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ZBA grants Veterans Association use variance and waives parking requirement for 145 Globe Street project
Summary
The board approved a use variance to allow a commercial kitchen and job training at the Veterans Association of Bristol County’s proposed facility at 145 Globe Street and granted a special permit to relax parking requirements; the board also waived the application fee for the nonprofit.
The Zoning Board of Appeals on Sept. 18 granted the Veterans Association of Bristol County relief to operate a commercial kitchen, food pantry and job-training program at 145 Globe Street and approved a special permit to waive part of the site’s parking requirement. The board also voted to waive the application fee for the nonprofit.
Why it matters: The association plans to use the site for veterans’ services, including a commercial kitchen for meal training and to prepare meals for veterans, a food pantry and office space for services. The building currently contains commercial tenants and a church; the association proposed to occupy portions of the first and second floors while leaving existing tenants in place.
Attorney Peter Cellino presented the petition and explained the petition addressed a Building Department determination that the proposed commercial kitchen component required zoning relief. The project team submitted a parking analysis prepared by their engineer concluding the site’s parking demand has offsetting peaks — weekday program hours versus weekend church services — and the lot’s 34 marked spaces plus a loading area are sufficient in aggregate for the uses proposed.
The board voted to grant the use variance for the commercial kitchen and to approve the special permit to waive the parking requirement; the motion to waive the application fee for the nonprofit was also approved. Board members conditioned approvals on compliance with required building- and health-department standards (kitchen design, health approvals, and site-plan or building permit review as needed).
Next steps: The association will complete building and health-department design approvals for the kitchen, continue neighborhood outreach, and proceed with required site-plan and building-permit reviews.
