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ZBA grants rear addition at 48 Cameron Street for modest office space above existing unit
Summary
The Brookline Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved a rear addition at 48 Cameron Street that will convert 188 square feet into an office connected to the primary bedroom; the application sought relief from multiple preexisting nonconforming conditions and the Planning Board recommended approval with standard submission conditions.
The Town of Brookline Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously approved a proposal to construct a rear addition over an existing second-floor bedroom at 48 Cameron Street to create a private office space.
The homeowners, Joe and Elizabeth Hewitt, told the board the modest infill addition would improve livability for their family without changing the building—s use. Planner Ashley Duvall and the project architect, Alan Christ, presented plans and described the constrained lot: the building is a two-family structure in the M-1 zoning district on a lot of just over 2,000 square feet, well below the 5,000-square-foot minimum in that district.
The project increases existing gross floor area by about 188 square feet, taking the FAR from 1.74 to 1.83 where the by-law maximum is 1.0; side and rear setbacks and usable open space are preexisting nonconforming. The applicant and staff told the board the addition does not create new nonconformities and is rear-facing, adjacent to MBTA property, which limits visibility from the street. The Planning Board reviewed the application and recommended approval; Planning staff noted the design is modest in scale and that the site—s abutment to train tracks reduces neighborhood visual impact.
Deputy Building Commissioner Paul Campbell told the board the Building Department had no objection and would ensure code compliance if relief is granted. Board members said the project is consistent with the neighborhood pattern of dense, older housing and described it as a modest request that did not produce opposition from neighbors. The ZBA imposed the Planning Board—s standard permit conditions: final stamped floor plans and elevations and a final site plan signed and stamped by the appropriate professionals must be submitted to the Director for Regulatory Planning, and evidence the Board of Appeals decision has been obtained from the Town Clerk and recorded at the Registry of Deeds must be provided before a building permit is issued.
The board recorded a unanimous grant of relief subject to those conditions.
