The Zoning Board of Appeal on Tuesday approved a three-story, ten-unit rear addition to an existing Second Empire-style building at 24 Mt. Everett St. in Dorchester with 16 parking spaces that neighbors railed against when it was first proposed as a four-story, 16-unit addition with no parking a couple years ago.
Diarmaid McGregor’s $3.6 million proposal also now includes 16 parking spaces – some under the addition, but four in outdoor, mechanical “stackers.” The building will also have storage space for 16 bicycles – and a rack for bicycles for two visitors.
The units will consist of ten one-bedroom units, five two-bedroom apartments and one studio. Two of the units – one with one bedroom, the other with two – will be rented to people making no more than 70% of the Boston area median income.
The project required variances for, among other reasons, being denser and taller than allowed by the lot’s zoning, not having enough parking and being closer than normally allowed to its rear lot line. The board approved the variances unanimously.
McGregor’s attorney, John Pulgini, said his client eagerly reduced the size of the proposal and added parking after a community meeting at which residents expressed anger at the size of the addition and the potential impact on parking and traffic on the street.
“It was one of the worst community meetings I have ever participated in my life,” Pulgini, a veteran Boston zoning attorney, acknowledged.
