Nick Defiesta Photo
The City Plan Commission Tuesday night sided with neighbors who don’t want a new day care center in Beaver Hills and don’t want neighbors parking on their lawns in East Rock.
The commission rejected its own staff reports in issuing two recommendations on the two issues at its meeting in City Hall Wednesday night.
The first case, which came before the Board of Zoning Appeals last month, concerned a former car-repair business at 145 Blake St. that owners sought to turn into a child daycare center, an idea that sparked neighbors to turn out in protest. The zoning board forwarded the request to City Plan for a recommendation.
City Plan staff recommended approval of the proposal on what commission Chair Edward Mattison described as the “narrow purview” of parking laws. Commissioners debated the plan before unanimously voting to deny it and send it back to the zoning board.
One of the problems with opening a daycare center at the spot, aldermanic representative Adam Marchand argued, is that it would increase traffic on a busy intersection at already-busy times — before and after work. The proposed layout of the daycare also “pushed the envelope” as far as safety was concerned, Deputy Zoning Director Thomas Talbot said, because it put the playground too close to the street.
Beaver Hills Alderman Angela Russell, who represents the neighborhood, momentarily left an aldermanic meeting across the hall to convey her concerns about the daycare plan. With only six parking spots on site, she argued, it would be impossible for parking to function smoothly, leading to congestion and safety hazards in the area.
Even though she did not support the daycare idea, Russell was supportive of finding another use for the property.
“We want to see something there. We really do,” she said.
A similar fate befell a request from property owners at 195 Bishop St. who asked for permission to build a parking space in their lawn. Like the daycare proposal, the lawn parking request originally drew neighbors to register opposition before the zoning board. Like the daycare proposal, the lawn parking request was met with resistance from neighbors and sent to the City Plan Commission for a recommendation.
City Plan staff recommended the approval of the parking space addition. But commissioners voted to recommend denying it amid concerns that the pavement the owners proposed to use would not survive sustained use and fears about a negative impact on neighborhood character.
Mattison said that having lived in a house with no driveway for decades, he understands why the property owners might seek to install a driveway. Still, he added, he and his family made do with street parking, and he sees no reason why these owners couldn’t do the same.
“I have no sympathy,” Mattison said, before the commission denied the proposal and sent it back to the zoning board.
"I have not sympathy," Mattison said. Why do people like this serve on boards in this city?