Special to the Gazette

The Zoning Committee of the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council (JPNC) held its most recent meeting on Wednesday, July 16, via Zoom. Chair David Baron presided over the session that also was attended by fellow committee members Willie Mitchell, Kevin Moloney, Peg Preble, Bernie Doherty, David Seldin, Kevin Leary, Kendra Halliwell,  Andrea Howley, and Jerry O’Connor.

Caroline Peters, who is the community liaison to JP from Mayor Wu’s office, also was on hand for the meeting.

The first matter on the agenda was a request from IAO Auto Repair LLC, which is located at 1891 Columbus Ave. in a multifamily residential sub zoning district, for a variance to allow IAO to conduct a non-conforming use to buy and sell used motor vehicles from its lot, which would be an expansion of IAO’s current forbidden use in this zoning district as an auto repair facility.

Proprietor Presly Nelson told the members that he has been in business for 10 years providing transportation to the City of Boston’s public schools and charter schools with a fleet of minivans and three larger school buses. He said he wants to be able to sell his used minivans as he refreshes his fleet.

Nelson said at most there will be four or five vehicles for sale at any given time. There were no opponents and the committee approved granting the variance.

Next up was a request from The Croft School to expand into the third floor of its building at 3815 Washington St., which would constitute an expansion of its current non-conforming use.

Operating a school above the ground level is not permitted as of right in the city. The school received approval to expand to the second floor (from the JPNC and the city) in 2021, but now needs further approval to expand to use a portion of the third floor, which is the top floor of the building, which the school leases.

Scott Given, the founder and Executive Director of the Croft School, which also operates schools in Providence and the South End, opened the JP location in 2020. The school presently has 230 students in pre-K through Grade 4 and will be adding a 5th grade in the fall for a total of about 300 students. He said the plan for the JP location is to expand to include a 6th grade with a total of about 330 students.

Given told the board that 40 percent of the school’s students are from JP and 35 percent from Rosindale. He added that more than half receive financial aid and 47 percent are students of color.

“We’ve tried to be exceptionally-good neighbors with regard to pick-up and drop-off,” said Given. “We have sufficient off-street parking for staff. We also have a lot of parents and students who come by bicycle and the Orange Line, as well as by means of carpooling.”

There were no opponents and the members unanimously approved a favorable recommendation for issuance of the variance.

Next up was a request from the owner of 59 Weld Hill St., which is at the corner of Wachusett St., to construct a three-story, three-family dwelling with a flat roof on a 3198 sq. ft. lot that presently contains a small garage.

Each unit would consist of about 1200 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths. The owner will occupy one of the units. There will be two off-street parking spaces.

Atty. Justin Byrnes from the firm of Pulgini and Norton and architect David Freed from the firm Choo and Company, Inc., presented the details of the proposal.

Byrnes laid out the many zoning violations, including those pertaining to the lack of parking, side-yard setback, and the undersized lot in a zoning district where the minimum lot area is 5000 sq. ft.

However, said Freed, “The building will be consistent with the size and scope of other homes in the neighborhood.” Byrnes added that almost all of the lots in the neighborhood similarly fall short of the current 5000 sq. ft. zoning requirement.

A large number of neighbors from Wachusett St. and Weld Hill St. turned out for the hearing and expressed their views about a number of matters. Many of the comments pertained to preservation of an existing large tree. The present plans call for the tree to be taken down because its roots are growing through the garage. However, the neighbors asked that an arborist assess the health of the tree.

“The Forest Hills neighborhood is very protective about preserving its trees,” said one neighbor.

“We will try to do whatever we can to retain it,” said Byrnes.

Others expressed concerns that the proximity (nine inches) of the new building to the public sidewalk along Wachusett St. will be hazardous for pedestrians.

“Walking down Wachusett St. already is treacherous and you’re building a structure just nine inches from the sidewalk?” said one neighbor.

Others questioned the flat-roof design in a neighborhood where almost all of the homes are gable-roofed, to which Freed replied that the flat roof will provide normal headroom for the third-floor unit and other structures (including once across the street) are flat-roofed.

Luke Olson, the next-door neighbor at 57 Weld Hill St. spoke in favor of the application. “I’m very supportive of the project. It will be great and I want it to proceed,” said Olson.

The committee voted for a favorable recommendation to issue the variances, with Doherty opposed and Preble and Howley abstaining. However, the committee added the proviso that the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals (which ultimately must decide whether to issue the variances) be asked to submit the proposal to the city planning department’s Urban Design Division.

The Zoning Committee presented its recommendations to the full JPNC this past Tuesday night for these applications, (as well as for a fourth application from the homeowners at 13 Marmion St. for a rear addition that the Zoning Committee heard and approved at its meeting on July 2, and the full JPNC gave a favorable endorsement to all four applications. The applicants now must go before the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals to obtain their variances.

In a final piece of business, the Zoning Committee members voted to add Alessia Shelley, a lifelong JP resident who is a 16 year-old junior at the Noble and Greenough School, as a community member of the Zoning Committee to fill a vacancy.