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South Boston outrage over roof decks reaches zoning board, which rejects a deck on P Street
By adamg on Tue, 11/16/2021 - 11:49am
The Zoning Board of Appeal today rejected a roof deck at 38 P St. after elected officials and the neighborhood association said residents are fed up with loud parties on the decks the area already has.
Jonathan Hueber, who lives in a top-floor condo at the building, had sought permission to add a roof deck that would be only for his and his family's use.
But the mayor's office, the offices of City Councilors Ed Flynn and Michael Flaherty and state Rep. David Biele and the City Point Neighborhood Association all opposed the proposal.
Ana Calderon, an aide to Flynn, said neighbors have been putting up with "loud parties at all hours" for several years and that the problem only got worse during the pandemic.
The neighborhood association noted that the eight-unit building is already way taller than the homes around it. One neighbor across the street said a deck would only further erode his view toward the harbor.
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Comments
NOT SURE
you can hold that condo responsible for past events with other homes in the area. if it is allowed under code, then allow it.
Give them time
They'll just change the code, like they did in 2008 when it used to be fairly straightforward to build a roofdeck accessible to a single owner, then added a whole bunch of requirements (architect plans, etc.) because people in Southie were being drunk and stupid on roofs.
So I can't have one because
So I can't have one because my neighbors are assholes? Yeah, that makes sense.
Really...
If the building is already a full story taller than the next tallest neighbor, how would the roof deck even block any view?? They're literally look at just sky above the building...
God I despise Nimbys. So. Damn. Much.
Basta ya or NIMBY?
An amateur glance at Google Maps yields a sparse presence of roof decks in the vicinity, there are a couple up the block that look a little sketchy but there does not appear to be a proliferation of them in that neighborhood.
The problem is that in today's Southie they get a bad rap. It used to be cool but then they fell out of favor and the neighbors will do or say anything to oppose them. Especially if it ruins their harbor views from P Street, apparently.
That being said, the building at #38 does look [somewhat] oversized for the street and given the number of condo owners inside one has to consider that if a roof deck is approved for one neighbor then the rest will follow suit, so I guess good move on the rejection.
Roofdeck "Outrage"
I happened to catch most of this hearing. One board member said he thought that (in the past) the board had been gamed on this sort of thing. Another member one was trying to find out why headhouses had been approved for this to begin with. Nobody seemed to be able to answer this. It was things like "the previous owner" or "I don't know who was the attorney who originally represented" the matter .
It was kind of suspicious. Given that a lot of questionable goings on occur with contractors, developers, etc. around here I think the board did the proper thing. All too often stuff is built with the belief that once it's up that's it. This was someone who apparently had the makings of a roofdeck thinking this would occur.
I did hear one neighbor go on about his view of Thompson Island and I thought well too bad. The chair of the board stopped him early into his spiel.
I can only hope that in the future this happens more often.
Have a great day everyone!
The outrage part ...
Wasn't just what happened at this hearing. Flynn's aide actually went on for a bit about it - the issue's been bubbling up around South Boston for awhile now.