Court puts kibosh on plans to add floors to two-family house in Chinatown over concerns it could damage the neighboring building

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today that the Boston Zoning Board of Appeal erred in granting approval to plans by the owners of a 2 1/2-story, two-family house at 9 Johnny Ct. in Chinatown to add two more floors and convert the building to five units, because the owner of the neighboring 7 Johnny Ct. raised legitimate concerns the work could damage their building.

The proposed expansion required a conditional permit because both buildings sit on wooden pilings and in a "groundwater conservation overlay district," where special requirements mean expansion projects need systems to ensure rainwater is discharged into the ground to keep the pilings wet - and so free of the organisms that would otherwise rot the pilings. The 9 Johnny Ct. work satisfied this requirement, but at issue was the potential new stresses on 7 Johnny Ct., with which the building shares a common "party" wall.

The zoning board approved the work in March, 2019 at a brief hearing. The owners of the neighboring building appealed and on Dec. 22, 2021, a Suffolk Superior Court judge vacated the board approval. The owner of 9 Johnny Ct. then appealed that ruling.

The appeals court said it agreed with the superior court judge's conclusions:

Based on expert testimony, the judge concluded that "there's a real risk of structural damage to 7 Johnny Court if two stories are added to 9 Johnny Court." The judge explained that "[t]he additional stories would increase the load of the structure and this load would be distributed out to the party wall that [9 Johnny Court] shares with 7 Johnny Court." The judge further concluded that "[s]ince there was already evidence of settlement of the row houses as they currently exist, the risk that such damage could occur if two additional stories were added to 9 Johnny Court is more than just speculative. It is quite likely." Moreover, the judge found that adding two stories to 9 Johnny Court would cause rain and snow to accumulate in greater amounts on the roof of 7 Johnny Court and such "accumulation could cause water issues inside that row house, depending on how watertight it was, and it could put pressure on the area where 7 Johnny Court's roof meets the wall that would be constructed at 9 Johnny Court for the additional stories." The judge also found that there could be flooding into the basement of 7 Johnny Court.

Watch the zoning hearing at which the project was approved: