Main Street building owner withdraws ZBA case over parking regulations

The owner of a historical building at 719–732 Main St., Paul Yu, has downsized a proposal to create multifamily housing on the property. He appeared in front of the Zoning Board of Appeals at its May 12 meeting to withdraw his previous request for a parking variance.

Back in February, Yu proposed repurposing the building from its current commercial use to create a mixed-use development with seven residential units on its upper floors. At that meeting, he asked the board to grant him a waiver to provide only two parking spaces at the building instead of the nine required by Waltham’s zoning code so he wouldn’t have to encroach on the building itself, which takes up most of the lot.

At the ZBA’s meeting this Tuesday, Yu’s lawyer told the board his client was decreasing the number of units proposed for the building from seven to four, and had worked out a way to provide five parking spaces behind the building through tandem parking. Since providing five spaces for four units would fulfill the residential parking requirement for the district, he asked to withdraw the case in front of the ZBA.

The board agreed unanimously to allow the withdrawal. Yu will still have to appear in front of the City Council to seek a permit to create four residential units at the location, since he is only able to build three units by right.

Fred Kimberk, who owns neighboring buildings, expressed concerns that parking at the site would still be insufficient if the building only provided tandem parking. Yu’s lawyer said Building Inspector Brian Bower confirmed that sections of Waltham’s zoning disallowing tandem parking didn’t apply to this particular case.

Winter Street apartment buildings

The ZBA approved an extension for a case proposed under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40B for a new apartment building complex at 245–265 Winter St. 

Assistant City Solicitor Michelle Learned told board members she was still in the process of reviewing the petitioner’s most recent proposal for the text of the decision. She added that the development team was planning to arrange a meeting with the Fire Department to discuss additional city requests about the size of the site’s emergency access road. The board agreed to take up the case again on June 2.

The board also heard two complaints from neighbors south of the development asking for the project to be downsized and moved further from their lot lines. Mark Baranski, a representative of the developer, said the developer had already committed to moving the buildings two to three feet back from the site’s southern lot line, and was unable to move them any further.