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Brookline ZBA, applicant refine parking, EV, bike and occupancy conditions for CH Realty proposal
Summary
At the continued hearing for CH Realty Ventures’ comprehensive permit, the ZBA and town departments pressed the applicant to clarify vehicle, bicycle and EV parking counts, loading, transportation‑demand management and occupancy sequencing for affordable units and temporary certificates of occupancy.
The Brookline Zoning Board of Appeals and town departments spent substantial time on Wednesday refining technical conditions for parking, bicycle storage, electric‑vehicle readiness and occupancy sequencing for CH Realty Ventures’ proposed development at Hammond, Heath and Sheaf streets.
Applicant counsel Jennifer DePazio Gilbert told the board the team revised elements of the waiver list to address earlier comments: visitor parking was increased from five to eight, the applicant proposes 15 EV‑ready and 15 EV‑capable spaces, and bicycle storage would total 70 spaces. Dennis (surname Greenwood) and engineer Jim Develis explained that adding bicycle spaces beyond 70 would reduce interior unit area for a particular unit adjacent to the bike room.
Transportation staff asked for a clearer transportation‑demand management (TDM) plan and monitoring schedule. Director of Traffic and Engineering Dan Murphy and board members discussed requiring a TDM and a traffic‑monitoring plan (TAPA) with review points to confirm whether mitigation measures are effective; the board asked the applicant to work with the director of engineering to set monitoring milestones (for example, at certain occupancy thresholds or at fixed anniversaries after initial occupancy).
Board members and staff also raised loading and curb‑space concerns. Abutter counsel and public commenters warned against relying on on‑street curb spaces for deliveries and recommended an on‑site loading strategy. The building commissioner confirmed the project will use temporary certificates of occupancy (TCOs) as units are finished; the board proposed phasing occupancy so that for every set number of market‑rate TCOs the applicant must first issue a TCO for an affordable unit (language to be finalized to reflect the project’s 25% affordable unit commitment).
The board asked the applicant to provide a detailed construction management plan that includes a neighborhood contact for construction issues, staging and parking restrictions during construction and explicit procedures for addressing abutter concerns. The hearing was continued to June 11, 2025.
