, are the lot area, the lot width, and the lot depth, depending on the front. you will, you know, if this one right here, it depends on if you want to do the front on Henley or the front on, on, you know, is the lot depth that, but these are the three kind of unchangeable parts of the, of the thing itself. Right now, as it stands, it is a non-conforming structure as to front yard. Our proposal is if it is fronted on second, it's, it needs a variance. If it's fronted on Henley, it does not need a variance. So that is one there will be as needed. The side yard, right and left, the requirement is 7.5. We're at 7.7 and 7.8, 0.2 and 0.3. We are good on the left-hand side. In the rear yard, it's already nonconforming at 3.5 feet. We are, depending on where you're fronting it, we're actually making it, we're trying to bring it more into compliance for bringing it 19 if you're fronting on second and 7.7 feet if you're going to front it on Henley, it's definitely better than 3.5. And those are the major, those are the variances that we're going to need. And also, of course, I didn't put a V down here as well, the lot coverage. We're right We were right at almost the max, and we're just going a little over the max limit. You know, but everything is changeable if need be. We were just talking about if we need to have less massing, we can. But, you know, we're, those are the, variances that we are seeking. I do have a memo that explains everything more fully, but we're seeking relief to build a two family because it is part of the neighborhood. And it is just with a few variances, just a few things off. We can't do anything about the lot area, lot depth, but that is very similar to everything in the neighborhood as far as lot size, it's even bigger. So we're hoping that, you know, two family housing is needed. We think it's smart density to build this way on a lot, and it's a better use of the lot. And, you know, we are hampered by what was created in 1919, essentially. We can increase a lot, but, you know, we feel like it's a better use, higher use for both the neighborhood and the city as well. And that's why we come to you today.
[Mike Caldera]: All right. Other questions from the board? I could go next. I think you mentioned at the outset of the presentation that there are a lot of two families in that area. So can we maybe look through the neighborhood and just get an understanding of where the two families are? Certainly.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: May I just pull up the GIS map? I'm going to stop sharing this and I'm just going to pull up the GIS map for the city. I have that ready for you and I'll be glad to, you know, take that around if you need to go more than just right on the block. Excuse me, I'm trying to share here. All right. Okay. So this is our... Sorry, what's up? Nothing. OK, so this is kind of like the 10,000 foot view. This is our subject property right here. I'm just going to zoom in just a bit so everybody gets their bearings. Here is the Fells Way, second street, first street. And so we're right here. This is the closest to family right here. Sorry, let me get that out of the way. abutting the property every and just going to move this just a little bit. All these properties along First Street are all two families. All the properties along Henley Street are also two families. So we're here. And of the 15 properties on the odd side of second street um we have there's seven that are currently two families all of these right here um and so we're just seeking to be um the two family right here to be the eighth um we if you do i know that you received a letter from an abutter um this is the property in question that they're talking about they also um It is a one family, but it also has an in-law in the back. But they are also abutted by two families. This is a three family over here, going towards the fellows way. So I think I counted around 45 in the neighborhood. Just on these two blocks alone, there's 30. And then over here, there's eight. And then there's the seven up here.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, thank you. I see the building commissioner has his hand raised. Uh, Commissioner Vanderbilt.
[Scott Vandewalle]: Yeah, I do have a question. I'm looking at these drawings a little bit more carefully here, and I see the third floor looks like a full story in a zone, which is 2.5 stories. Can someone explain that difference to me?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: I, um, I'll think. Let my architect take that one.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, what was explained to me to determine not to be a half story, if I'm understanding correctly, is that you can't exceed 50% of the area below the second floor, let's call it. The third floor has to be like 50% and at seven feet above the third floor, you know, the roof cut would determine the area, but you could exclude storage, the area stairs, that sort of thing. It's just the living area that would be designated as habitable.
[Scott Vandewalle]: And I'm going to disagree with that because we don't look at as habitably look as occupiable and typically storage areas will be included in those formulas. Without a cross cut section it's hard to tell the porches would be a part of that as well. I was.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, I was told, and maybe I misunderstood, but it was mentioned to me that storage can be excluded, so we're open air. Although it's covered, I don't know if that has any impact on it. It's a part of the floor plan. Misunderstand on my part possibly, but.
[Scott Vandewalle]: Well, again, without a cross section, I can't really tell because you certainly got beds and other things way over in that space. And so it's just steep pitch on that roof. I guess I'm questioning if you have an appropriate half story there. And if you don't need additional relief in terms of variance to allow that.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Mike, I was just speaking with my client who's here with me. Mr. Commissioner, we will redraw to make it the half story or just take off the bedroom altogether and make it just mechanical on the third.
