New Haven Independent

The ordinance requires parking garages of over 200 cars to come before the City Plan Commission for a special permit. Such projects would have to submit a traffic study and go through a design review, neither of which are required now. The city had pushed the zoning change as a way to give City Plan more control over upcoming projects like the Shartenberg site, the mid-block garage and Union Station. Click here for a previous story.

When the proposal came before aldermen at last month’s regular meeting, it flopped by a 11-6 vote, falling short of the 16 votes needed to pass a new ordinance.

This time around, it was re-introduced by one of its prior opponents, Alderman Sandman. The board voted unanimously to revisit the issue, then nearly unanimously approved the ordinance, with a 24-1 vote.

East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar touted the added oversight as “an exceptional way of gaining control over these large structures,” making sure they are integrated into neighborhoods instead of overshadowing them.

Sandman, originally apprehensive of the plan, changed his mind. Why?

“When it was originally put forth, I saw it as a blunt instrument to be used to hamper economic development,” Sandman said. After talking with colleagues, he became reassured the tool would be “wielded responsibly.”

In other aldermanic business, the corner of Brewster Street and Dixwell Avenue was designated as “Bishop Austin Atkinson, Sr. Corner.”