The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council (JPNC) held its first meeting of the new year on Jan. 27, approving zoning committee recommendations and reprising the debate over 3326 Washington St.

Growing families, adult children who can’t afford their own apartment, so-called aging-in-place couples, and homeowners looking for more rental income are the reasons for the increase in additions and build-outs on the agenda of the zoning committee.

No less than five were unanimously approved at the Jan. 21 zoning committee and ratified by the full council on Jan. 27.

Savvas Gianasmidis owns the two-family house at 85 Bynner St. and he called in from Greece (at 2 a.m.) to explain he had a growing family and wanted to modify the attic as living space.

It’s his fathers house, he explained “and seven or eight people” live in the second unit.

“There’s a tenant on the first floor,” Gianasmidis said, “I’ll add two bedrooms and two bathrooms and maybe a third bedroom in the attic,” for a total of five bedrooms.

Aesthetic Images of West Roxbury is the architect.

Charles and Mary Horvath have owned 268 Chestnut Ave. at the corner of Biltmore since February 2016, and they want to stay there

“We love JP. We want to age in place,” Charles Horvath said, “So we moved our bedroom downstairs.”

“This reduces our use of the 18-step staircase to the second floor.”

Horvath said he wants to add a ground-floor bathroom addition to their home, which was unanimously approved.

Gregg and Katrin Leadley own 41 Slocum Rd., built in 1962, and they said they have a growing family.

They asked architect Timothy Burke to extend the living space into the basement; this would require lowering the floor 18 inches.

There’s no bedroom but modifications will be made for a Murphy bed. Burke does a lot of additions and extension in JP; on Oct. 15, 2025 the zoning committee approved his plans for a two-story rear addition to 7 Brewer St. for Steven Cohen’s growing family.

Chris Hosford of Helios Architects bought 62 Dunster Rd., a two-family, arts-and-crafts-style house built in 1911, with his friend Brian Guarnotto in 2004; it’s now two condominiums, Hosford said.

Hosford wants to convert the unfinished basements into two separate living spaces for each owner.

Hosford said he has two adult children “who don’t seem to be moving out soon.” He said he also has professional experience with build-outs: under construction now is an addition to 104 Child St. he designed with a mansard roof for psychologist Teresa Spillane.

It was approved by the JP zoning committee in February, 2014, but is just now getting built. The building permit for the $268,000 second-story addition wasn’t given until Sept. 2025. It is now fully-framed and over half complete.

The ground floor will have an office, foyer, waiting room and garage; the second floor will have additional living space including a potential home healthcare living area.

Jesus Martinez owns 6 Chilcott Pl., a big, rambling house that includes an artist studio, and he said he wants to increase the rental space. Martinez does not live at 6 Chilcott.

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The third floor has a small apartment with low head room that he wants to enlarge. Scott Coen is the architect/builder.

The house will still remain a three-family.

The zoning committee voted to approve the addition with the proviso that Martinez paint the whole house. Martinez explained he didn’t want to finish painting the house until the third floor addition was completed.

Michael Cohen of Boomslang Group in Needham apparently sees Egleston Square as up and coming, because he recently purchased two multi-family homes, each about 120 years old, at 101-103 and 105-107 School Street next door to Latino Beauty.

Boomslang is described on its website as a “property acquisition and management company… that focuses on deep renovation of older buildings converting them into high-end, long-term rentals.”

And he’s doing exactly that: 105-107 School is a brick Colonial Revival duplex built in 1905 called ‘The Georgia.”

Cohen proposes to add three bedrooms and a family room in the fairly large basement making this two, five-bedroom apartments, among the largest in Egleston Square.

Number 101-103 is a wood-framed, three-family apartment house in which Cohen plans to add two bedrooms, a family room and a bath in the basement. The architect is Timothy Burke and the JP Zoning Committee approved the plans on Jan. 7.

For those keeping score, round three of the 3326 Washington St. change-in-the- affordable-agreement adventure goes on: the council on Jan. 27 debated and voted to send a letter in opposition to the Mayor’s Office of Housing (MOH) and the Boston Planning Department.

The developer, citing borrowing restraints, wants to change three affordable units from self-financed subsidies to publicly financed mobile vouchers, which has caused great outcry at the neighborhood council for two months.

Before the vote, city councilor Ben Weber came on the call. “I saw this [3326 Washington Street] on the agenda,” he said. ”I’ve been talking to [MOH chief] Sheila Dillon about the lack of effort by the developer to take another shot.”

“Sheila is working on it. There will be a meeting about more affordability or more explanation as to why it can’t be worked out; I will advise that the developer meet with the JPNC ,the largest group in JP.”

“I’m not sure what’s next,” Weber said.

“I’m worried that the longer the delay, the bigger the risk is of this not being built.”

Helen Matthews of Brookside Ave. did not seem worried. “I wouldn’t mind if we delay this several more months until a satisfactory outcome,” she said.