[Scott Vandewalle]: That's fine. The only question I would have is if the board would approve this tonight, these become the drawings of record. And I don't want anybody misperceived that you would get an approval for a full three-story if they come back later. So I think that needs to be clarified before the board makes any final decision. That's just my recommendation.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah. In general, if there's going to be material changes to a plan, I don't intend to vote on it. I think we would have to continue in that case. Andrea, I saw you raised your hand.
[Andre Leroux]: Yeah. The other question in that vein was, I think, the rear setback, which it looks like it is from the back of the house, not from the back of the porch. So just questioning that.
[Scott Vandewalle]: Well, porches under a certain size are excluded from that math.
[Andre Leroux]: But even if it's a covered porch?
[Scott Vandewalle]: There's a definition of what's a rear yard and what's a side yard, and it excludes porches, decks of certain dimensions, not to exceed certain dimensions. For example, not to exceed more than one third of the face of the thing, and some of those types of conditions. It's kind of an awkwardly written paragraph in the zoning, but I did look at that, and I felt that they fell within the criteria allowed. Okay.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Mr. Commissioner.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, thank you. Um, just back to my earlier question. I just, um, want to pair it back what I think I heard. So essentially, in the district on First Street, All of the properties are two family. On Henley, that's the case. On Fellsway, that's the case. On the other side, or on the odd side, but other half of 2nd Street, that's the case. It seems like the even side of 2nd Street is the primary street in the area where it's one family. So there's this little pocket of one family in a district that's mostly two family. Did I understand that correctly?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Just as a point of clarification about the it's from the backyard setback as far as the one for if you're fronting on second street or the left The right yard is 7.7. It comes from the corner of the dwelling, proposed dwelling, not from the porch. I can pull up the plot plan just to clarify that for you.
[Mike Caldera]: Got it. 7.7 from the corner. Okay, and so then because it's fronting Henley in this proposal, the requirement would be 15, correct?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Yes, sir. Okay.
[Mike Caldera]: Commissioner Vanderbilt, did you have another comment or is your hand just still up?
[Scott Vandewalle]: I did have a comment. We're gonna view frontage as the street on which the front door predominantly faces. So that would be Henley, I believe.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Henley.
[Scott Vandewalle]: Yeah, that's how it'll be viewed.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
[Mike Caldera]: All right, well, Attorney Edmondson, so the building commissioner's point about the third floor, whether it's a half story or a full story, that does change the relief being sought. If the intention is to update the plans, my recommendation would be to continue and we could resume the case once we see those updates, if you're not seeking a variance for a third story.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: We are definitely not seeking a variance for a third story. Thank you for your graciousness. I will confer with my client and Mr. Architect. I just ask, I might give you a call, Mr. Commissioner, just to make sure we're on the same page. We're going by what your indications.
[Scott Vandewalle]: And that's fine. We're in the office and we've been sort of going through some training to understand how we define that. And that's been the common standard that if it's occupiable, which includes all kinds of stuff. Habitable, technically, in the codes and stuff is defined as not including bathroom and storage. So we look at it as occupiable. If you can walk into it to do something, it's generally considered needing to have its proper ceiling heights, and it's counted in the footages.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: But also, I would like to, you know, if this is, if there are other things from your board, you know, comments, How did they feel about the project? If there's anything else that we need to change while we go back to the drawing board, please let us know. Now, I just want to make sure that my client and also my architect hears everybody's feedback before we adjourn our case.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, that makes sense. To that point, I would be inclined to open public comment before we continue so you can get that feedback as well. I'll reopen it, assuming we do continue, I'll reopen it in the next session of the hearing. But yeah, I just want to make sure we don't inadvertently, to your point, hold back feedback that's helpful for you to have. So does that sound reasonable?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: I appreciate that, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay great well so then before I open it for public comment any directional like asks or suggestions from the board we're not deliberating but maybe you know yeah go ahead Andre.
[Andre Leroux]: Thanks. Um, you know, we're not a design review board, but you might want to just consider trying to. Make the property a little bit more contextual with the rest of the properties, the 2 families in the neighborhood. Uh, it's a significantly different kind of a building you're proposing here. So. you know, not to tell you one way or the other, but it would make it, I think, a lot more acceptable to the neighborhood if it fit in a little better.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_06]: Yeah, understood.
[Mike Caldera]: Thanks, Andre. Other thoughts from the board? Yeah, Chris.
[Chris D'Aveta]: If I may, Mr. Chair, just asking about the that the zoning requires, I can't recall what the percentage is. Does the building commissioner know off the top of his head?
