Thomas MacMillan Photos
Arterton: That’d be “ugly.”
After nine years of having to park blocks away from their house during street-sweeping and snowstorms, a Bishop Street couple wants to install a parking spot on their front lawn. Their neighbors, including a federal judge, are trying to stop them.
Janet Bond Arterton, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut who lives on Bishop Street, showed up with four other neighbors, to make the case against the parking spot. A parking spot in front of the Billings house would be “quite ugly,” she argued.
The BZA didn’t vote on the application, instead referring it to the City Plan Commission for a recommendation.
Van Dyke (pictured), who’s 37, told the BZA that he and his wife don’t have a driveway at their house on 195 Bishop St. When it’s time for street-sweeping or snow-plowing, they have to move their car to another street, sometimes blocks away, he said.
He said he’d like to put in a curb cut and install a parking spot on the front lawn. Van Dyke said he discovered a product called Grasspave, a “porous pavement” that’s essentially invisible, according to the manufacturer’s website. Grass grows on top of Grasspave, so that it looks like a normal lawn. Click the play arrow to see a promotional video.
Van Dyke said he and his wife would use the new parking spot only occasionally, during parking bans. The grass wouldn’t survive daily use as a parking spot, he said.
At their home on Bishop Street this past Thursday, Elisa, a 38-year-old graduate of the Yale Divinity School, elaborated. She said she and her husband moved to Bishop Street nine years ago, into one of only three houses on the block without a driveway. Since they had their 3- and 5‑year-old, it’s become more and more of a nuisance to have to move the car during parking bans, she said.
For example, during a parking ban this winter, Elisa went grocery shopping with her kids, then pulled up in front of the house, unloaded the groceries on the porch, drove the car to the Lawn Club (the Billings are members) two blocks away, parked there, and walked back to the house with her kids. “The past winters have been difficult,” she said.
She said she and Van Dyke approached their immediate neighbors to see if they might sell them a strip of land to make a driveway. “They were not interested.” The neighbors were concerned about the resale value of their house, Elisa said.
Invisible Structures, Inc.
Elisa said she and her husband are “very concerned with the appearance” of their house and the whole street. “I don’t want to black-top my front lawn.” They hit upon Grasspave (pictured) as a way to have the best of both worlds: an attractive lawn and a place to park when necessary. The system comprises supportive plastic lattice below a layer of sod, giving the grass the structural integrity to stand up to occasional parking, the manufacturer claims.
“It’s really only for times when there’s a snow parking ban, or when we have to unload groceries,” Elisa said. “To make daily living a little more comfortable.”
Elisa said she and her husband are so eager for off-street parking that they’ve put their house on the market and hope to move to another house in East Rock — with a driveway. If the zoning permission comes through, they won’t move, she said. “We really like our house.”
At the BZA meeting, Judge Arterton (pictured) told zoners that neighbors on Bishop Street have worked hard to keep the neighborhood looking good. A car parked on the lawn would be “to put it bluntly, quite ugly,” she said.
She said even if the Billings use the parking spot only occasionally, they’re selling their house, and who’s to say what the next owners will do?
Van Dyke later assured zoners that he and his family would only move if they can’t install a parking spot.
Neighbors Susan and Bob Frew (pictured) spoke up against the application, as did Sara and Allan Stadler, who live across the street from the Billings family. Sara said she’s concerned the parking spot would be “the first domino to fall on our street. … We want to keep it as high-quality as it is now.”
Elisa said later that she was surprised to hear her neighbors were “concerned about us making the neighborhood ugly.” She said she and her husband have always kept their property very neat, while others on the street don’t shovel their sidewalks, or let gravel from their driveway spill into the road.
“It’s not going to affect the visual aspect of the street,” Elisa said of the parking spot. “People just don’t like change.”
If the judge is that concerned over appearance, and any of the other families for that matter, how about doing the neighborly thing and allow this family to use your driveways and parking pads during times of snow and parking bans? They all know the difficulties and every winter in particular, there is a fight over shoveled parking spaces and who gets to park there. If you don't want the car parked in front, even occasionally, help the family, or has it been so long since you had to balance young children, groceries and all the rest of the "stuff" that you don't remember how difficult it is.