50 Waltham St. #5R
Boston, Ma. 02118
3 July 2003


Zoning Board of Appeals
Boston City Hall, Room 204
One City Hall Plaza
Boston, Ma. 02201

Dear Sir/Madam,

I recently spoke with Mr. Eliot Parkhurst, who is the attorney for The Franklin Cafe (dba McBois Limited) which is located within my neighborhood association's boundaries at 278 Shawmut Ave. Mr. Parkhurst explained that at a ZBA hearing last November that a request was granted to increase the occupant load at The Franklin Cafe from 40 to 65. He further explained that this was not an actual change but merely brought the occupant load into alignment with the existing reality. Evidentially the increase was granted by the ZBA with the condition of "the petitioner opening up a line of communication and meeting with and/or apprising the Association [Eight Streets NA] of the subject matter of the appeal." Mr. Parkhurst requested an agenda slot at an Eight Streets meeting to announce the results of the petition, but after further discussion I felt that it would not be a reasonable use of the time of our Membership as a decision had already been reached by the ZBA. I asked Mr. Parkhurst to forward by mail any documents which he could on the topic for our records, which he immediately did. We agreed that I would inform the ZBA that Mr. Parkhurst has complied with the condition of the ZBA approval, which is the purpose of this letter.
Many residents, myself included, are very uncomfortable with the fact that the ZBA is inconsistent in its practice of having petitioners appear before the appropriate Neighborhood Association before their ZBA hearing. One of the main reasons that citizens volunteer a great deal of their time to maintain the network of Neighborhood Associations is that these groups provide the best forum for residents to voice concerns about issues in their chosen neighborhoods. Unless petitioners know that they will be turned away for not following the proper procedures, many will take a chance on skipping the step of a review by the people most impacted by ultimate ZBA decisions (this comment is not directed at Mr. Parkhurst or his clients). In this particular case, I was not even sent a notice on the ZBA hearing beforehand, as is usually the case.
I strongly encourage the ZBA to not by-pass the Neighborhood Association citizen review process in the future.

Thank you.


Yours,







Tim Kozlowski
President
Eight Streets NA


CC: Mr. Eliot Parkhurst, 50 Milk St., Boston, Ma. 02109