[Scott Vandewalle]: Is this going to? I don't know what the percentage is, but I know if you increase the impervious area with a project by more than 200 square feet, engineering will push you into stormwater plan. So clearly, what was there versus what's going to be there clearly appears to exceed 200 square feet. Yeah.
[Chris D'Aveta]: And so a lot of these, I think, well, we're just dealing with this case. But I think that that may be an area you want to explore. I don't know how much of that the building department You can get some guidance on that.
[Mike Caldera]: Actually, so to that point, it's unclear to me if the proposed driveway here is pervious or impervious. So is there a material indicated on the plan? I can't really tell.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: There is not, Mr. Chair. If the board so chooses to want it to be permeable, it will be permeable.
[Mike Caldera]: It's required.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: It's required in zoning.
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, exactly. It's required in zoning. Yeah, so just because it's required, and since we're updating the plans anyway, I think just making it clear.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Also, all the other surfaces, too, if need be. If that is something that is very interesting, interested for the board, we will make sure to bring that forward in the next plan as well. If you want a small stormwater management plan as well.
[Scott Vandewalle]: If I might interject again, the engineering department in the review of this application did note that a stormwater permit will be required. So you will be preparing a stormwater plan engineered version for that department to review and approve.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Indeed. I just, we, you know, no time like the present to get started. And we can also get that to you if the board would like to see that. If not, that's great. But I thought I would offer it up.
[Mike Caldera]: Josh Triplett, City of Boulder, Clerk & City of Santa Cruz, Applicant Overview, City of Boulder for our approval, you're required to do it anyway. My thought is just, since you know today that you will need one, if any plan updates you make, if you could just reflect you know, the choices that will be required to comply. So that likely means some decision in terms of, you know, pervious surfaces. I don't think it could be an asphalt driveway without some other strategy. So if you could just, since you're updating the plans anyway, reflect that on the plan, it would just make things a bit more tangible for the board.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: No problem. Thank you, sir.
[Mike Caldera]: Other feedback from the board? Well, I'll just say for planning purposes, the thing that I'm going to be considering in deliberations, so in a GR district, there's a higher lot area requirement for two-unit versus a one-unit residence, and so this lot is smaller than the requirement for a one-unit. It is in a district where there's lots of similarly sized lots that are two-family, so it wouldn't be unique in that respect. In fact, it's maybe unique in that it's one of the few lots that single-family in the area. But then there's also this relationship to the even side of 2nd Street. So there is this pocket of single families, and you're proposing to change which street the property is fronting. So you're basically turning the side of the property to 2nd Street and across from this single-family row. You know, I'm not speaking to how that's going to affect my deliberation, but just I think to the earlier point, if you can do things in the design to ensure that, you know, architecturally it fits within that second street pocket, I think, you know, that would be an easier path for the board um you know to to find no substantial detriment and that might also alleviate some of the butter across the streets concerns thank you for that feedback mr chair all right well i'm not seeing anyone else from the board um who wants to speak at this time so like we discussed i will open it up to public comment. Just members of the public, a reminder, the intention here is to continue this case because the applicant wants to update their plans, but we do want to get your feedback. So, if you're a member of the public who would like to speak on this matter, you may do so now. You can raise your hand on Zoom. You can turn on your camera and raise your hand. You can type in the chat or you can email Dennis, dmcdougall at medford-ma.gov. All right. I'm not seeing any members of the public who would like to speak on this matter. So we did get the letter from the abutter, which the applicant has. So yeah, with that being said, any other topics we should discuss before the board votes to continue this matter? Okay, Attorney Edmondson-Crum, so is it all right if we continue to our next regular meeting?
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: Yes, Mr. Chair.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay. Chair awaits a motion to continue this matter to the next regular meeting of the board.
[Denis MacDougall]: Which for the record will be August 28th.
[Andre Leroux]: Motion to continue this matter to August 28th. Do I have a second?
[Mike Caldera]: All right, we're going to take a roll call. Mary? Aye. Chris? Aye. Andre? Aye. Mike, aye. All right, this matter is continued to next month. We'll see you then. Thanks, folks.
[MCM00001802_SPEAKER_02]: I just want to say thank you, Mr. Chair, and through you to your members for your feedback and everything. Thank you so much.
[Mike Caldera]: All right, Dennis, what's up next?
[Denis MacDougall]: 125 Monument Street, applicant and owner is Dana Kovacs and Alyssa Marshall to add a third floor at 125 Monument Street, which is an existing non-conforming structure in John Religions Zoning District, which is not allowed for the City of Medford Zoning Ordinance. This will also extend the existing non-conforming side yard setback requiring a special permit for the City of Medford Zoning Ordinance.
