by Kate Dolan

The Development Review Committee voted unanimously to approve the proposed one-story rear addition at 211 E Meade Street in a meeting conducted via Zoom on May 19.

The project planned for the single-family semi-detached house built in 1916 required a variance after the proposed addition received a refusal from the city in January due to side-yard size requirements.

Zoned as RSA-3 for a lower residential density area, the zoning code requires that the side-yard at addition level be a minimum of eight feet. The house on Meade Street is considered a “non-conforming use” as it was built when the code set the minimum at four feet, before it changed to eight feet, making it require a variance for new construction.

The addition entails the demolition of the existing one-story portion and the construction of a small rear room and powder room, according to notes from the April 21 DRC meeting, when the plan was first presented.

In attendance were the project’s architect, John Andrews, and the homeowners, Juliet Sarkessian and Nena Eskeridge. Andrews reported the project’s only updates since the May 7 Land Use, Planning and Zoning Committee meeting, which concern materials used and a question of vertical vs. horizontal siding.

“We are planning to use the hardy board and at this point we’ve agreed that it makes sense to use the horizontal siding,” said Andrews. “I can’t say that’s absolutely definitive, because there are pricing issues that are still to come but that makes the most sense. It’s certainly more compatible with the bay window above and that is the likely outcome. That”

The homeowners informed the board that they have support from neighbors in the other half of the twin on one side, and the owner of the house on the other side, which is split into two apartments.

The project has received support from both the DRC and the Land Use, Planning and Zoning Committee as well as a letter of support from the Historic District Advisory Committee. It will go before the board of directors at the Chestnut Hill Community Association Board of Directors meeting on May 28.

“Every committee that saw it has supported it so they are are pretty good odds,” said Larry McEwen, DRC co-chair.

The meeting on May 28 will also be conducted via Zoom at 5 p.m. A final Zoning Board of Adjustment meeting date has not been finalized.