Nora Grace-Flood Photo
669 Dixwell today: what will best boost the Avenue?
Ricotta pies and pepperoni slices may replace the ghosts of bygone fifths and whiskey bottles at a former Dixwell Avenue liquor store — though neighbors are offering mixed reviews about a potential pizzeria on their main commercial strip.
A proposal put forward by Bendki Abdessamad, the owner-occupant of 669 Dixwell Ave., to turn the downstairs of his own apartment building into a take-out pizza place turned out to be the most controversial application heard during the latest public hearing held by the Board of Zoning Appeals last Tuesday.
Supporters and opposers of the project filled the zoning board’s Zoom room not to debate what makes for good pizza, but rather what determines the recipe for economic and social success when launching a local business in a complicated neighborhood.
The proposed take-out pizza menu.
Abdessamad’s project involves converting the vacant storage space of what was previously a liquor store into a pizza kitchen that would exclusively offer take-out and delivery options. The restaurant, which the applicant noted would offer “no tables or seating whatsoever,” would operate seven days a week between 11 a.m. and midnight.
On Tuesday, land use Attorney Benjamin Trachten, representing Abdessamad, approached the board in hopes of obtaining a variance permitting restaurant use in an area zoned as high-middle density residential development, as well as two special exceptions to relieve the owner of providing parking where 3 car spaces and one loading spot are typically required.
Trachten said that Abdessamad “maintains an apartment in this building — it’s the equivalent of an owner-occupied building.”
“These are the buildings you want to support,” he said, “they’re the glue that sustain a neighborhood for generations.”
Trachten said that Abdessamad “sunk his life savings into this building to buy it,” and reported that the applicant has already invested $40,000 into the space to create a commercial kitchen and pursue relevant building permits. A previous proposal by Abdessamad to establish a convenience store and halal deli on the property was denied by the board following neighborhood opposition, Trachten recalled. Now, he said, “pizza represents the minimum degree of relief for reasonable use of the property,” given zoning and building constraints.
“I don’t think the community would want a beauty salon, barbershop or tobacco store,” Trachten posited, scanning a list of permitted uses in the area.
One commissioner, Errol Saunders, questioned the order of operations leading to Abdessamad’s decision to install a range hood in the building. Trachten said that Abdessamad received a valid permit from the building department for the renovation, only to later confront confusion concerning accepted uses for the site. “That’s why we came before you” for zoning relief, Trachten said. “There’s no blame to Mr. Abdessamad.”
The floor plan for the anticipated restaurant.
Some members of the public interpreted that confusion as a preemptive action to alter a property without hearing community input first.
Implementing a kitchen hood before going to the zoning board and the public, neighbor Katorah Bryant said, signaled the kind of “assumptions that these entities and people make in communities of color.”
Bryant, like several others tuned into Tuesday’s online meeting, said she is wary of the history connected to the old package story property, and eager to propose more modest or discreet uses.
“There was a package store there for many years and it was a nuisance,” Bryant said. “There is an element of, ‘What will happen?’ If you allow an establishment such as that to stay open ‘til 12 midnight.”
“I believe if you’re open this late just to serve a slice of pizza, there’s other things happening,” agreed another neighbor, Nina Fawcett. “There’s other uses that can go there. A laundromat would be great for this area.”
Others spoke in support of a pizza place.
“These aren’t problems that are caused by a business being here,” said a man who identified himself as Theo. “Having a business here would only contribute.”
Many voiced their excitement for an eatery in an area with scarce walkable food options. “Giving people an opportunity to run across the street and grab a piece of pizza is nice,” said Michael Albert, who said he is a renter in Abdessamad’s building. Right now, he said, “you either have to run 20 minutes one way or 20 minutes the other way” to get a slice.
Some opponents cited neighborhood traffic and cars crowding around the streets and sidewalks surrounding the Dixwell property. Albert countered that “I live in this building and I have not seen anybody park on the sidewalk or anything like that … He [Abdessamad] does not allow people to loiter, he does not allow the kind of negativity a lot of these people are coming on here and talking about.”
That kind of property maintenance, Albert said, was virtually ensured and observed due to the fact that Abdessamad resides in the building himself and “puts money into it, and is trying to put money into the community.”
Newhallville Alder Devon Avshalom-Smith also voiced support for the project.
Traffic, loud gatherings late at night, and crime, he said “are issues that require the City of New Haven to invest more in our neighborhood.” But as for a simple pizza place, he said, “I see a lot of positives where this may spur further growth.”
At the end of the meeting, Trachten noted that his client would be willing to reconsider store hours if it would appease the community and commissioners.
The Board of Zoning Appeals will take the matter up again at their next meeting following a referral handed down by the City Plan Commission on the project.
On Tuesday, only Commission Chair Mike Martinez commented preemptively on the proposal: “I certainly agree that owner occupancy is a lot different than if someone else is running it. I feel good about the application.”.
You can find some group of people who will complain about anything and they are the same sort of people who love to come out to a community meeting where other people are compelled to listen to them.
This is an obviously good idea.