The proposed four-home site plan for 252 Davenport Ave.
An empty sliver lot on Davenport Avenue could serve as the future home for four veterans in need of housing support — if a nonprofit’s plea for zoning peace is granted.
The National Veterans Council for Legal Redress — a Dixwell-based nonprofit that seeks to provide support services for anyone who served in the military, particularly for those with less than honorable discharge status — pitched a plan before the Board of Zoning Appeals Tuesday night to four single-family homes for local vets on the lot at 252 Davenport Ave.
“This is about ensuring veterans can have safe, affordable housing along with support services and self-sufficiency,” NVCLR Director of Housing Development Carl Bordeaux told commissioners during Tuesday’s online public hearing.
The idea is to build four one-bedroom apartments under 400 square feet on the vacant lot in order to create a community of veterans who can live independently while accessing healthcare and employment help from assigned, off-scene staff.
In order to achieve that vision, the council is applying for two variances that would shorten the required rear yard setback from 25 feet to 12 feet and decrease the mandated lot area per home from 2,000 square feet to 1,635 square feet. They’re also requesting a special exception to allow for four parking spaces to the front of the property facing Davenport Avenue.
Bordeaux said those code alterations would permit the consolidation of green space to the side and rear of the property. The intent is to develop a common grass lawn for residents called “oasis yard,” which Bordeaux said would add to the “therapeutic nature” of the project.
Bordeaux said his team is waiting on zoning relief before they start pitching the project to funders. But the ultimate hope is to raise enough money — a currently undetermined amount — to rent out the units to individuals earning less than 30 percent area median income.
Eligible residents will be referred by Veterans Affairs and local nonprofits working with clients who have already completed programming related to homelessness, substance abuse recovery, or mental health treatment.
“The veterans we’ll be targeting should already be highly functional and require little on-site supervision,” Bordeaux said.
Hill Alder Evelyn Rodriguez said the Board of Alders previously voted to sell the city-owned, empty stretch of land between two residences on Davenport to the NVCLR in hopes that the otherwise vacant property could be put to good use.
“We now have before us a viable opportunity that will help participating veterans obtain housing, case management and community development,” Hill Alder Evelyn Rodriguez said.
“This is a project that honors the sacrifices of those who served and answers a critical problem in our community,” said Pamela Kelley, who spoke as a member of the public Tuesday but also works as the council’s director of special projects.
“A lot of times all these guys need is a chance,” agreed Gregory Trotman, who identified himself as a local veteran in favor of the homes.
The council is still working out several key elements of the proposed development, like funding mechanisms and site plan details. Bordeaux said he wants the project to function not only as one model to address the city’s affordable housing crisis, but as an economic development strategy to utilize “all these empty lots scattered throughout the city.”
Questions were raised Tuesday regarding the proposed layout for the development.
Commission Adam Waters questioned why the council didn’t stack the apartments in order to avoid issues of lot coverage and side yard setbacks.
Bordeaux replied that a stacked design would “take away from the perception residents would have of being independent.
“We’re trying to employ a new model that’s less institutional-like,” he said. “We want them to have a feeling of independence, privacy and separation… we want them to eventually move from rentals to homeownership.”
Land use attorney Ben Trachten also spoke up from his virtual seat in the audience to compliment the project’s intent — while breaking some potentially bad news for the architects: “You can’t have cars backing over public sidewalks into the right of way,” he said of their request to establish front yard parking.
He suggested that the council rewrite their application to request zero parking on site.
His comment, he said, was not a matter of supporting or opposing the development, but “a matter of the applicant’s future disappointment that this arrangement can’t work.”
The BZA will vote on the development next month, after the City Plan Commission hears the application and decides on whether or not to issue a positive or negative referral to the board.
If the board followed the law scrupulously, which it likely will not, it would deny the request for the rear yard variance. It is supposed to deny variance requests if the hardship that forms the basis of the request is self-imposed. That is what is happening here. The applicant could put one of the four units on top of another unit, keeping the other two units single story. That would create more green space and eliminate the need for the rear yard variance.
i actually support the proposed development. The fact that it requires variances is further evidence of the need to revise the zoning ordinance. The ordinance imposes suburban standards in terms of lot lines, among other things. This often precludes building housing on vacant lots that is consistent with the existing housing on the block.
There are many vacant residential lots in New Haven, many of them owned by the city. The city should encourage their use for neighborhood-scale housing, green spaces, etc. The city could also collaborate with private owners who wish to develop vacant lots for these purposes.
The State Building Code does permit tiny homes. But they must comply with the codes underlying requirements regarding plumbing, electrical systems, etc.