Boston Zoning Board Approves Peace Institute, Berklee Studios, Dozens of Projects

BOSTON -- June 25, 2024, Boston's Zoning Board of Appeal approved more than a dozen development proposals at its June 25 remote hearing, highlighted by a unanimous green light for the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute's new home at 30 Westfield Street in Dorchester, a site designated by Mayor Michelle Wu's administration. Berklee College of Music received a conditional use permit to open dance studios and a cafe at 699 Boylston Street in the former TB12 gym space, and the Gordon family's City North Development won approval for a 46-unit, five-story mixed-use building at 1420 to 1424 Dorchester Avenue with seven IDP rental units at 70 percent AMI. The board denied without prejudice a bid to add a basement unit at 477 LaGrange Street in West Roxbury, where attorney Kyle Smith argued an owner plans to move in with family, but abutters cited persistent parking overflow and property disrepair. A procedural first occurred when a board member abstained on a vote over four townhouses at 257 to 259 Market Street in Brighton, temporarily paralyzing the count; after an emergency legal consultation, the board deferred that case to August 13 so the full seven-member board could hear it cleanly. The board also voted unanimously to reject an open meeting law complaint filed by the Community Alliance of Mission Hill, finding the board had met all notice requirements for an April 30 hearing on a 95-unit Mission Hill development.