45 Pleasant Street · Swampscott, MA

Too big for Pleasant Street.

A developer plans to replace a two-family home with a five-unit condominium building about 80 feet long, more than twice as tall as the one-story homes beside it. It is built right up to the town's limits, and the applicant is asking the Zoning Board to waive the by-law's parking and snow-storage requirements. Here is what's planned, what's being asked, and how to be heard at two hearings this month.

Planning Board ·

Zoning Board of Appeals ·

How to be heard See the numbers

Last updated

Heights to scale. Neighbor heights are the applicant's own approximations (sheet ST-01, marked not to scale). The dashed outline is today's house at 23.8 ft (application). Proposed height and front width from the applicant's plans; neighbor widths are illustrative.

The street

Change isn't the issue. Scale is the issue. Fit is the issue.

Pleasant Street is one- and two-story homes, front yards, and kids walking to the middle and elementary schools. Families chose it for that, and trusted that new building here would be weighed against the homes already standing.

This proposal puts the most building the rules allow onto a single lot. From the side, the neighbors would face a wall of building about 80 feet long and more than 34 feet tall, where today there is a house roughly half that size, with the rest of the lot as yard.

Drawn to scale from the applicant's side elevation (SP-01) and floor plans (79 ft 6 in long). Today's house outline is approximate, from the stamped plot plan and the application's 23.8-ft height.

6 → 15 bedrooms on the lot Assessor's record card; applicant's plans (5 units × 3 bedrooms)

85% → 57% of the lot left as open yard Applicant's cover sheet A0.00 (84.8% → 57.5%)

24 → 34.4 ft building height Application (23.8 ft today); plan SP-01

The proposal

Today, a two-family home. Proposed, five condominiums.

Today 1,097 SF footprint
9% of the lot

Proposed 3,547 SF footprint
29.9% of the lot

Footprint areas drawn to scale on the 11,857 SF lot; positions approximate. Source: applicant's cover sheet A0.00.

	Today	Proposed
Building	Two-family home, built about 1930	Five-unit condominium
Homes	2	5, each 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths, 1,626 to 1,703 SF
Floor area	About 2,691 SF	8,018 SF stated, plus an underground garage
Footprint	1,097 SF	3,547 SF
Height	About 24 ft, 2 stories	34.4 ft (applicant's figure)

The building would run about 80 feet back along both side yards, with all parking in a garage below the first floor.

In September the applicant revised the plans: lot coverage now meets the 30% limit, the front setback now conforms, and each unit is smaller. We appreciate those changes.

Source: applicant's plan set (A0.00, SP-01, FP-01 to FP-04), revised September 17, 2026.

At the limit

Built right up to the line.

By the applicant's own numbers, the two limits that shape a building's size are nearly used up.

Lot coverage 99.7%of the maximum

3,547 of 3,557 SF allowed, about 10 SF to spare · Applicant's cover sheet A0.00

Height 98%of the 35-ft limit

34.4 ft, the applicant's figure, measured to the ridge · Plan SP-01

3.2× today's building footprint 1,097 → 3,547 SF

3× today's floor area 2,691 → 8,018 SF, plus garage

+73% more paved and roofed area 3,179 → 5,513 SF · Drainage plan, Sept 29

5 of 8 parking spaces requested, where the by-law requires 8 ZBA Petition 26-09

Each number may squeak by on its own. Together they describe the most building the rules allow, on one lot, on a street of one- and two-story homes. A special permit is the Board's judgment call, and the Board can decide that this much building doesn't fit here.

Safety and the waivers requested

Fewer parking spaces, no snow storage, and a driveway onto a school walking route.

Besides the special permit for five units, the applicant has asked the Zoning Board to waive two by-law requirements.

Waiver requested 8 → 5

The by-law requires 8 parking spaces for five units. The applicant has asked the Zoning Board to allow 5.

§3.1.2.0 · ZBA Petition 26-09

Waiver requested No snow storage

The by-law requires snow storage on site. None is shown, and the applicant has asked to be excused.

§3.1.5.1 · ZBA Petition 26-09

Not yet shown 6–7 ft

From the plans, the garage driveway appears to drop roughly 6 to 7 feet between the sidewalk and the garage door. No driveway profile has been filed.

Pleasant Street is a walking route to the middle and elementary schools, and it fills with cars during pickup and game days at Phillips Park. These are safety questions the Board should see answered before it votes.

