New Haven Independent

Last Tuesday night marked the end of a long road for Carrero (at left in photo). The Board of Zoning Appeals gave him the final permission he needed to open his car repair and auto body shop on Dixwell Avenue.

Carrero said that when he bought Johnny’s Garage at 729 Dixwell Ave. in August 2008, he never thought it would take him until October 2009 to be able to start his business. After all, he planned to continue using the location for car repair, the way it had been for decades under the previous owner, Johnny Ferraro.

His new garage is around the corner from the home of the zoning board’s chairwoman.

It’s also less than a quarter mile down Dixwell from his existing business, A.D.T. Automotive, located just over the town line in Hamden. He purchased that garage seven years ago, and he was up and running after just two visits to the Hamden zoning authority, he said.

Carrero said he was surprised and frustrated to find that things are not so simple in New Haven.

His request landed on Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) and City Plan Commission agendas a total of five times over the span of almost a year. The BZA imposed 19 conditions when it approved his request to sell used cars. Altogether, Carrero estimated that he spent tens of thousands of dollars in infrastructure improvements and attorney’s fees before he was able to get approval from the city. Meanwhile, he was paying a mortgage and taxes on a property that he was unable to use to earn income.

Carrero runs a family business with his wife, daughter, son, and son-in-law. Alongside him through the zoning process was his son, Jesse Carrero (at right in top photo).

The two men said that the city should have a better zoning approval process, one that would help — not hinder — entrepreneurs looking to open new businesses.

City Deputy Director of Zoning Tom Talbot said that Carrero and his family were “not victims” and that the 19 conditions imposed by the BZA were due in part to reports that there had been “activity” at their new garage before it was legally permitted to be in business.

19 Conditions

In November of 2008, after three city board meetings, the BZA granted Jose Carrero a special exception to permit general car repair and limited used auto sales. In doing so, the board imposed 19 conditions. On Tuesday night, Carrero was back in front of the board to show that he had met all the conditions and to seek an additional permission: to do auto body repair and painting.

First, board Chairwoman Cathy Weber said she wanted to make sure that Carrero had fulfilled his 19 obligations. She went through them one by one with the mechanic’s attorney, Michael Brandi.

Among other conditions, Carrero was required to erect a wooden fence around a Dumpster, build a knee-high wooden barrier at the front of the property, paint new parking lines in the front and rear of the building, and install a 250-gallon waste container.

There were also lighting, signage, hours and parking requirements, as well as prohibitions of banners and flags.

Having assured Weber that all the conditions had been met, Brandi argued that Carrero was not looking to do anything with the property that had not been done in the past, without problems. “This facility was traditionally used for bodywork and painting,” Brandi said. “The site has handled this for decades.”

Asked about the approval process for his other garage, Carrero said, “Hamden was the best!”

“Let’s not go there,” said Weber.

John Ferraro stood to speak in support of Carrero’s application. “I owned and operated Johnny’s Garage for 57 years. I’ve sold used cars and done body work all in the same place,” he said. It looked good when he had it, Johnny said, “but this man made it even better!” He pointed to Carrero.

“I don’t know why he’s getting such a hard time,” Ferraro said. “He’s legit.”

Carrero later said that he was asking to do less than what Ferraro had done at the same site. Ferraro had done towing and had two gas pumps, he said.

Other neighbors spoke up for Carrero, and he presented a petition of 25 signatures of support to the board. There was no public opposition.

During pre-voting discussion, Weber suggested that painting could be done at Carrero’s Hamden location and repair could be done at the New Haven location. Dputy zoning chief Talbot said that such a consideration is beyond the purview of the board. “I really think the issue is the site itself,” he said.

The board approved the application with four affirmative votes. Weber abstained.

Contacted later, Weber declined to comment on her abstention. Neighbors said that her husband can be seen repairing cars in the street near her house. Weber said that he works only on the seven cars belonging to the couple.

On Tuesday evening after the vote, Carrero was not celebrating, but expressing frustration over the length and difficulty of the approval process. “The way these people treated me!” he said. “These people, they made it so hard on me!”

“Here I am trying to put people to work,” he said exasperatedly.

You know why a lot of Hispanic folks are in the streets?” he asked. It’s because it’s too difficult to start a legitimate business, so people open up illegal chop shops, he said.

“They’ve been unfair,” Carrero said of the board members.

“We appreciate the board in approving it,” interjected his lawyer.

System Reform Requested

The next day, standing in front of his new garage, Carrero’s frustration had not abated.

He said that he paid taxes and insurance on the building the whole time his applications were making their way through city boards. “It cost me money for a whole year because the city was actually crucifying me on things they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Carrero’s son Jesse, who’s 25, said he had to give his dad pep talks to keep him going through the process. He knew that the city zoning officials would eventually run out of conditions to impose, he said. “They’re pulling on a rope, at some point they got to get to the end of that rope. Yesterday was that day,” he said. “We fulfilled everything they wanted.”

Jesse said that he and his father had continuous negotiations with the city as they fulfilled the 19 conditions imposed on them. After they initially fenced off the property with a cable barrier, the city told them that was insufficient and required them to build a wooden barrier, Jesse said.

The year of delays would have been impossible financially if the family didn’t have the Hamden garage, Jose said. Without steady income from an existing business, no entrepreneur would be able to start a business under the conditions created by the city of New Haven, he said.

“A few young folks wanted to do what I’m doing, but they’re afraid of getting bashed!” he said.

Jose said he can’t understand why the city doesn’t make it easier to start or expand a business. “If you see us growing, give us a hand! We’re paying taxes!”

“There needs to be some kind of support system for new owners,” Jesse said. He said that he understands the zoning process is intended to prevent people from creating unsightly or unwanted businesses that don’t work with the surrounding area, “but they need a better process to weed those people out.”

As it is, the process discourages entrepreneurs, which may lead to more illegal, unsightly, and unwanted businesses around the city, Jesse said.

Jesse said that the family plans to build walls to close in a third garage bay at their new site. “I hope we don’t have to go to the BZA for that,” he said.

“Not Victims”

“There was nothing particularly unusual about what happened,” Talbot said when visited in his City Hall office on Friday morning.

He said that zoning officials had heard complaints that the Carreros may have been working in their garage “before approval from the BZA.” That’s partly why the city imposed conditions imposed on them, and why they were required to come back in six months to show that they had complied with them, he said.

Even given six months, the Carreros still hadn’t met a couple of the conditions, he said.

Talbot said that the zoning permission system doesn’t need reform, at least not for car repair businesses: “That kind of use, if not monitored and regulated, can become an issue.”

Talbot said Jose Carrero went about things in an unorthodox manner, by asking for permission to repair cars after purchasing the garage. “Usually people take care of this stuff before they buy they property,” he said.

“In my opinion, they’re not victims,” he said. “There was activity there before anyone came into this office.”