Zoning board denies developer's request to build 43‑unit apartment at 1139–1151 Washington St.

The Braintree Zoning Board of Appeals denied a petition seeking three variances that would have allowed a developer to construct a 43‑unit multifamily building at 1139–1151 Washington Street, a site the applicant described as a 1.84‑acre, environmentally constrained parcel at the edge of South Braintree Square.

The applicant, Steve Young of Mona River LLC, and his attorney, Tom Kavanaugh, presented a revised proposal that reduced an earlier application from higher unit totals to 43 units, added a 10 percent affordable housing component and preserved 90 on‑site parking spaces. At the hearing, Young and his team cited soil, topography, the riverfront buffer and floodplain constraints as the practical hardships that justify relief from the zoning ordinance.

"We are now looking at a reduced total of 43 units," attorney Tom Kavanaugh told the board while explaining changes made after prior hearings. The revised plan included a partially below‑grade parking level, two…