On Jan. 15, the Community Alliance of Mission Hill (CAMH) held its regular monthly meeting where it heard two proposals on Sunset Street as well as a development on Huntington Avenue
17-19 Sunset Street
At its December meeting, CAMH heard a presentation by Attorney Patrick Mahoney, who represents Janice Ye, the owner of a three-family rental at 17-19 Sunset St.
There are currently no paved parking spaces in the rear of the building, although tenants sometimes park there. Ye wants to repave four existing parking spaces and add one new parking space in the rear yard. The area will be paved with permeable or porous asphalt in order to prevent runoff into neighboring properties. A six-foot vinyl fence will also be installed to block headlights from vehicles and the addition of concrete bollards could prevent cars from running into the fence.
Mahoney said that the additional spaces were for short-term visitors to the residence, such as house cleaning services, and that the owner had no intention of renting them out.
Ye requires variances for the following violations: the parking is within five feet of the side lot line, there is insufficient maneuverability of parking and insufficient usable open space.
CAMH voted in support of this project.
18 – 20 Sunset Street
Attorney Matt Eckel is requesting a change of occupancy from two three-family buildings to two four-family buildings. Six units would be owner-occupied condos and two would be rentals. New work would include a second means of egress to the two top units and other requirements from the Fire Department. There is currently no sprinkler system in place. Six abutters have expressed their support for the project in letters.
Eckel is currently seeking variances for the following: not enough off street parking, insufficient lot width, prohibited multifamily use, lack of lot frontage and usable open space, and excess of floor area ratio and building height. These were all preexisting conditions of the property, which documents prove have been four-unit buildings since the 1950s.
CAMH will hold a vote on this project at its next meeting. A vote on the project will be taken next month.
754 Huntington Ave.
Long Pan and Elaine Huang are seeking a common victualler license for their bubble tea shop TBaar at the site of the former Green Tea Shop. They would like to add three tables where customers can wait for their orders. TBaar is a franchise with three other locations in Boston. The Mission Hill location would be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. CAMH members voted in support of the project.
Energy Shift Boston
Representatives Nathan Phillips and Rickey Harvey announced that Energy Shift Boston is seeking volunteers to be part of a citywide study exploring residential electricity capacity. Its goal is to assess households’ readiness to switch to temporary electric heating and cooking in the event of a natural gas outage. Interested households can sign up at heetma.org/energy-shift/electrification-signup.
Community Alliance of Mission Hill meets on the third Wednesday of the month in auditorium G-3 of the Kresge building at Harvard’s Chan School of Public Health at 677 Huntington Ave., from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Their next meeting will be on Wednesday, Feb. 19.