Thomas Breen Photo
The old Von Roll factory at Chapel Street and Blatchley Avenue.
The owners of the former Von Roll factory building on Chapel Street in Fair Haven are seeking a special exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals that will allow their business to operate and bring 50 new jobs to an industrial zone.
Art to Frames LLC bought the building with plans to make it the home for its assembling operations. The building is now vacant.
Art to Frames manufactures custom-designed frames and decorative home accessories like lampshades, attorney Ben Trachten told members of the BZA during their regular monthly meeting Tuesday evening at the Hall of Records. Members are expected to vote on the request next month. No one spoke in opposition to it.
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Trachten at BZA Tuesday.
Though the factory is zoned for industrial operations, Trachten said, in fact, Art to Frames’ assembly and light fabrication is not permitted under current regulations by right, only by special exception. He said that the new use would be “less intensive, less toxic and less disruptive for then neighborhood than what’s been there.”
The former Von Roll factory manufactured insulated materials and wire he said and the site is heavily contaminated and among the many sites covered by the 1992 Connecticut Transfer Act, which regulates the transfer of such properties. He said the special exception won’t impair future development of surrounding properties but also noted that 166 Chapel St. could never be rezoned for residential use because the site is simply too contaminated. He said the exception also fits into the city’s comprehensive plan Vision 2025.
ART TO FRAMES PHOTO
Art CT 770 Land LLC, a holding company owned by Art To Frames CEO Schneur Minsky, bought the Von Roll factory building at 128 and 166 Chapel St. for $640,000 on Jan. 28. Minsky’s plan for the factory calls for providing at least 50 jobs. Trachten said Tuesday night that the operation might provide as many as 150 jobs. (Read more about the plans here.)
The BZA referred the company’s request to the City Plan Commission which will make a recommendation about whether Art to Frames should receive the special exception. The BZA could decide as early as May.
Part of the impetus for adopting zoning was to prevent nuisances, e.g., polluting factories moving into residential neighborhoods. But New Haven's outdated zoning ordinance bars all sorts of uses in industrial zones, even no-brainers such as this. Now that City Plan has filled its key vacancies, I hope Aicha Woods and her colleagues can begin to bring the ordinance into the 21st century.