[Mike Caldera]: All right, great. I see we have the applicant present. Hello and welcome. Yes, hi. Hi, I'm Oliver Klein.
[SPEAKER_03]: Good evening to the board. Thanks for this opportunity to present to you this evening.
[Denis MacDougall]: Can I share slides? Hold on one second. I'm giving you access now.
[SPEAKER_03]: Okay. Where is that share button? There it is. Everyone seeing that OK? Yes. All right. And thanks again. Yeah, grateful for this opportunity to present this case to you this evening. My name's Oliver Klein. I'm a registered architect with New England Design and Construction, also known as NEDC. And we're representing Dana Kovacs and Elisa Marshall at 125 Monuments Street. Dan and Elisa, I believe, are still on this call. They've been residents of this community for almost 15 years, and I think they intend to stay here for a very long time if they can. With their two young boys outgrowing their shared bedroom, they came to NEDC for help, adding a third bedroom and a second bathroom to their house. Currently, the house only has one bathroom. that all of them share. After much consideration, they've decided to build upward to add living space with roof dormers to the existing finished attic. They feel that maintaining the current footprint will be the best outcome for their family and have the least detrimental impact on the property and on their finances. To that end, on behalf of the Kovacs Marshall family, I'm here again to seek zoning relief in the form of a variance to add that third story, as well as the special permit to extend the existing nonconformity at the side setback. We're seeking the variance because it's a relatively small added area, but that small area really transforms the third story interior spaces for the clients. The second floor is, you can see on the right here, actually that's not the proposed second floor, it is the existing second floor, or the same footprint as the existing second floor. And that's only 524 square feet. And so the half story limit for the story above, which is the third story, comes to only 262 square feet. A modest 72 square foot increase to 334 square feet, as is shown here by this boundary, gives the bedroom and bathroom areas a significant value add. The variance proposal exceeds the half story limit by only about 25%. But again, this allows for a real transformation of the space from very tight quarters to a more comfortable, livable space. And this is the space that Dana and Alisa want for their quality of life. Note that portions of the third-floor space at the gable ends that are not under the new dormers, and though they have head height, that is less than seven feet per the Medford building department. We're still counting these areas as part of the total. About half of that 70 square foot increase that we're proposing is taken up by circulation, 35 square feet of that for the stair and the landing. I'm sorry. Yeah, and this, of course, is a new code compliance stair. The existing stair was actually, as you can see, crammed into a very narrow place here. And it was very steep, very dangerous. And trying to expand the stair in that location would have been too disruptive to the bedrooms. So the only place to put that stair was on the outside, stacked above the existing stair from the first to the second floor. The stairs therefore shape the low pitch shed dormer on the north side of the structure. You can see here what we're proposing in terms of the elevations you see here. This is the stair-side dormer with the shallow roof pitch, but it's offset from the gable ends. both the front and the back. On the other side, on the bedroom side, opposite the stairs, we have included a proposal for a Nantucket dormer. This combination of gable and shed dormers really adds visual interest while aiming to satisfy the unwritten intent of the zoning code to avoid boxiness at the roof line. So while the dormers have some impact on the roof line from certain angles, the design preserves the street views. There we go. As much as possible, given the interior stair conditions and the roof ridge height is unchanged. And you can see here some renderings from various vantage points along Arlington Street and Monument Street that shows the really minimal impact on the street views from most locations along the street. Dana and Lisa reached out to their neighbors and put together a webpage that they then shared with all their butters and neighbors within uh, 300 feet. Uh, and they got overwhelming support for this proposal and for the aesthetics and the, uh, the dormers, uh, including from the direct butters. Uh, so again, sampling of some of the messages that they received and summary, uh, we're, we're seeking this zoning relief to allow the Kovacs Marshall family to make a reasonable expansion uh, we feel it'd be a reasonable expansion of their home on the third floor, uh, while preserving the character of the neighborhood. We believe that this addition, uh, that we're proposing aligns with the spirit of the zoning ordinance and, and compliments the existing structure.
[Mike Caldera]: Just one clarifying question. So the abutter in support, that's the abutter on the side with the larger of the two dormers?
[SPEAKER_00]: Actually, so we have support from both abutters, both neighbors on either side of us, as well as two neighbors across the street. And then two houses down from our house on both sides also have sent emails of support.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can forward all of those. I had them forward them to me at first because I didn't know where they should go, but we can forward all of those emails to you as well.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, great. Thanks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hi, thank you very much. My name's Elisa. Sorry. Thank you very much for receiving us here today.
[Mary Lee]: Hi, I'm Dana.
[Mike Caldera]: All right. Do we have questions from the board so far?
