Fifteen one-bedroom apartments over an Essex Street garage, a third unit in a Washington Avenue house still under construction, and a two-person sauna on Eastern Avenue are among the cases before Chelsea’s Zoning Board of Appeals tonight, Tuesday, October 13, at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers. The meeting packet, posted late Tuesday morning, adds details that were not on the agenda. Separate stories cover the 60 studios planned for Revere Beach Parkway and Walmart’s request to delay its depot case.
139-143 Essex Street: 15 apartments over a garage
139 Essex St L.L.C. wants to build three wood-frame floors of apartments on top of the one-story masonry garage that now stands on the 8,170-square-foot lot. All 15 units would be one-bedroom: six of 487 square feet, six of 524 and three of 652. The four-story building would be 40 feet tall, with 21 parking spaces, 10 inside the garage and 11 outdoors, a roof deck with gardens and a pet area, and a balcony for each unit.
According to the project narrative, Philip Raccuia has owned and run the property for more than 28 years and would build it through his company, Boston Builders and Contractors. The relief needed for lot size and setbacks comes from keeping the existing garage, the narrative says, adding that the developer “could easily remove the structurally solid building eliminating the need for such relief.” It calls the community feedback “overwhelmingly positive” and says parking concerns went away once neighbors learned every resident would get an off-street space.
471 Washington Avenue: a third unit
The board approved a two-family house here in 2024, and it is under construction with building permits. The owner, 469 Washington Ave LLC, listed on the agenda with Hector Prieto, whose design firm drew the plans, now wants to turn the third floor, now part of the second-floor unit, into its own apartment. The letter to the board says the footprint, height, bedroom count, open space and parking would not change.
The building department denied the conversion. Zoning requires 10,500 square feet of lot area for three units; the lot is 4,123. It requires 5 parking spaces; the plan has 4, and the city does not count tandem spaces. The denial letter notes that recent changes to the state Zoning Act allow variances for residential housing regardless of a city’s own rules on use variances.
426 Broadway: one storefront becomes two
Gerald M. Sneirson wants to divide a one-story commercial building with a new wall into two storefronts, each with its own entrance and utilities, on two separate lots. The use and the footprint would not change. Each new lot would have about 16 feet of frontage on Broadway; the minimum is 50. The case needs only a variance, because the state law change that took effect July 1 removed the need for a special permit.
311 Eastern Avenue: Sauna Suites
The application describes a two-person dry infrared sauna, a seating area and a one-person commercial ice bath in an 800-square-foot unit. It needs no plumbing or renovation, and the sauna plugs into a standard outlet. The lease with the landlord, Eastern Place LLC, runs from August 1, 2026, to July 30, 2027, at $1,000 a month, and lets the landlord end it on 60 days’ notice if the building is to be torn down or redeveloped. The business needs a special permit because zoning treats it as a health and fitness club. It closed when the gym next door was sold. The Planning Board recommended approval with standard conditions.
14 Cheever Street and 58 Lash Street
- 14 Cheever Street: the owner wants to convert a one-family house into a two-family. The lot is 3,157 square feet, where 7,500 are required, and has about 778 square feet of usable open space, where 1,000 are required. The plan shows four spaces in tandem, which the city counts as two of the four required. The Planning Board’s recommended conditions would bar the new unit’s occupants from the resident parking sticker program and require the lease or sale agreement to say so.
- 58 Lash Street: the Department of Public Works says a 36-inch storm drain carrying water from Everett runs through the lot about 90 feet back from the sidewalk, probably under the proposed parking, and warned the builder not to damage it. The department set an inflow and infiltration fee of $9,064 for the two four-bedroom units. The Planning Board’s conditions include a six-foot opaque fence around the driveway and parking, motion-sensor lighting that meets DarkSky standards, and design review. Our earlier report.
816-818 Broadway
The packet includes the September 14 letter from attorney Mark A. White asking the board to reopen the November 2025 approval of the 12-unit building at 816-818 Broadway and replace its two affordable units, at 30 and 50 percent of area median income, with one at 80 percent. “The petitioner anticipates that the Board will determine this matter to constitute the equivalent of a minor modification,” White wrote. On September 8 the board treated three similar requests as minor modifications without a public hearing.
Approved in August
Draft minutes of the board’s August 11 meeting, up for approval tonight, record three approvals, each by a 5-0 vote:
- 37 and 37R Central Avenue: a three-family becomes a four-family with a new four-bedroom unit in the basement. A damaged two-bay garage comes down to make room for four parking spaces. The new unit is not eligible for resident parking stickers, the roof must be white when it is replaced, and the owner must work with the city on a warning device for cars backing out of the driveway.
- 1 Lafayette Avenue: a steep, oddly shaped lot is divided so a new two-family house can be built next to the existing two-family.
- 52 Suffolk Street: a new two-family house, two units of two bedrooms each, on a vacant, overgrown lot the owner has held for about 25 years.
The board will also vote on the minutes of its September 8 meeting.
Rendering of the proposed Essex Street building: Evergreen Architecture, from the application filed with the Zoning Board of Appeals.