“Pursuant to the Act, the Board, after convening a public hearing and making the above findings of fact grants a Comprehensive Permit to the Applicant for the construction of fifty-seven units of rental housing in a single building . . .”

— Milton Board of Appeals written decision on the Chapter 40B Comprehensive Permit application for residences at “The Hendries Building” 131 Eliot Street.

The permit granted 131Eliot St LLC to construct a 57 unit apartment building at the corner of Eliot and Central is a historic moment for Milton, a town lacking in affordable housing. The permit granted under MGL Chapter 40B allows a developer to build residential housing that can be exempt from local zoning bylaws if a percentage of the housing is made available at an affordable rate.

What’s next?

131 Eliot St LLC and the town both need a demolition permits from the Conservation Commission (ConComm) for the existing structure (Hendries building). The town owns a portion of the property, essentially the parking lot and portion of building above it that take up the northeast corner. There is an agreement between to the town and 131Eliot St LLC to remove the building by the end of March. However, that is unlikely. The town recently requested a continuance from ConComm until their April meeting. The town has repeatedly reset the demolition date. The reasons for this may include lack of a demolition permit, lack of a signed contract with the demolition firm, and logistics related to the demolition (e.g. coordination with the MBTA over suspension of service).

131 Eliot St LLC did appear before ConComm to review demolition permit and appear to be making some progress. The chief concern of ConComm at the moment is storm water management. This concern is for both the demolition permit and the site development permit. John Kiernan, Chair of the Commission, wanted to be sure that the catch basin can handle the amounts of water used during demolition and that the water will be properly cleaned before being discharged into municipal waterways. the 131 Eliot St LLC team agreed to get the commission specs on the filtration systems that will be used.

Kiernan began the recent session with rescinding the enforcement order regarding testing of the tanks noting that 131 Eliot St LLC was not in violation of an existing order. Also of note was clarification from 131 Eliot St LLC that they had granted permission to the town to approach their (the town’s) portion of the building from any point on the property. This was significant in that it had been thought that the town would use open corner space. There are questions about whether that spot is secure as there are tanks underneath the ground there.

The commission had in the past voiced some frustration with the town’s repeated requests for continuances. However, they did not bring that up nor ask any questions when Town Planner Bill Clark and Selectman Katie Conlon requested a continuance at this session.

The Conservation Commission hearing is continued until April 14th.

You can find the full text of the Board of Appeals decision here. The complete list of documents regarding this 40B project can be found here.