[Mary Lee]: So, um, this Mary, so the photo that we saw before is the proposed extension after the extension, right? Yeah, that's correct. Yes. Thank you.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, these, these are, uh, computer renderings of, of the proposal and you can see here in this photo, uh, the, uh, Nantucket dormer on the South side and, uh, here, the, The stair dormer needs to be all the way to the wall and also shallow to maintain the seven foot required ceiling height all the way to the stair landing. And it will be on both sides. There'd be a dormer on both sides. Yes. So you're seeing, uh, on this again, uh, I could go back to, uh, this, uh, the elevations, which don't sell a full story, but they do show that yes, there's dormers on both sides, uh, in order to, uh, provide enough, uh, enough space, uh, for, for the, a new bedroom and new bathroom up there, as well as the stair going out on the side there.
[Mary Lee]: Thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Other questions from the board? I saw it in your application, but I don't think you presented on it yet. So the lot itself is somewhat unusual. So can we maybe talk through that together?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yes. I do have a... I can also bring up the ZVA plan set, but I think this might show enough detail what we're talking about. Sorry about that. But you can see here quite an elongated lot, quite narrow to begin with, and it narrows to just a few feet at the southern end there. But at the back of the house, between the side setbacks, it narrows to just about 22 feet.
[Unidentified]: Okay, thank you.
[SPEAKER_03]: And you can see the rooms adjoining that the back end of the house there are the kitchen, which has a slider opening up to the backyard where there's currently a deck. And there's also a window from the dining room opening up to that backyard. And of course, these windows are taking advantage of the south facing exposure.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, thank you. Other questions from the board? Not seeing any, so we can go ahead and open it up to public comment. If you're a member of the public who'd like to speak on this matter, you may do so now. So you can raise your hand on Zoom, turn on your camera and raise your hand. You can type in the chat or you can email Dennis. Right. I'm not seeing any members of the public who would like to speak on this matter. I know a lot of the abutters already responded, so it would be great to get that sent to Dennis so he can put it in the folder. But seeing no additional comments from members of the public, chair awaits a motion to close the public portion of the hearing and enter deliberations. Motion? Seconded. All right, we'll take a roll call. Chris? Andre? Aye. Gary? Aye. Mike? Aye. All right, so the board is now deliberating. What do you think, folks?
[Unidentified]: If I may, Mr. Chair,
[Chris D'Aveta]: The deck in the back is new, or is that existing?
[SPEAKER_03]: It's an existing deck. OK. I don't know the age of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We bought the house 15 years ago, and the house came with the deck. So it is at least 15 years old. I believe it was built in 1984, if I remember correctly, from the previous owner.
[Chris D'Aveta]: Thank you. I just wanted to know if it was part of the project. Thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: All right, so what do you think, folks?
[Denis MacDougall]: Can you jump, get off the shirts room so everyone can sort of see each other? Sure. Thanks. Andre, go ahead.
[Andre Leroux]: Thanks, Mike. Yeah, I think that this is a very sensitively done plan. I really appreciate the design. They're not expanding the footprint of an existing building anyway, so it's really minimizing the impact on their neighbors. And I think it's You know, it's a very well designed and proposed project. So, I think this is this is exactly in keeping with the kind of zoning changes that, uh, and projects that the city is trying to encourage. And I think incremental. growth like this is very helpful. And I think in terms of the variance, it makes much more sense to do this on the third floor because of the shape of the lot than in any other location, which would have much more impact on the abutters.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you, Andre. Other thoughts from the board?
[Chris D'Aveta]: Yeah, I would like to agree with that sentiment, although I do have a question for the building commissioner. This is a GR district, is it? It is. And so the same questions that we just were discussing for the prior application on the third floor, this is considered a third floor now because it's beyond the 50%
[Scott Vandewalle]: Yeah, there's more than 50% of the areas above seven feet. We went round and round with this particular project and ultimately said, you know, if you're going to go before the board for a special permit for the other stuff, you might as well ask for what you want and call it what it is, a third floor and ask for permission for it. So yes, similar arguments.
[Chris D'Aveta]: Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify. I don't have an objection to that. I'm just wondering vis-a-vis our prior discussion. All right.
[Andre Leroux]: The one thing I would just say about that that for me makes it a little bit different is that the other project is not using the original footprint of the house. So and it's using dormers. So it's not going up. It's not like building a full third story. It's really just putting some dormers on to, you know, what's already there.
[Mike Caldera]: Right. Other thoughts.
[Mary Lee]: Mary, anything you'd like to add? I tend to agree with all the sentiments expressed. So I think it's a nice proposal.
