ZBA Hearing - September 23, 2026

no i'm sorry that is a spanish interpreter we're looking for a georgian interpreter i believe uh

mr rodriguez mr rodriguez are you uh here to interpret spanish language or georgian language

do we see a georgian interpreter in the audience

I do not share okay let's let's get Darlene on if we can um I'm having audio problems

Commissioner I hear an echo and I can't seem to get rid of it this is Ian Hegarty pardon the

interruption chair do you have I see your name twice in the attendees list do you have another

device on in the room somewhere with you because that could be causing the echo problem let me just

just give me a second can you hear me now we can yes that's much clearer thank you

why don't you please state your and spell your name for the stenographer

ian can you hear me now we we do we do

darlene

Pauline, can you hear us?

Darlene are you able to hear me now can you hear us I don't know what's going on

can you come back to me put me at the end of the list

we we certainly can we're just trying to Darlene are you going to need an interpreter

i don't think she's able to hear the audio chair okay all right

um we we hear you we hear you um we'll come back and check on you later okay

all right let's move on

you don't have to stay by the way you're done for the day and you're done too sir

Right. But you you're more than welcome to sit. All right, let's let's go.

Let's go to number 16 and we'll check back later. Number 16.

MI 2026 002 169 901 Belmont Avenue, Liam and Barbara Barrett.

Liam Barrett has been promoted.

Okay.

Good morning, Liam.

Hello, good morning.

Good morning. Could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer?

Liam Barrett, L-I-A-M-B-A-R-R-E-T-T.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

I do.

Our vice chair has just a few questions for you.

Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing?

Yes.

and uh do you understand that your application is for four dwelling units yes okay and that and

you're refused because uh four dwelling units is prohibited in your rm1 zoning district yes okay

all right you can share your screen and proceed to tell us what you would like to do with this

property all right and i also notice you have a letter from the west belmont civic association

and support. That's correct.

You're coming up now. You're... Okay, it's taking its time.

and could could you please do you can you uh show yourself one video

i don't i don't see you uh yeah one second

can you see me um not yet okay sorry about that

It looks like I'm on.

Same.

Okay.

Bring your documents up, please.

Right.

So here is my notice of refusal for 901 Belmont Ave.

Sorry, Liam.

Liam, we don't see anything.

You can see that, right?

We don't see anything.

Yes.

Pardon the interruption.

uh he did start sharing and it's just taking a moment for that he did start sharing and it's

just taking a moment for it to appear it looks like there's a little bit of a lag um in the

sure balance connection

uh i'll just give it a second sorry about that but it's uh it's showing up on my end

uh is it all right if i turn my camera off i think that might help with internet sure go ahead

there you go all right so why don't you start it by telling us what you want to do

there you go all right so why don't you start it by telling us what you want to do

okay uh so i would like to legalize an existing

thing uh fourth unit in this house

uh so if you can see my screen uh here is the notice of refusal yep because you need

1440 square feet of lot area scrolling now here is my uh very crude uh proof of mailing for

my rco meeting uh i know now that there's a more efficient way to do this but this

each individual card is for one neighbor and i can show you paper copies in person or close-ups too

okay that's fine yep and here is the rco meeting summary uh everybody who voted voted in support

and one epstein okay okay here is my certificate of tax clearance

okay we have that we have that so what do you want i think the easiest thing is do

is go to photos or plans okay that's your posting too right yep yes that's

correct all right okay so here's picture of the property it's on the

corner of Belmont Ave on the front here what's going to be sure which one is

this one here on the corner okay this is on Belmont Ave on the front Westminster Ave on the

side here's another picture of the front and you can see there's a door here this door goes to a

common hallway where you can access the first floor apartment goes up a stairwell to access

the second floor apartment and another stairwell to access the third floor and this door here on

the right is an additional door for the first floor apartment. This is an aerial view. As you

can see, here's the property, apartment building over here, many other houses, and this is a school

across the street. Another view here, house outlined in red. Right here, you can't see them

now but this is where trash and recycling bins are stored and then there's two doors here this door

on the left leads to the basement and this door on the right is that other apartment uh that i'm

applying for today another picture how many apartments do you have there now four okay and

okay you you exist you've and and you're applying for an extra is was that what you said i didn't

understand that so uh it's listed as a triplex but there are four properties here so i'm trying

to legalize the existing fourth unit okay so why don't you show us some interior photos okay one

moment so i'll start with the plan first so since i wasn't proposing any physical changes i drew this

up myself that door on the left here goes to the basement and this door on the right you enter here

it's a laundry room stackable washer dryer closet go through another door and here's the kitchen on

the right here's the living area and above here is a loft bed and then here is the bathroom with

the full-size shower now this area here has very very high ceilings and then on top of the areas

is here is a loft area.

You'll see it in the pictures, but it's pretty big.

So, and this is on Westminster Ave, yeah.

This is that front door to the apartment.

You can see it's got electrical panel,

fire extinguisher, alarm system.

Going over here is that closet, carbon monoxide detector.

