City Council Approves Special Permit for Mountain Avenue Townhouses

By Adam Swift

The City Council recently approved a special permit allowing for the construction of two townhouses at 355 Mountain Ave.

At last week’s council zoning subcommittee meeting, Ward 4 Councillor and committee chair Patrick Keefe said the proposal by Mario Zepaj of Middleton should bring more home ownership opportunities to the neighborhood.

Zepaj stated that by right, he could build two two-family houses on his adjoining lots, but needed a special permit to build the two townhouses. He said both would create four units with eight parking spaces, but that the townhouses would be owner occupied rather than rentals.

“When we had our public hearing, there was no one in opposition, everyone was in support,” said Keefe. “I spoke to all the adjoining abutters, and a few have emailed me since regarding some of the beginning of the work with the site clearing, and all of them have been happy with Mr. Zepaj’s work, to the point where they have called to thank him for his consideration of the neighborhood.”

Keefe said Zepaj took care of issues involving some trees on the property, as well as making sure the work was done safely in the neighborhood.

Keefe added that Zepaj could have built the two two-family houses on the lots rather than the side-by-side townhouses.

“Typically, two families, there is nothing wrong with them, but they tend to be rental properties,” said Keefe. “Turning them into townhouses, those tend to be home ownership. I was in favor of that change, even though it is outside the zoning for that area.

“Ultimately, I like the fact that people will be hopefully buying homes and living there permanently.”

Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky said he supported the special permit, but just wanted to ensure that the building was done in a clean manner with a minimum of disturbances for the neighborhood.

Ward 6 Councillor Richard Serino cast the lone vote against granting the special permit.

In other subcommittee business, the council held a public works subcommittee meeting.

The subcommittee recommended the approval of several requests from National Grid which were later approved by the full council, with the usual caveats from several councillors that they would like to see better overall communication from National Grid when it comes to work in the city.

The council approved installing a new riser pole and relocating a pole on Campbell Avenue near the intersection of Revere Beach Parkway, as well as well as installing an underground electrical conduit in the same area.