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Attorney asks board to allow driveway at Green Street house, citing nonconforming setback and landscaping mitigation
Summary
Attorney James Raffney asked the board to grant front-setback relief so his clients can install a single-car driveway at their Green Street home, arguing the house has an existing nonconforming setback, the proposed two-strip landscaped driveway would mitigate impacts, and neighbors have submitted both support and objections.
James Raffney, an attorney with offices at 907 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, asked the board to grant zoning relief to allow a driveway at a Green Street house owned by Mark Schwartz and Jennifer Trew. Raffney told the board the homeowners bought the house last year, are longtime neighborhood residents raising three children who attend King School, and need reliable vehicle access for family and work obligations.
Raffney said the property’s configuration places the planned parking space within the 10-foot front-setback required by the zoning district, so the applicants are seeking a variance. He displayed a survey and a landscape plan and described the proposed driveway as two narrow paved strips with planted green space between them. "We're hoping that the board would conclude that the green nature of this driveway and the fact that it is minimal hardscape will be seen as a mitigating factor to support the application," Raffney said.
Raffney argued the driveway design meets side-yard setback and open-space requirements and will result in the removal of one on-street parking space where the family currently parks; he also said removing the on-street parking at this location could improve sight lines near the Hancock and Green Street corner. He noted there are letters in the file both supporting the family's request and expressing concern about the loss of on-street parking but said those opposing letters did not directly address whether the requested relief would be detrimental to the zoning district.
Raffney described the claimed hardship as arising from the existing nonconforming placement of the house on the lot: because the house already sits closer than the required setback, the parking space cannot be located behind the 10-foot line without extensive change to the property. He said Dr. Mark Schwartz works at Amgen in Cambridge and that Dr. Jennifer Trew runs a family medicine clinic associated with a community health center in Rosendale, and that the family's need for timely vehicle access supports the relief request.
No formal motion or vote is recorded in the transcript. The attorney concluded by asking the board to weigh the landscaped driveway design and the stated hardship in deciding whether to grant the requested front-setback relief.
