Aliyya Swaby Photo
Buxbaum: We don’t want retail.
The former location of Westville Wines might someday be a row of artist studios — if neighbors settle worries about parking.
The owner of the property, Varsha Mehta, proposed that renovation to the 837 Whalley Ave. space at a special meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals Thursday night. She asked for a special exception to allow no parking spaces where six are required for 1,100 square feet of expanded office space in a commercial building.
Zoning commissioners chose to close the public hearing Thursday night. They sent the proposal the City Plan Commission for review before it returns to the zoning board for a vote in October.
Mehta seeks to divide the property into six units, with a large storefront on Whalley Avenue and five smaller storefronts for retail or office space along the side of West Rock Avenue.
The 5,000 square-foot property has a retail storefront on the ground floor, now being rented out until Nov. 8 as a campaign headquarters for Board of Education candidate Edward Joyner Before that, it was Westville Wines, until a nasty dispute with a tenant this past winter. (The wine store moved across the street.)
Part of Mehta’s space is zoned for storage, while the rest is “grandfathered” in as retail, according to City Plan staff’s report.
Mehta said a lot of parking is available during the day in the neighborhood, so the decrease in parking will not affect neighbors.
But several neighbors headed to the microphone to tell zoning commissioners their concerns with that plan. They said they want more artists in the neighborhood to keep Westville’s image
Thea Buxbaum, who lives on West Rock Avenue, said she worries the space would be too tight for garbage pickup from the units. She said though there is parking during the day, at night, the 45 residential units around Valley Street and West Rock Avenue have only 45 parking spots.
Buxbaum said she would support a change in use from storage to office or studio with restricted hours — not retail.
Mehta replied that she could create space for garbage pickup by taking five feet off of the last unit to create a five foot alleyway. But she said she is not willing to restrict the use of the space. She said that one person has already approached her about leasing one unit for office space and that she would love to have primarily artists. But she would not necessarily turn down retail options.
West Rock should not have “late-night tenants,” said neighbor Alice Steinhardt. She said Mehta should come back with a more specific application.
Lyric Hall founder John Cavaliere said he would “love to see artists and creative types in my backyard” and so is “in favor of restricting” Mehta’s use.
Chris Heitmann, who heads the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance, said he worries that five new retail stores would change the feeling of the neighborhood, especially since West Rock Avenue is the “intersection of residential and commercial” space.
Mehta said she would not want a “late-night use. I have said no to a couple of people who would not be good neighbors to the people here.” She said she wants the “same playing ground as any other landlord here.”
The other option is to go forward with her plan for the part of the building already grandfathered into retail and to leave the rest as storage.
