South Boston building juggernaut slows ever so slightly as zoning board actually rejects proposal

The Board of Appeal today rejected an East 5 Street resident's proposal to raze a garage and replace it with a two-family home with six parking spaces.

The board expressed reservations about Alex Lanstein's proposal to put two glass or translucent garage doors right at the street at 420 E. 5 St., on a block consisting of brick-fronted buildings.

"It's a little jarring for the streetscape," board member Mark Ehrlich said.

The mayor's office and city councilors Bill Linehan, Michael Flaherty and Annissa Essaibi-George also opposed the proposal, in part because original plans called for a roof deck, which Lanstein said he had removed from the plans. Two neighbors, however, rose to oppose his proposal for allowing access to the roof by way of a headhouse rather than a hatch, saying a headhouse would let him come back later and request permission for a deck.

Fans of seeing every last square inch of South Boston built bigger and higher, however, also had decisions to thrill them at today's zoning hearings.

The board unanimously approved Mark DiPierro's proposal to replace his one-story glass business on a 671-square-foot lot at 277 Dorchester St. with a new office with three one-bedroom apartments stacked on top. The mayor's office, Linehan and Flaherty supported the proposal.

The board also approved Timothy Johnson's plans to replace a garage at 194 K St. with a four-story, three-family condo building with an elevator and a roof deck for the topmost unit. The top condo would, in addition to the elevator, have exterior access by a stairway down a neighboring builing he also owns, as well as six parking spaces that would be shared with that building.

The mayor's office and Linehan and Flaherty supported the proposal. One neighbor opposed, saying South Boston is just getting too congested with all the new development going on.