Connelly Construction and its representatives finally appeared before the Planning Board to present their proposal for the Hendries lot that sits at Eliot and Central during a public hearing for the property. The proposal calls for 38 condominiums and 7,498 of commercial space and that’s a problem right there, according to Alex Whiteside, Chairman of the Planning Board.

The issue is that there is not enough commercial space given the footprint of the primary floor. “You need 8,000 feet of commercial space,” said Mr. Whiteside. At issue is a difference in interpretation of the zoning (which Mr. Whiteside wrote). The developers did not include the parking space that is part of the design. Like the current structure, the new proposal calls for parking on the ground level on the portion of the building alongside the trolley tracks. Mr. Whiteside argued that the parking space needs to be factored into the calculation. Given the size of the area of the building, Whiteside believes the commercial space should be 8,380 square feet. They agreed to have Mr. Flynn, Town Counsel, give a legal ruling on this.

And there are other problems. “Your building is too big,” according to Whiteside. It takes up 50.2% of the lot, not the 50% allowed. Another concern was traffic. The developers said that they planned to use the traffic study done for 36 Central Ave which accounted for the new Hendries building.

The chairman John Zychowicz, of the Milton Village Revitalization Committee spoke in favor of the proposal. However, he shared the Mr. Whiteside’s opinion regarding the amount of commercial space. Mr. O’Neil, who owns the building across the street that is home to Tino’s, Mackie’s Barber Shop etc., supports the plan as is.

One other issue is the qualification that the developers made regarding their ability to convert commercial space to residential in the event that the commercial space did not find a market. Mr. Whiteside indicated this was not an option.