Roslindale Square landlord says meat market, restaurant won't be forced out if their building is expanded

Through his lawyer, landlord Vincent Marino said tonight he has no plans to force out Tony's Market and Redd's in Rozzie if he gets zoning approval to add two stories to the building he owns at 4254-4257 Washington St. in Roslindale Square.

But that reassurance alone was not enough for residents at a hastily called meeting on the proposal tonight at the Roslindale Community Center - or for the mayor's office and City Councilor Tim McCarthy, both of whom said they would ask the Zoning Board of Appeals to defer action on the request at a hearing on Nov. 25.

The city officials acknowledged the meeting was too hastily called for many residents - word only got out over the weekend - and agreed didn't get sufficient answers tonight to questions about the proposal's floor-area ratio, parking and the exact nature of the "piers" on which the new floors would rest.

The meeting got off to a testy start, with Tony and Deb DeBenedictis arguing with Marino and Marino's lawyer, Anthony Ross, over just when they were told about the project.

Ross said he met with DeBenedictis on April 9; DeBenedictis said the first he heard about the project was when a customer asked him about it on Saturday. "It's like somebody stabbed me in the back," he said. When Marino started answering him - he noted he has not raised Tony's rent in 10 years - and Deb DeBenedictis started to question him, Marino shot at her, "Deb, be quiet while I'm talking!"

Once they had settled down, Ross said that because the building was originally constructed with three floors, two floors could be added back without needing to shut the store and restaurant so that Marino could add eight apartments of between 600 and 700 square feet each.

Construction equipment would be staged in the Redd's patio area with external work ideally finished before the patio is to re-open for the summer, he said. Tony's configuration would not be affected at all by the new floors; Charlie Redd, he said, had agreed to give up the space that was formerly used as an entrance and stairway to the upper floors.

Ross holds up rough schematics:

Residents who live on streets off Washington expressed concern about the lack of parking spaces, saying that while they appreciate the idea of young professionals living carfree in an urban village served by numerous bus lines, commuter rail, ZipCar and Uber, they doubted that none of them would have cars.

Residents said they already have trouble getting out of their driveways due to an influx of construction workers on the substation project. "We have a wicked problem with parking now," Judy Coughlin said.

Joe Porteleki, owner of Roslindale Hardware and a founder of Roslindale Village Main Street, supported the proposal, saying Roslindale Square needs more density - more people living there to support the stores there.

"Density is what makes a neighborhood safe and what makes a neighborhood healthy," he said. Young folks today, he said "want to be in the city; they don't want to have a car."

Ross, himself a lifelong Roslindale resident, predicted Marino's proposal is only the first of a series in which building owners in the square will seek to rebuild the upper floors that were torn down decades ago. The commercial district is zoned for three-story buildings, and Porteleki pointed to Wallpaper City and the building Judy Leon's is in as buildings originally put up with three floor.

Steve Gag, who recently stepped down as chairman of Roslindale Village Main Street, also supported the project. But he agreed with residents the ZBA should defer action to give residents more time to get answers to their questions. Two residents, one an architect and one a construction manager, said the rough drawings Ross brought were hardly enough on which to have a serious discussion about the merits of the building and construction method.

The project needs ZBA approval because it is slightly more than four feet higher than the 35 feet allowed under zoning, has a higher floor-area ratio than zoning calls for and provides no parking spaces.

Although the zoning board often defers hearings when city officials raise community-input concerns, as the mayor's office and McCarthy said they will do on Nov. 25, it does not have to. In fact, city councilors demanded a meeting with board members after the board approved a project the mayor and two city councilors were not ready to recommend.