2019-03-14-ZBA-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Lexington it was difficult to afford moving there. She has a sister with children who cannot afford it. The three bedroom is from own experience and she wants to allow her family to be able to afford to move to Lexington while also helping them with their costs. They could have done a two bedroom accessory apartment but they had her sister and own experiences in mind. Mr. Chugani said it took them years to find a house. It's not changing, when you see what builders are paying for land to build on its pricing a lot of people out of the market. He questioned how the Town can talk about bringing in diversity and affordability and at the same time state a three bedroom is not the right move for an accessory apartment. Mr. Ives commented he does think that there are a lot of 50s-60s houses adjacent. When they get torn down what the character of those houses will be. Knowing the project and its position he feels sense the topography drops from Lincoln the street is up about 10 feet above where the front door would be. That makes it four feet down to the front door. It's only a two story house going up from there the house is not close to being at the height limit as many houses would look. Mr. Williams stated the house is much lower than the street so when you put the house there it is going to be a very strong impact on the houses behind it because they are much lower. It's much too big for the lot and that neighborhood. Mr. Chugani stated if a developer built the home by right he would be building a six thousand square foot home. They want diversity and affordability. A regular developer would not blink an eye to put a house of that scale on that lot by right. He then explained the side entrance and his thought process of the second form of egress and the deck space. Ms. Chugani stated they do get a lot of letters from builders wanting to buy their house so they know why they want. It is just a matter of time. Mr. Cohen asked if any neighbors sing a letter of support (Mr. Chugani stated they have three letters of support from the left, the right, and the back). Mr. Cohen asked for the size of the lot (Mr. Ives stated it's 15,526 sq. ft.) Mr. Cohen then asked if there was a builder that's ready to build the house (Mr. Chugani responded Young Construction based out of Watertown). An audience member, Todd Burger 386 Lincoln Street, stated his support for what they are trying to do and the idea of affordability. Mr. Osten asked if it were not to pass would they be prohibited for 2 years (Ms. Krieger stated they would be. If we do take a vote and they do not get a super majority they will be denied applicability for 2 years) Ms. Krieger stated 1,300 square feet is large, her house is that and it accommodated four people for a while. Mr. Chugani made an additional statement about the benefit of having the expanding accessory apartment for larger families.