KSQ Architects
Initial rendering of the building.
The City Plan Commission gave its support to a proposed parking exception for a building Yale University wants to erect on Elm Street .
At its monthly meeting Wednesday night, the commission voted unanimously in favor of a recommendation from City Plan staff to allow Yale the special exception to provide no new parking. Now the matter returns to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a final vote.
Yale wants to build a 51,777 square-foot, 73-foot-tall building with two floors of retail and four floors of graduate housing on a surface parking lot at 272 Elm St. University officials asked the BZA for two variances: one to allow the rear yard to run 16.4 feet at its narrowest point rather than the required 24.34 feet, and another to allow a total floor to area ratio (FAR) of 2.984 where a maximum of 2.0 is allowed. (City Plan wasn’t asked to consider those requests.)
City Plan staffer Tom Talbot suggested that Yale consider reducing the amount of retail in the project from two floors to just one because it was the real reason officials were asking for the variances. He had recommended in February that the board deny the request for the variances. (Read more about Yale’s response and more about the project here.)
Paul Bass Photo
In addition to the variances, Yale also asked for a special exception for parking, to allow zero spaces on a lot that would require a total of 145 spaces — including 101 for the two proposed retail floors, 44 for three existing retail operations in adjacent buildings it owns. City plan staff recommended that the commission support the exception despite being at odds with Yale developers on the other pieces of the project.
Talbot said that Yale had conducted a parking study of the Broadway district that determined that there was sufficient parking in the area to absorb any increase in cars that might come to the area because of the additional retail that the project would bring.
The real question is whether the Mayor and the Tax Assessor are going to roll-over in the face of Yale's decree that it doesn't have to pay property taxes on these new graduate student apartments.
Everyone should be aware that Yale currently pays property taxes on two-thirds of the 800 apartments they own in New Haven. If we want to continue collecting those tax dollars, the City should proceed very cautiously here. Basically, Yale should not be allowed to change the very clear definition of a "dorm", (shared baths, no kitchens), -- to become "anything rented exclusively to students".
It would be very interesting to hear Tax Assessor Alex Pullen's thoughts on this matter, as well as those of Economic Development Czar Matt Nemerson.