ZBA Decision on 40 Warren Street Deferred

The Boston Zoning Board of Appeals’ decision on the will wait until late January, at the earliest.

Following a request from Vahid Nickpour with the project, the board scheduled the next hearing for 11:30 a.m. on Tues., Jan. 24.

Nickpour told Charlestown Patch that he decided to ask for the deferral following a request from the Charlestown Office of Neighborhood Services to allow the community more time to participate in the process.

He made the decision late Monday, he said, and called a number of the project’s opponents to inform them of his intention.

“It’s a pain in the neck to take time off from work and come here,” he said.

Brian Graves said that he and others received Nickpour’s calls, but decided to attend the meeting anyway.

“We thought it was prudent to simply come,” Graves said. He cited confusion in the process and the potential that the board could deny the deferral request as the reason for his prudence.

The group opposed to the project also asked that the board deny the deferral, and its attorney, Arthur Kreiger, asked the board that this deferral, the project's third, be its last.

Graves and others have circulated a pettition opposing the addition of two more floors to the three-story structure and reported today that the group had gathered 128 signatures.

Mal Watlington, another of the project's opponents, said that he wanted to make sure that the entire community had a chance to make its voice heard.

Discussion about the will continue tonight (Tuesday) at the neighborhood council meeting starting at 7 p.m.