27-35 Chandler Street and 47-53 Irving Street (ZB-2026-070)

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions plus the posted agenda; names, figures and vote tallies may be misheard.

What: Zoning Board of Appeals petition ZB-2026-070 for 27-35 Chandler Street & 47-53 Irving Street, a 5-story, about 74-unit apartment building.
Where it stands: approved 5-0 by the Zoning Board of Appeals on 2026-07-20 (a 4 ft front-yard variance; per auto-captions).
Next: the Planning Board approved the definitive site plan 4-0 on 2026-08-05; building permit and construction management plan are next.

Petitioner: GoVenture Capital Group, LLC.
Present use: vacant lot.
Zone: BG-6.0 (Business, General); Commercial Corridors Overlay District - Downtown (CCOD-D); Downtown Sign Overlay District (DSOD).
Purpose: a 5-story, about 67,075 SF, about 74-unit multi-family high-rise with associated site improvements.

Variance: minimum front yard setback for a high-rise multi-family building in the CCOD (Art. IX, Sec. 6.A.1).

Presented by an engineer (captioned Sam Elfradi, Sole Engineering) with developer Tom Corbett of GoVenture Capital Group, LLC: a five-story, 74-unit building on a lot of just under 0.4 acre at Chandler and Irving Streets.
The downtown district has no front setback, but ground-floor residential units trigger a 5 ft setback; the plan uses 1 ft on Chandler and 1.5 ft on Irving, so the variance is 4 ft. About 10 ground-floor units would be lost to comply.
Staff (Michelle M. Smith): no parking is required downtown; a similar building and a one-story building once stood on the site and the Historical Commission had denied demolition of the laundry building, but it was demolished. The design continues the street wall.
No waivers; no public comment. Board comments praised the design and the use of a lot with dumping problems. Vote: 5-0.

Five stories, about 67,000 sq ft, 74 units, no parking (downtown district); residents get access to a neighboring garage owned by the same developer through a gated covered walkway and 2,000 sq ft courtyard; interior and exterior bike parking.
Staff asked for more prominent building identification, historic-style window panes (the site is a block from a local historic district and beside two National Register structures), glazing on trash room doors and inward-swinging doors.
Staff also asked about blank brick side walls and a photometric spillover under one foot-candle; these were comments rather than conditions.

About 27 minutes across 2 meetings (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-08-05 - Planning Board	18
2026-07-20 - Zoning Board of Appeals	9

2026-08-05 - Planning Board - Definitive site plan approved 4-0. Engineer for GoVenture Capital Group; no on-site parking, covered walkway to the adjoining garage (to be gated). Conditions accepted: window pane pattern near historic districts, trash man door relocated to Irving Street with frosted glazing (rollup door left solid), travel demand plan; bike-room entry condition struck. Michelle M. Smith called it a hole in the ground since the laundry demolition; DPW noted about $21,000 extra bonding at permit; Chamber of Commerce and a resident spoke in support.
2026-07-20 - Zoning Board of Appeals - Public hearing. Variance of 4 ft from the 5 ft front-yard setback for ground-floor residential units approved 5-0, no waivers. Public hearing deadline was 9/4/2026; constructive grant deadline was 10/9/2026.