The Revere Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) met on October 21 and unanimously voted down a request by Bojan Juric to construct a new, two-family duplex dwelling and driveway adjacent to 325 Malden Street. Juric had appeared before the board last month and was given a continuance to meet with the neighbors and address their concerns about his project.
Juric was seeking a variance for minimum lot area, rear yard, and front yard minimum lot area for a duplex dwelling and driveway location.
“The house looks like it is being crammed in there,†said Ward 6 Councillor Richard Serino. “The lot is too small.â€
Former Mayor Dan Rizzo also spoke against the project saying, “We are losing neighborhoods by allowing constant construction of homes on lots that are not right.â€
The lot size is approximately 5,900 square feet, but Juric’s present home on Charger Street has taken 400 square feet of that amount. The new duplexes each would have 1,500 square feet and the footprint of the project would be 24 feet x 48 feet.
All board members had issues with the project.
“We have to take in a lot of variances, like height,†Chairman Michael Tucker said. Tucker noted that some plans show the height at 30 feet, other plans show the height at 33 feet.
“They need to talk to the community,†said member Arthur Pelton.
Board member John Lopes said he wanted to “scale it down.â€
In the end, the board voted not to give a further continuance and denied the request for a variance.
In other matters before the board, continuances were granted for three applications.
The first application was for a parking variance to enable the petitioner to convert a single-family dwelling into a two-family dwelling at 185 Endicott Ave.
The second application sought a variance for minimum front, side, and rear yards and minimum screening, maximum floor area ratio, and parking requirements for apartment use to enable the petitioner to raze an existing structure and construct a five-story, 42-unit apartment structure with one commercial space on Lot 1 Washington Ave. at the junction of Sherman Street.
The last application was for the owners of the home at 951 Revere Beach Parkway to add an addition of 386 square feet. A variance was needed for minimum side yard setback. There was also the issue of a sewer easement that the new structure would impact.
The next meeting of the ZBA is set for November 18.