Walls and water

New walls on three sides, and more water to manage.

New concrete retaining walls along the side and rear property lines, up to about 8.9 feet above today's ground level, with 6-foot fences on top.
Paved and roofed area grows 73%, from 3,179 to 5,513 square feet, on a lot that slopes toward the rear neighbors.
The drainage plans filed September 29 are labeled "preliminary." The Town Engineer has not yet reviewed them.

Sources: applicant's landscape and retaining wall plan LS-01 (Sept 17, 2026); preliminary drainage plans (Sept 29, 2026).

Drawn to scale at the plans' tallest wall callout. A 6-foot figure for reference.

A note from the neighbors

To the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals.

We live on and around Pleasant Street. Many of us chose Swampscott because of streets like this one: one- and two-story homes with front yards, sidewalks our children walk to school on, and neighbors who know each other by name. We bought here trusting that new building would be weighed against the homes already standing. That trust is what your boards protect.

We aren't against change, and we aren't asking that nothing be built at 45 Pleasant Street. Swampscott needs housing, for young families and for neighbors who want to downsize and stay in town. But that isn't the question in front of you. The question is whether this building is right for this lot, on this street.

We don't believe it is. The proposal puts the most building the rules allow onto a single lot: three times today's floor area, a wall of building about 80 feet long and 34 feet tall beside one-story homes, retaining walls and fences along the property lines, fewer parking spaces than the by-law requires, and a garage driveway across a sidewalk our children use every school day.

This decision reaches past one lot. Swampscott is a small town, and its character lives in neighborhoods like ours. If a two-family lot here can be rebuilt to the edge of every limit, the next lot can be too, and the one after that. Each time, the gain goes to whoever builds, and the street lives with the result for generations. Once a neighborhood's scale is gone, no board can bring it back.

A special permit is your judgment call. The by-law asks you to decide whether the benefit to the town and the neighborhood outweighs the harm. We are asking you to make that judgment with the people who live here in mind: to find that five units at this scale don't fit here, to deny the special permit as proposed, and to hold out for something that is the right size for Pleasant Street.

Change isn't the issue. Scale is the issue. Fit is the issue.

Your neighbors on and around Pleasant Street

Want to add your name? Send your own short note to the boards using the template below. Letters signed by real neighbors carry the most weight.

How it's decided

Two boards, two hearings, two days in a row.

Planning Board · Petition 26-11

Does the site plan work?

Reviews the site plan: drainage, grading, access, and how the building fits its surroundings.

Next session:

Zoning Board of Appeals · Petition 26-09

Is a five-unit building allowed here?

Decides the special permit for the five-unit use, and whether to reduce parking and waive snow storage. This is the Board's judgment call. Any other relief would need its own public notice.

Next hearing:

Boards decide on specific, documented impacts. A neighbor describing what they see on Pleasant Street at school pickup carries more weight than a long list of names.

What you can do

How to be heard.

Written comments and firsthand testimony both go into the record the boards have to weigh.

Come to the hearings

Planning Board ·

Zoning Board of Appeals ·

Both meetings are in person, with Microsoft Teams for anyone who can't come. You can attend without speaking. A full room still matters.

If you speak

Make one specific point from your own experience.
Keep it under two minutes, and stay calm.
Good topics: school-hour traffic and parking on Pleasant Street, drainage onto your property, living next to the new walls, ledge and blasting, and what this street means to your family.
If someone already made your point, say you agree and add what's different for you.

Write to the boards before the hearings

Email Christa McGaha, Senior Planner. She adds comments to the record for both boards. Use the subject line Petitions 26-09 and 26-11, 45 Pleasant Street.

cmcgaha@swampscottma.gov Open in your email app

Start from this template and make it yours. One concern, in your own words, is better than a long list.

Dear Members of the Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Board,

I live at [your address]. I'm writing about Petitions 26-09 and 26-11, the proposed five-unit building at 45 Pleasant Street.

My concern is [one specific concern, in your own words, from your own experience].

I ask the Board to [continue the hearing until these questions are answered / require changes to the project / deny the special permit].

Thank you,
[Your name]

Read the plans yourself

Every number on this page comes from the applicant's filed plans, the Town's public notices, and the assessor's records. The Town keeps a folder for each petition, with the applications, plans, and public comments filed so far.

A link to the Town's project folder will be posted here.