This is a view of the washer dryer

with the entrance to the street on the right.

closet and then this is that door going into the main area of the apartment

another view it's got mini split heat and air conditioning works very well ceiling fan

and this is some sort of exercise ladder that the previous owner put in

and here's a electric cooktop microwave

another view of the kitchen

for you can't have too many pictures right

here's a picture of the loft bed this is a

here's a picture of the loft bed this is a i believe eight foot ceiling and then the loft bed

on top so underneath the loft bed is this window uh it is egress size and this is a kick plate so

you can kick this and the bars on the outside will pop open uh in case of an emergency

is that the first floor uh yeah this is all on the the regular first floor

let me uh so is there a bedroom there too in that first floor or is it just the loft is the bed

so i showed you the loft bed this is just a studio apartment

in no separate bedroom okay and then here's a picture of the bathroom let me ask you this

is this the one you're trying to listen to me is this first floor the one you're trying to

add yes

okay

another view of the bathroom with a pocket door

full-size shower

and another view of the bed up here and this is that loft area so this picture was taken from

on top of the bed you can see all that extra space i mean it's big enough to fit a full-size tv

and then plenty of more storage this is there is the kitchen here on the left this is that

entrance on top of there and then i have some notes if i can go over that too

well i think yeah you can go over the notes but we need to see the rest of the property too

uh well i have pictures of the outside of the property and then pictures inside this unit but

the other three are tenant occupied so i didn't take pictures of those

but those those three i'm not really uh applying for anything for right

let me just go up

So it was built in 1915. I found documentation stating in 1965 that it was five apartments.

2011, this was six apartments. And then in 2014, they switched it to three apartments.

So I'm applying for four apartments, which is pretty in scope with how many apartments this

property has had over the years. I have 1,280 square feet of lot area. So I'm 160

square feet short of the 1,440 square foot lot requirement. And the hardship here is that it was

built long before these current zoning laws and uses for units. So it would be a significant loss

of reasonable use of the space without it. I'm not requesting any building expansion. Should have no

effect on utility use because it's been an apartment for a long time. Parking should also

have no effect if you'll see outside those two front doors there is a curb cut out because that

used to be a garage a long time ago i guess so if this to get this apartment legalized that would

actually make that a valid spot out front so you actually gain parking on the street

and then i actually based this proposal off of let me pull this up uh two neighboring properties

So there's 885 Belmont Ave, it's a block away, same zoning, and they got a similar variance a few years ago for four dwelling units where they legalized an existing rear first floor addition.

And then 939 Belmont Ave is a different zoning district, RSA 5, but they were also approved for four dwellings two years ago.

any questions um questions from the board can you pull back up the floor plan please yeah

and then maybe maybe I missed this because I was looking at other things but

how do you get to this unit from the main entrance of the building

yeah let me pull up the outdoor picture so that front door this door goes to the apartment on the

first floor second floor and third floor this door on the back is how you enter that apartment

This door on the back is how you enter that apartment.

you enter right by the laundry room

You enter right by the laundry room there.

So it's these two doors here.

Well, the left one is the basement.

The right one is the apartment.

The laundry room is the basement.

No.

It is not.

One moment.

Pull that up again.

Okay.

So like on this floor plan.

Wait, go down.

Go down.

Okay.

So if you show the whole plan so we can see the whole plan, that door that leads.

Oh, I see. So is the laundry room just for this unit or for the entire building?

Just for the unit. All apartments have their own washer dryer.

What's the square footage of this unit?

Just shy of 180 square feet.

when was the renovation to make this this unit done uh i'm not sure honestly this is how i bought

it uh when did you buy it november uh 2025

and then what's the use in the basement then

uh well basement is where the water heaters are you know hvac systems no no tenants really go in

there it's for utilities okay so all the utilities for all the units are in the basement

entrance to the basement is through this door yeah that's the only entrance and uh all the

water heaters are for for those apartments are in the basement uh but for the second and third

floor apartments the heaters are in the apartments themselves and the electrical panel for all of the

pico meters is in the basement yes okay they're they're right here so they're not they're not

underneath the house but they are in that entrance to the basement so nothing else is

the basement is not used for anything else uh correct and the meters for the gas are in the

basement as well. And then all apartments are gas, including this efficiency? So those, the front

three apartments do have gas. This efficiency is electric only. So that mini split on the wall up

here just uses electric. Same with the washer dryer. Well, all mini splits only use electric.

I think I was more concerned about the stovetop in this one. That's an electric stovetop. Yeah.

Electric stovetop. And then where is it venting through the rear wall?

so uh i'll pull up a picture it just has the uh

just this microwave has the vent the fan in it

what's what's the height of the the area where the bed is what's the height between the

the top of the deck and the ceiling uh to be honest i did not get that measurement

I apologize about that, but I could get that for you later today.

What do you think it is?

I'm not sure.

Maybe two and a half, three feet.

I mean, I fit in there pretty comfortably.

I'd say maybe two and a half, three, maybe two max.

so you bought this as a triplex

yes but this existed when i purchased it wasn't listening but you bought it as a triplex

and then you discovered this um this efficiency apartment that wasn't approved am i correct

correct and then do you want to try to now make it um legal is that what is that what you're saying

That's correct.

Any other questions from the board?