The Chelsea Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday recommended approval of a special permit and variance for a proposed residential and retail development at 105–115 Park Street, 12 Essex Street and 1 Ellsworth Street, after the developer reduced the project from 120 to 100 units and revised unit mix and parking.

Attorney Anthony Rossi, representing the petitioner, told the board the team revised the plans after neighborhood and Planning Board feedback: “We reduced the unit counts. It was originally a 120 units. It went down to a 100 unit.” The redesign increased two- and three‑bedroom apartments and kept 15 inclusionary units and roughly 12,000 square feet of open space, Rossi said.

A traffic assessment prepared by Scott Thornton of Vanessa & Associates found modest vehicle impacts and emphasized the site’s transit access. Thornton said the study counted peak trips and mode share and concluded the project “winds up giving us about 20 trips in the morning, 30 trips in the evening” and that most intersections around the site would not see substantial added delay. He noted future TIP-funded signal and protected-crossing work planned at Pearl and Park that the team expects will be completed before project occupancy.

The Planning Department and Planning Board recommended conditions including a construction management plan, rodent control plan, reserved retail parking, and a request to the Traffic Commission for stop signage at Pearl Street and related intersection improvements. City Councilor Manuel Tasha, who spoke in public comment, said he supported the project: “I would say for the, you know, for as a resident of Chelsea and also as a sitting, council member, I would say I’d support this project.”

Board member Joseph Mahoney made the motion recommending approval with the conditions the Planning Department and Board had listed; the motion passed by affirmative vote of the members present.

The decision the board recommended includes the single variance sought for a second‑level bump‑out that reduces a side yard to 9 feet and a set of special permits for setbacks and other zoning relief. The permit recommendation also incorporates Planning Board conditions on parking allocation (10 spaces for retail with shared‑use at night), a construction management plan, and coordination on the Pearl Street traffic recommendation.

The project team said parking will provide 50 spaces with a mix of standard and compact stalls and mechanical lifts; they also described two levels of parking accessed from Essex and Ellsworth and dedicated delivery access for the ground‑floor commercial spaces. The applicant told the board they expect many future residents to rely on transit — the site is served by multiple bus lines — and that Chelsea’s residential parking sticker rules will limit on‑street parking by tenants.

The Zoning Board recorded its recommendation to approve the special permit and variance with the listed conditions. The Planning Department will finalize conditions in the written decision and the applicant must satisfy those conditions before permits are issued.