New Haven Independent

Nica’s Withdraws “Decongestion Plan”

by Melissa Bailey | July 23, 2009 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

The kitchen at Nica’s will remain cramped for now: The popular East Rock market has put expansion plans on hold, to make nice with wary neighbors.

The owners of Nica’s Market have pulled an expansion proposal that was set to come before the city zoning board this week. The Sabino family had planned to expand the kitchen at its Italian market at 601 Orange St. in East Rock and add indoor and balcony seating on the second story. When they aired the plans to neighbors at a June 22 meeting, the Sabinos heard complaints about unfinished business, including delivery trucks creating dangerous traffic conditions.

“We withdrew our original application because we’re listening to our neighbors and the neighborhood,” said Rosanna Sabino, who runs Nica’s with her dad and brother. She said Nica’s intends to come up with a better plan that neighbors feel comfortable with.

“We’re going back to the drawing board,” she said.

Sabino, who’s 34, spoke between slicing meat and wrapping panini behind the deli counter Wednesday. She said her family’s main mission is to “decongest” the market, where narrow aisles and cramped kitchen quarters mean customers and workers are always struggling to find enough space to move in.

“It’s hard to operate under this kind of stress,” she said.

Nica’s expansion proposal came at a time of tightening competition in East Rock’s booming gourmet food industry. Orange Street will soon be home to three markets and a café, all owned by former allies in the same Italian family network.

After the June 22 meeting in East Rock, the Sabinos’ attorney, Anthony Avallone, reached out to several neighbors who voiced objections, including East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar.

Lemar said Nica’s is a great neighborhood asset, but he’s concerned in particular about one “extraordinarily dangerous intersection” near the market. Large delivery trucks routinely pull up to the corner of Bishop and Orange Streets, blocking a bus lane, creating poor visibility and imperiling pedestrians, cyclists and cars, Lemar said.

“It would not surprise me if on any day of the year, someone got hit at that intersection,” he said. The problem is that trucks violate traffic laws and Nica’s fails to monitor them, he said.

Neighbors are worried that the problem will only get worse if Nica’s expands.

“Until they can accommodate increased deliveries to the store, I don’t feel that the community feels comfortable with Nica’s tripling their size,” said Lemar. He said he wants to make sure any expansion plans “would maintain and protect the residential character of that area.”

Site plans Avallone presented in June called for adding 4,500 square feet to the 3,024-square-foot building, by extending the kitchen area towards the back of the property and adding indoor and outdoor seating on the second floor.

The plans spurred some fear that Nica’s would become a restaurant in a residential area.

Wednesday, Sabino said people’s perception of the expansion was “overblown.” She said the family’s intent is merely to accommodate the existing customer base.

“We have no interest” in becoming a restaurant, she said.

“Negative 1 percent chance,” chimed in her brother, Tony Sabino (at left in photo with Rosanna). They said they already work 12-hour days and have no intention of staying open past 7 p.m.

Tony Sabino said he’s already started tackling the problem with the delivery trucks. He recently sent out a notice to all the delivery trucks, asking them to restrict their hours of delivery to 7 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. Most deliveries happen Tuesday to Thursday, he said.

Rosanna Sabino said she’s open to all solutions, including having the trucks unload on Humphrey Street instead, where there’s more room. She said Nica’s plans to hold a neighborhood meeting on the topic, so that the business and its neighbors can “come up with a plan together.”

“I don’t want to upset anyone,” she said. “I plan on being here a long time.”

Share this story

Share |

Comments

Posted by: juli | July 23, 2009 8:54 AM

as a cyclist, i have had many, many close calls on this stretch of road and i appreciate your willingness to listen to concerns. thank you!

Posted by: Margaret | July 23, 2009 9:32 AM

GREAT picture, Melissa. You really captured the bustling ballet they get going back there when it is busy.

Posted by: Ned | July 23, 2009 9:55 AM

"Orange Street will soon be home to three markets and a cafe". Don't forget Café Bravo, and the soon to be opening(?) Middle Eastern establishment on the corner of Orange St. @ Canner St. You can snack your way up Orange St. to the park...

Posted by: Bruce | July 23, 2009 11:53 AM

It would be nice if the letter told the trucks that they are forbidden to use the bus stop. I know they're just trying to do their job and get their deliveries in, but they should be ticketed if they park in a bus stop.

Posted by: robn | July 23, 2009 4:06 PM

Narrow aisles are the choice of the grocer...take out a row a shelves and voila...no more congestion...just kidding. In reality, providing more space in a popular place just means more people and equal congestion. Being a victim of ones own popularity isn't really Nica's problem...their problem is success at a fixed scale.

Posted by: anon | July 23, 2009 5:27 PM

Please fix the traffic situation in front of Nica's before someone is inevitably killed here. Parking spaces need to be cordoned off or painted, to improve visibility at the intersections, and illegally parked trucks should be given heavy fines.

Posted by: Tonko | July 23, 2009 6:29 PM

I appreciate Nica's interest in reducing delivery truck-related traffic issues. However, it seems that limiting the deliveries to 7-11 in the morning won't substantially solve the issue, as the greatest problem seems to be delivery trucks parked during the morning rush hour, approximately 7:30-9 am.

Posted by: Kel | July 24, 2009 7:35 AM

If they are parked illegally there is a very easy fix. New Haven PD writes a ticket when they park illegally. A fine will quickly change the behavior of the drivers. Maybe they can also ticket cyclists who go through red lights and don't follow the rules of the road. I have been almost hit by more bicyclists than cars on Orange and Humphrey. It would also help congestion if more CT drivers learned how to properly turn at an intersection.

Posted by: busymommy | July 24, 2009 11:32 AM

Just a reminder to all....Delivery trucks have been coming and going on the street for over 50 years...Remember Prime Market? And as I am walking up Orange I see the same delivery trucks at the other markets as well.... It's not an issue there also?
I applaude Nica's for taking the time to listen and address the issues. They are doing what they can, some of the issues are for the city to resolve.

Posted by: Jon Doe | July 24, 2009 3:37 PM

It sounds to me the the neighborhood would like to see a close up store then a store growning in the community.

To you cyclists I was downtown the other day and was almost hit by one of you again, so step up and be respondsable for your action as well as complaining about drivers. I'm not say all the driver in New Haven are good, because they are the worst. We need our police to start stopping them and ticketing them.

Posted by: ron | July 24, 2009 9:06 PM

Perhaps a solution to the parking problem would be to have delivery trucks only on that stretch of Orange St. Nica's does have a parking lot so patrons could park there and the delivery trucks could park in front of the store. By the way, Bruce the NHPD doesn't write parking tickets but that job is handled by Traffic and Parking. By the way I have seen police cars parked in the handicapped parking space so asking them to set a good example in obeying traffic laws would be a good start. That is unless those officers are really handicapped. The police could on the other hand write cyclist tickets for going through red lights and stop signs but maybe they could also do that for the motorists who run lights and slide through stop signs. Most of us don't think the rules apply to us, they are for others. If we all respected the traffic laws we'd probably never be on time for anything.

Posted by: robn | July 25, 2009 9:05 AM

JONDOE,

You forgot the in-between scenario...thriving businesses staying the same size. This is what the neighborhood wants.

Nica’s Withdraws “Decongestion Plan”

Comments

Special Sections

Legal Notices

Some Favorite Sites

Government/ Community Links

Flyerboard

Sponsors

N.H.I. Site Design & Development

NHI Store

News Feed