The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) on Tuesday granted Groundwater Conservation District Overlay (GCOD) relief to 260 Newbury St. The proposed project at this address was recently approved by the Back Bay Architectural Commission, after several hearings and iterations of the proposal. The proposed project will include a restaurant in a dig-out below the first floor of retail, with a hotel above. It will also include a penthouse addition and roof decks.
The project went before the ZBA on Jan. 29 with violations of the restaurant and outdoor seating being conditional uses, and the project sits within the Groundwater Conservation Overlay District.
Though all three of these violations were supposed to be heard, the attorney for the project told the ZBA that they would like to withdraw without prejudice the applications for the restaurant conditional use at this time. “We had a meeting with the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and we don’t have a restaurant operator at this time, so we will come back at a later time when we do,” he said.
That left only the GCOD application to be heard before the board. Christian Simonelli from the Boston Groundwater Trust, who said he has received the letter of approval from the Boston Water and Sewer Commission, as well as a stamped no harm letter from the proponent’s engineer.
The ZBA voted to grant the GCOD relief, and the applicants will return to the ZBA when they have secured a restaurant operator.