28-unit apartment building approved for River Street near West Street in Hyde Park

The Zoning Board of Appeal this week approved a four-story, 28-unit apartment building at 1081 River St. in Hyde Park.

Plans by developer Enis Shehu of Natick call for 15 parking spaces. The building would be next to an existing 16-unit building and just a short walk to the Asian-Thai Eatery.

The new building would replace an existing two-family home and lower the grade at the front of the property, now roughly six feet above River Street, behind a retaining wall.

Six of the units would be rented as affordable. That's roughly 21.5% of the total units, compared to the current city requirement of 13%, Shehu's attorney, Nicholas Zozula, told the board at a hearing on Tuesday.

Craig Martin, a member of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association, questioned the narrow driveway shown on plans, which he said would only allow one car at a time and which would force trash and larger delivery vehicles to back onto one of the curviest stretches of busy River Street.

"It's irresponsible for the board to allow trucks to back up onto River Street," he said.

Zozula said he understands Martin's concerns and said that Shehu and the owner of the neighboring apartment building, however, have an agreement "to address these issues" and that Shehu would work with the BPDA - which approved the overall project in August - in an upcoming "design review."

A resident of Lincoln Street expressed concerns about privacy from the building's planned roof deck - as well as issues related to noise and pollution from building residents "going in and out all the time" in the building's parking lot.

The proposal needed variances for, among other things, its height, its overall density on the lot, the number of proposed units and insufficient setbacks along the front, side and rear property lines. The zoning board unanimously approved all the variances.

1081 River St. filings.