NEWRA Expected to Vote on Zoning Code Amendment

Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards will present legislative and community updates at tonight’s (Dec.12) North End/Waterfront Residents’ Association (NEWRA) monthly meeting at 7 p.m. at the Nazzaro Community Center.

Discussions will be held and a vote will be taken regarding support of the proposed amendment to the City of Boston Zoning Code. NEWRA is expected to support the amendment in letter form and send it to the Zoning Commission.

The amendment calls for the Boston Zoning Code to change the regulation of “Executive Suites” insert neighborhoods including the North End.

The City sponsored text amendment would change the Use Regulation and Article 8 and in various Neighborhoods District articles to “Conditional” use where “Executive Suites” is currently an “Allowed” use.

Reportedly, the change has become necessary due to the growing conversation of housing units to “Executive Suites” by short-term rental operators as a means of circumventing Boston’s new short-term rental ordinance.

According to NEWRA, “The North End is a residential neighborhood of nearly 11,000 residents living in an area of only one-third square mile.

As in many other neighborhoods of Boston, housing in the North End is a premium and becoming more and more out-of-reach for many.

The North End lost hundreds of housing units to Short-Term Rental conversion over the past several years.

“While our community is hopeful that the Short-Term Rental ordinance will cause a return of many of these units to the long-term housing supply, we recognize that unconditional “Executive Suites), conversions could severely limit such a return,” NEWRA President Cheryl Delgreco stated in a letter to Boston’s Zoning Commissioner Kathleen R. Peterson.

NEWRA claims many North End residents reside in buildings within the Hanover Community Commercial sub- district, which encompasses much of Hanover Street, parts of Prince, Richmond, and North Streets.

NEWRA also claims that, “Currently, the Zoning Code allows the hundreds of housing units in the sub-district to be converted to “Executive Suites” without any community notification, review or input.”

According to Article 54 of the Zoning Code, the goal and objectives of the North End Neighborhood District are, “To manage future development of the North End for the benefit of the inhabitants of the North End and Boston, to preserve and enhance the North End neighborhood and to promote residential development that is affordable to all segments of the community, particularly low and moderate income residents.”

NEWRA feels these residential protections in the Zoning Code should be preserved and supported even as, especially as the City’s economy grows and evolves, sometimes placing new risks on the quality of residential life.

NEWRA believes that the proposed amendment is critical to the support on the Article 54 goals and objectives. Importantly the amendment would not preclude “Executive Suites” as a use within the Hanover Community Commercial sub- district, but it simply was subject this use to community review and input.

Other items on the agenda include an update on 49 Charter Street development plans that no longer include an earlier proposed one-story addition that NEWRA has opposed in the past.

            George Kouris, Espilon Partners is proposing a legal occupancy change at 14 North Bennet Street from a rectory to eight residential units and to erect a one-story addition with a roof deck, in connection with a complete renovation of the building. Currently, the building consists of four stories and the basement. The proposal would add a fifth story.