[Mike Caldera]: OK, yeah, I'll share my thoughts. I was a little worried about this stair dormer, but the butter seems fine with it. And certainly the shape and position of the existing structure and the shape of the lot impose a lot of constraints. So I think if you change the height of the roof, it wouldn't blend in as well with the neighboring properties. So that limits what's possible. And yeah, I do agree. So in this case, the narrow shape of the lot led to a narrow shape of the structure. And so that's pretty limiting in terms of what you could do with a half story. And so I tend to agree. I'm not seeing any substantial detriment from allowing that space to go beyond the 50%, especially with the neighbors supporting. So yeah, overall, I think this meets the no substantial detriment standard for the special permit to extend the existing nonconformity. And then I think it meets the unusual shape standard for the variance. So no concerns on my side. Other thoughts from the board? Okay, Chair awaits a motion on this matter.
[Andre Leroux]: Motion to approve the special permit and variance for 125 Monument Street. Do we have a second? Second.
[Mike Caldera]: All right, we'll take a roll call. Chris? Aye. Mary? Aye. Andre?
[Andre Leroux]: Aye.
[Mike Caldera]: Mike? Aye. All right, so the special permit and the variance are approved. You have your third story.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you ever so much. Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Denis MacDougall]: Thank you to the board. Thank you to the board, yes. And just to give you a sort of heads up on what's the next step. So what happens is that I'll be writing up the decision. Luckily for you, we've had a number of similar type projects. So I have kind of a boilerplate sort of thing to work off of. So I'm going to write that up, and then it'll still get checked by legal counsel. Once they come back and say everything's Jake, then I send it up for signatures to the board. At that point, once we get the signatures, I file it in the clerk's office. And at that point, starts the 20 days appeals period from there. So it'll be a little while before the decision is done and then filed. And then once it's filed, I'll let you all know that it's done. You'll get a copy. That 20 days, if there's no appeals, Um, you can basically then, then you have to come into city hall and get a letter from the clerk's office saying there were no appeals. Take that letter and the decision to the registry, file it, and then you come back and you get your permit. So, but I'll walk you through all that beforehand and Scott, you can jump in if I misrepresented anything.
[Scott Vandewalle]: No, but I do want to suggest that you go ahead and file the building permit meanwhile, so it can begin to go through its review. All I, I'm not, this doesn't forbid me from looking at it. It only prevents me from issuing an actual permit. So if we're going through these two processes concurrently, when you get to the end of your appeal period, you should be in a position to get a building permit very immediately, but do both at the same time.
[Chris D'Aveta]: Thank you for the advice. Thank you so much.
[Scott Vandewalle]: Thank you very much. All right. Thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Good night.
[Chris D'Aveta]: Good night.
[Mike Caldera]: All right. Dennis, what's next?
[Denis MacDougall]: 268 Gaston Street. Applicant in order, Stephen Skyer, to install an addition at 268 Gaston Street within the side yard setback, extending the existing side yard setback nonconformity, which is not allowed per the City of Medford zoning ordinance chapter 94 table of initial requirements.
[Mike Caldera]: All right. I see we have Stephen Skyer here. Welcome.
[SPEAKER_11]: How you doing? My name is Steve Sherry. What was that?
[Denis MacDougall]: I mispronounced your name. Apologies.
[SPEAKER_11]: No, it's okay. I get it a lot. The existing house, it's a one-story, it's a cave style with two bedrooms upstairs and eaves as storage spaces for now. The house was built in 1953. My grandfather is the one that actually built the house. And then in 2018, I had purchased it, uh, purchased the house and now me and my wife live here, um, for the past two years. Um, so we are looking to hear off the roof, um, the two bedrooms and go straight up and make three bedrooms, um, and a bathroom, um, and a dropdown attic. So I can share the screen. and show you guys the plans. We are going with SL House Architect. I think you guys might, I know they did a lot of jobs in Medford before. Are you able to see the screen?
[SPEAKER_11]: Okay. This is just a overall look at what the house looks from the outside now. This upper right-hand side, you go scroll down. This is the existing first floor. Walk in, you have your living room, a bedroom that's labeled office, but then you have your kitchen, dining room, all combined in one bathroom. existing right now and then upstairs you have the two bedrooms and then your eaves and a small little like a linen closet. So what we're trying to do or trying to build is the three bedrooms, an additional bathroom upstairs with a walk-in closet. Closets obviously for all three bedrooms and it'll be a drop-down attic. We aren't building out left or right. or towards the street or back, we're just going straight up. And that's really most of the project. It's not too detailed. I do have a plot plan if you guys want me to pull that up.
[Mike Caldera]: Yes, please. I think that would just help us understand on conformity.
[SPEAKER_11]: So I think the non-conformity was that seven feet on my left-hand side. Okay.
