Winter Street Chapter 40B developers address resident concerns

A large residential building project near I-95 received neighborly support in a hearing at last week’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting.

The Alexan Winter Street is a proposed housing project at 245-265 Winter St., originally introduced to the board in July of this year. Its developer, Maple Multi-Family Land East Coast, wants to build the Alexan on the site of two former office buildings.

The project, like multiple other buildings in the area proposed under Chapter 40B of Massachusetts General Law, would be in a commercially-zoned area, and its special permit would be based on providing sufficient affordable housing. It initially received pushback from neighbors about how it would affect their daily lives, home values and neighborhood traffic.

However, a representative of the development team told ZBA members at their Oct. 21 meeting that the developer had meetings with neighbors and was willing to pay additional costs to address neighbors’ requests.

The development team also showed the board updated site plans that incorporate feedback from abutters and from peer review firms that the ZBA had hired to evaluate the project. The new plans cut down on the overall footprint of the buildings to maintain a wider berth from neighbors on north and east sides, call for the construction of a privacy fence, and preserve green space and vegetation. 

The new project layout still involves two buildings, but instead of one five-story and one four-story building, both will have fifth-floor units. This adjustment will not change the number of units in the building, but it will reduce the number of bedrooms in some units.

In response to a question from Sima Zaslavsky, a neighbor from the nearby Barrington Place Condominium Association, the development team representatives told the board that they had not identified significant changes they were able to make for neighbors south of the building, although they would attempt to block light from the building’s parking lot travelling south with garages and possibly vegetation.

The board received four letters from neighbors in support of the project, with ZBA Chair John Sergi saying that volume is more than he’d ever seen “on a case such as this.” Two neighbors additionally spoke in favor of the development.

The development team also spotlighted changes to the landscape design and traffic plans for the site, including joining the 128 Business Council, offering temporary MBTA subsidies for new residents and adding short-term bike parking. The developer indicated it would be open to contributing additional funding toward traffic mitigation.

Sergi asked the development team multiple questions about sidewalks to address walkability issues in the area, ultimately suggesting the developer work with other Chapter 40B projects in the area to improve sidewalk infrastructure on Totten Pond Road and Winter Street.

The board agreed to meet on Nov. 25 to hear further updates to the project.

Mullin rule in the ZBA

Also at its Oct. 21 meeting, the board unanimously voted to investigate adopting the Mullin Rule — a common name for Chapter 39, Section 23D of Massachusetts General Law — which would allow a ZBA member to rule on a case even if that member misses a hearing on it, provided that the member certify that the member has looked through all of the evidence presented at that hearing and reviewed a video recording of it.

The board voted “to ask the Law Department to look into what adopting the rule would entail for the ZBA.