Zoning board listens to City Point neighbors, rejects multi-unit proposal that met zoning requirements

The Board of Appeals today denied a developer's request to replace a two-family home at 37 Farragut Rd. with a four-story, eight-unit building after neighbors pleaded they'd had enough with developers densifying their neighborhood with multi-unit buildings aimed at childless yuppies.

But the lawyer for developer Ryan Hunt hinted legal action could be in the board's future - because the building did not exceed any of the lot's zoning. Attorney George Morancy said that while a part of the property sits in a special "greenway protection" district because of its proximity to Day Boulevard, Massachusetts courts have repeatedly ruled that alone cannot be used to deny projects.

Residents and city officials, however, rose as one to say they were sick of what's happening to City Point: Developers buying up single and two-family homes to replace them with multi-unit buildings - if nowhere near the size of the complexes going up along West Broadway.

"All of a sudden, our neighborhood is just disappearing," Mary Bulger, an East 3 Street resident - and wife of the former state-senate president - told the board. "Taking single-family and two-family homes to make condos and apartments is just killing us," another East 3 Street resident said.

"This'll be like a mini-hotel to us," another East 3 St. resident said of Ryan Hunt's proposal for a building with four one-bedroom units, three two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit. He said it just has no place in a neighborhood of single- and two-family homes and triple deckers.

The offices of Mayor Walsh and city councilors Ed Flynn (South Boston), Michael Flaherty (at large) and Annissa Essaibi-George (at large) joined residents in opposition.