[Mike Caldera]: So are you going to pull up the plot plan?
[SPEAKER_11]: Yeah. Can you see it?
[Denis MacDougall]: No, it hasn't switched over from the other, from the architecture. Okay.
[SPEAKER_11]: That work? Yes, now we see it. So yeah, that left-hand side, that's seven feet. It's a walkway on my left-hand side that just goes to the backyard. I know you guys had mentioned like the deck in that last proposal. Nothing's being changed for the deck and like a bulkhead that we have in the backyard. It's just the existing foundation that we're going over.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, got it. So the requirements seven and a half foot, and then the building is a little bit rotated. And so at the shortest point, it's seven foot.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it goes from seven nine down to seven feet. And I know that the conformity is seven and a half. Okay.
[Mike Caldera]: Questions from the board?
[Andre Leroux]: So this is just a special permit situation to extend the existing non-conformities, is that right?
[Mike Caldera]: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Oh, yeah. The standard's no substantial detriment.
[Andre Leroux]: Yeah. Yeah, thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Other questions from the board?
[Chris D'Aveta]: All right, seeing none. Oh, I had one, Mr. Chair. Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry. Just what is the proposed height to the top of the gable? I can bring that up. You see that there? I think it switched screens there. Oh, yeah. I see it. Oh, it's not that tall. OK.
[SPEAKER_11]: All right. I think it's eight, just under nine foot ceilings that we're adding on the second floor.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay. Other questions from the board? All right. I do not see any, so I'm going to open it up to public comment. If you're a member of the public and would like to speak on this matter, you may do so now. You can raise your hand on Zoom, turn on your camera and raise your hand. type in the chat or you can email Dennis. I'm not seeing any members of the public who would like to speak on this matter. So chair awaits a motion to close the public portion of the hearing and enter deliberations.
[Andre Leroux]: So moved. Motion. Do we have a second? Second.
[Mike Caldera]: OK. We'll take a roll call. Chris? Aye. Andre?
[Andre Leroux]: Aye.
[Mike Caldera]: Gary? Aye. Mike? Aye. All right, we're deliberating. What do you think, folks? Go ahead, Andre.
[Andre Leroux]: Thanks, Mike. Yeah, this is, uh, I think another situation where, uh, we're using it's the existing footprint, you know, or accommodating, uh, growing young family able to stay in the city. And, uh, it's, I think not out of context with other properties in the area, it's, uh, not higher than what is required. And, um, I don't see any detriment at all to the project.
[Mike Caldera]: Right, other thoughts from the board?
[Chris D'Aveta]: Yeah, I like this design as well. And it's not so much the design as the fact that the owner and architect have worked within the parameters. And they're just raising the gable to a point where it's not even actually close to what the limit, I guess, is in that area. It's a good project to me. All right. Other thoughts?
[Mary Lee]: And I would tend to agree with what everyone else already said on this project.
[Mike Caldera]: All right. Yeah, I agree. So the existing nonconformity itself is de minimis. It's six inches from this being a bi-rate project. The project itself looks nice. It fits with the neighborhood. So I'm not seeing any substantial detriment here. So I think this makes sense to me as well. All right. Chair awaits a motion on the special permit.
[Chris D'Aveta]: Motion to approve the special permit for 268 Gaston Street. Second. Second.
[Mike Caldera]: All right, we're going to take a roll call. Mary? Andre?
[SPEAKER_03]: Aye.
[Mike Caldera]: Chris? Aye. Mike? Aye. All right, the special permit is approved.
[SPEAKER_11]: Thank you. I do have a quick question. for the building department. I know that I had submitted and applied for a special permit already along with original or just a building permit as well. And then I already I know I had reached out to some other officials through city hall that had made me apply for like a dumpster and sanitation unit and all that stuff. So, I'm kind of moving along quickly here just because as I'm trying to, we're trying to. we're trying to get going or just try to do it as quickly as possible before winter, but I know it does take some time and there's a process that needs to be followed. As a homeowner, is there a way that I could get a demo permit and start as soon as I can while I wait for this to be all approved and actually have a permit in hand, or I'm just trying to get ideas from you guys.
[Scott Vandewalle]: I think that's a conversation we have to have with the inspector who's reviewing it. The biggest challenge to that might be the historical commission. And I don't know if they've reached out to you on your building permit application.
[SPEAKER_11]: I think they, I'll confirm, but I think I got an email like two days ago saying that was approved.
[Scott Vandewalle]: Okay. Again, come in and have a conversation with the inspector who's reviewing your application and work something out with him. That is a possibility. As long as we're on the same page about how we're doing it.
