The Boston Planning Department held a hearing on Monday detailing the plan for a new eight-story building at 170-172 Western Ave. in Allston.

The building will have 1,395 square feet of retail space, bike parking for all units, and one of the ground-floor retail spaces will preserve Flint’s Drycleaners, which the Planning Department stated “has served the community since the 1960s.”

The building will have 20 total units with 12 one-bedrooms, seven two-bedrooms, and one three-bedroom. Three units will be designated as affordable per the city’s Inclusionary Development Policy. There will be no vehicle parking spaces in the building.

Flint Cleaners owners Hun Jae Lee and May S. Lee said they hope the building will be a good addition to the neighborhood.

“We’re the owners of 170-172 Western Ave,” Hun Jae Lee said. “It has been a dry cleaner on this corner for a very long time. We’re here tonight because we want to build something new.”

The Lees said they came to the U.S. from Korea and bought the cleaners in January of 1986.

“Over 40 years ago, and we know many of you,” Mary Lee said. “Some of you have been our customers for 20 years or 30 years. Last year the City of Boston gave Flint Cleaners the Legacy Business Award. This was our honor. It meant the city recognized that Flint is part of the neighborhood. We are not a big developer, we are a small family. This is our corner. We have been taking care of it for 40 years, and we want to keep taking care of it.”

Mary Lee said the new building will reflect that commitment to the community.

The building will need zoning relief from the Zoning Board of Appeals for height (85 feet proposed, 35 feet allowed), floor area ratio, parking (42 spaces required, zero proposed) and loading bays (one required, none proposed).

Resident Mark Reczek asked about construction coordination to mitigate impacts to the surrounding local businesses and residents. Development representative Jay Walsh said they would continue to have “open lines of communication” with all impacted.

“We are always willing to talk to folks and see how best to coordinate,” he said.

Reczek added that he would like to see the Flint Cleaners sign protected and reused, as it is a landmark of Barry’s Corner.

“A lot of people appreciate the sign in the neighborhood, similar to how Twin Donuts is seen as an iconic sign of Union Square,” he said.

Walsh said they would “look into it.”

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“You’re not the first one to ask a question about the sign,” he said. “That’s to be determined, but we’ve heard loud and clear that people like it. So we’re going to look for creative ways to keep that sign somewhere in Allston.”

Reczek said he appreciated the zero parking spaces.

“Having no parking only encourages the future residents and patrons of this business to continue to use the public transit around them,” he said.

Resident Scott Johnson said he was very much in favor of the project.

“The Lees are lovely people; we’ve lived in the neighborhood for 13 years now and they’re a big part of the fabric of the community,” he said. “I can’t tell you how excited we are to finally see a development of this scale that is being done by members of our own community, not out-of-state developers or people looking to make a quick buck. These are people who are really anchored in the community and have invested in it for a long time.”

Resident Robert Breslin, of Kingsley Street, said he had issues with the no parking, as more and more, street parking has become rarer and rarer.

“There is no way I can support another building with no parking,” he said. “Kingsley Street is unbelievable, there are people parking in my driveway; we’re calling 311 all the time. The whole of Western Avenue is more and more apartments, way too many in my opinion. And so for the 20 units, are there going to be no cars allowed? Is there going to be some agreement, they’re going to sign something saying they’re not going to have a car?”

Walsh only responded that there will not be parking offered on site.

“They’ll be parking in my driveway, probably,” Breslin said.

Several attendees actually asked for more units and more height during the presentation.

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