Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Zoning Variance Mixed Use topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
ZBA approves variances and special permits for 295 Bedford St. mixed-use project with parking conditions
Summary
The Zoning Board granted variances and special permits allowing a five‑story, 52‑unit residential building with 8,000 sq. ft. of ground-floor adult day care at 295 Bedford St., subject to conditions on parking signage and a ban on overnight commercial vans.
The Fall River Zoning Board of Appeals on Feb. 20 approved variances and special permits for a proposed five‑story mixed‑use building at 295 Bedford St. that would contain 52 apartments and about 8,000 square feet of adult day care space on the ground floor.
Attorney Peter Salino, representing 295 Bedford Street LLC, told the board the project would provide 52 residential units across four apartment floors above the First Floor commercial space, and include 74 on-site parking spaces—52 reserved for residents, 10 for commercial tenants and 12 flex spaces inside a slab-on-grade garage area. The project site is in the MD Medical zoning district and an HD housing development overlay; the petition sought variances for use and side-yard setbacks and special permits to reduce required parking and landscaping in parking areas (cited in the application as Section 86 attachments and Section 86-4-45).
Board members sought specific conditions to reduce future conflicts over parking and the day-care tenant: they required the applicant to sign and label parking spaces as presented (residential, commercial/employee, flex), to post signage restricting employee and residential spaces, and they prohibited overnight parking of commercial vans at the site. The board also discussed limiting maintenance/storage and repair of commercial vehicles in the maintenance/storage area used to house plows and building supplies.
The board voted to grant the two variances (use in the medical district and side setbacks) and the special permits. The variances passed by voice vote with five affirmative votes (Ricky Sahadi; Dan DePere; Jim Calkins; John Frank; Chairman Joseph Perera). The subsequent special-permit motion, with the parking and signage conditions, also passed with affirmative votes recorded in the transcript (John Frank; Jim Calkins; Dan DePere; another member recorded as Theresa Haddie in the transcript; Chairman Joseph Perera). The transcript shows the board and staff recommending written conditions to reflect the unit count and the signed parking designations before permits proceed.
The board received a letter of support from Kenneth Viola Jr., Executive Vice President of Bristol County Economic Development Consultants, characterizing the project as more than $20 million in private investment in a federal opportunity zone and saying the project would expand market-rate housing in the city.
The board closed the hearing on the application after voting on variances and special permits with conditions; the recorded votes and conditions will be incorporated into the permit and site-plan review process.