[SPEAKER_11]: Okay. And how do I find out what, who that inspector is?
[Scott Vandewalle]: Just come into the office and we'll pull it up on a machine. It should tell you. Okay.
[SPEAKER_11]: That's yeah, it's the only question I got.
[Mike Caldera]: So you still want to just walk through the steps that are that have to happen. So yeah.
[Denis MacDougall]: So Steven, so sort of just to reiterate what I just sort of said before, I'm going to write the decision. Luckily for you, we had a basically the exact same case come up on another property that literally involved the side yard setback with the construction. So, um, Basically existing and not performing so I can I can do that pretty quickly. And then the turnaround from the legal counsel is for special permits are usually a much quicker because the threshold for granting them is much simpler, basically. So they usually turn those on pretty quick. So. If I'm in tomorrow, I'm going to try to hopefully get yours done and out to them tomorrow or in the next, by Monday. And then the turnaround from that, hopefully I can get it back. And then as I sort of said before, I get it in, it goes out for signatures, board's good about signing it off on pretty quickly. And then the minute that's done, I file it in the clerk's office and that starts the 20 days. And then when that 20 days is over, come in and get the letter of no appeal and then bring that back to the building department and you can get your permit. But as the building commissioner said earlier, I think you've actually already applied for your building permit, so it's already in the system. People can start reviewing it and basically once you get that letter in hand, if that's the last thing to go, you can get the building permit right then and there.
[SPEAKER_11]: Yeah, I've been getting a bunch of emails. Budget emails that it's going through the different departments for the firm itself.
[Denis MacDougall]: In fact, I just jumped on and realized that I also staff this conservation commission and given that this is nowhere near. I can approve it right now. So that's another 1 done.
[SPEAKER_11]: All right, great. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[Mike Caldera]: Thank you. Good night. Have a good night. Yeah, Dennis. So does that bring us to administrative updates?
[Denis MacDougall]: It does indeed. And I did send out some meeting minutes for you all. Yes, from the last meeting.
[Mike Caldera]: Okay, so before we do the administrative updates first, right?
[Denis MacDougall]: Oh yeah, sorry, sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah. So what I said before is that the mayor is finalizing the new members, so hopefully, not hopefully, we will. There's no way I'm gonna basically go down there and make sure that we get that settled. So for the end of August, we will finally have the full complement of members. And to sort of what I mentioned earlier about What I didn't want to say anything because I thought it would jinx us. I basically my thought was if everything went through tonight, we would not have a meeting in August because right now I think this is the only the continuation is the only case in the agenda for August. Okay, so right.
[Mike Caldera]: Well, I guess we do have an August meeting. Yeah, we do. So I don't want to be. Yeah.
[Denis MacDougall]: But it's just continue batter. So that's, um, but unless something comes in like tomorrow that I can, that's relatively straightforward that I could, you know, like a special permit or something like that. If something comes in that doesn't involve much looking into, you know, cause I have basically until basically right about now. It's basically another week. So basically I have to, you know, for like legal ads would have to be in by the seventh. So basically I have a week. If nothing comes in, that's relatively straightforward that we can, that I can put on the agenda. It'll just be that. Okay.
[Mike Caldera]: All right. So meeting minutes, I did get a chance to review. They looked good to me. I just want to make one minor amendment. Chris's last name is spelled wrong. And one.
[Denis MacDougall]: Oh, heck on toast. Sorry, I guess I guess I should have looked at the minutes.
[Mike Caldera]: I mean, sorry. How did how did others find the minutes?
[Andre Leroux]: I actually had one minor correction as well. In the first matter for 121 2nd Street, it said the continuance was approved until July 21st, but that should be July 31st. There's two typos there.
[Mike Caldera]: So, Andre, otherwise, did you find it to be in order?
[Andre Leroux]: Yes. I didn't see anything else.
[Mike Caldera]: Cool. So we've done two minor amendments. Would a member like to motion to approve the minutes for June?
[Andre Leroux]: Yes, motion to approve the June ZBA meeting minutes. Do I have a second?
[Mike Caldera]: Second. All right, we'll take a roll call. Mary? Aye. Chris? Aye. Andre? Aye. Mike, aye. All right, meeting minutes are approved as amended. Great, and I think that brings us to the end of the meeting, right, Dennis? It does indeed, yeah. All right, chair awaits a motion to adjourn.
[Mary Lee]: Motion.
[Mike Caldera]: Do I have a second? Seconded. All right, we'll take a roll call. Andre? Aye. Mary? Aye. Chris? Aye. Mike? Aye. We are adjourned. Thanks, folks.
[Unidentified]: All right, thanks, everybody. Thank you.