A proposal to replace an existing 19th-century single-family home on Plain Street in Neponset with six townhouses drew a largely negative response from a group of about 40 neighbors who were briefed on the plan at last week’s Pope’s Hill Neighborhood Association.
The Dec. 3 meeting inside at the the cafeteria of the Murphy School featured a presentation by the planners’ architect, Eric Zachrison, who fielded questions in a somewhat testy manner as the development team for the project— Stephen Daddario and Sara Velardi, co-owners of Blue Door Boston— mainly listened.
The property in question –29-31 Plain Street, which intersects with Chickatawbut Street a few blocks up from Neponset Avenue – is owned by John J. Dalton, Jr., according to city records. Daddario and Velardi said they plan to buy the property if they receive permits to move forward with their proposal. The site is valued at $770,200, according to the city’s Assessing Dept. The house on the parcel was built in 1899.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, I know that in this process there are changes,” said Zachrison, a manager at Context, an architectural firm. “When I say, ‘for now,’ I know that we might come back with two bedrooms per unit, we might come back with something else.”
In October, neighbors expressed their disapproval of the project during an abutters meeting held via Zoom. When Zachrison began presenting much of the same information on Wednesday, it was clear to some in attendance that the team had not “come back with something else.”
As Zachrison continued, many of the 30-plus neighbors in the room grew frustrated. When he was asked if the abutters’ meeting even mattered, he said, “Absolutely, our abutters’ meeting influences us.” Yet, the plans proposed to the civic group still included six townhouses, with the front two featuring four bedrooms each and the back four featuring three bedrooms each. This would mean anywhere from 20 or more new residents on the single-family lot.
“We’re talking about six units on 20,000 square feet, that is one unit per 3,400 square feet,” explained Zachrison. “There are many lots in this area that have a single-family home on 3- or 4,000 square feet. The code allows a single family on a 5,000-square-foot lot, but most of the properties on this street are smaller.”
Another concern raised was parking. “The two homes in the front will have a two-car garage, and the four homes in the back will each have a wide one-car garage,” Zachrison said.
One woman asked if people would be able to pull into and out of the driveway at the same time, to which Zachrison answered that there is only “one way in and one way out,” so residents would have to wait and take turns.
Another woman chimed in and explained that waiting to get in and out would not be practical, as it would create frustration and increase traffic for those living in and around the townhomes.
Zachrison disagreed.
“There are nine cars, and 24 hours a day. I find that a little hard to believe that if people have a garage, they are not going to be willing to wait.” He said that if every car left the property twice, that would be 36 trips, “if each one takes a minute to a minute and a half, that is 36 minutes out of a 24-hour period.”
Other neighbors who spoke against the project said they were worried that they will lose a sense of privacy and the family vibe that attracted them to the neighborhood in the first place.
The group heard little from developers Daddario and Velardi, but the partners did speak up to back their architect.
“I know we didn’t make changes from the abutters,” said Daddario. “Eric’s point was we had the abutters with a small group of people. This is a neighborhood association, a larger group of people. [We will] take everyone’s feedback and make one set of changes.”
After about one hour of discussion, the meeting ended abruptly around 8:45 p.m. without a vote or clear resolution.
