City Plan Rejects Upper Whalley Nightclub Proposal

A proposed BYOB nightclub on Upper Whalley hit another administrative roadblock Wednesday, as City Plan Commissioners unanimously recommended rejecting the venue’s request to share parking with its shopping strip neighbors.

That vote took place during the City Plan Commission’s latest regular monthly meeting, which was held online via Zoom.

Commissioners voted unanimously to recommend denial of Kenneth Redding’s special exception request for shared parking at 1330 Whalley Ave.

That’s where he plans to open up a new late-night ​“assembly hall” called ​“Sky Box Hall.”

Redding’s applications for parking relief and for a special exception for the creation of an assembly hall at the Whalley Avenue site were panned by neighbors, zoning commissioners, and the area’s alder at a recent city Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) meeting. Many of those critics warned that the area already has dangerous levels of high-speed traffic, and that adding an ​“assembly hall” to the mix could lead to car crashes, drunken fights, and other disruptions to the neighborhood.

Because Redding’s zoning relief request had to do with parking, the BZA referred the matter to the City Plan Commission for review. Thus Wednesday night’s hearing. Now that the City Plan Commission has recommended denial of Redding’s special exception request, the matter heads back to the BZA for a final vote at its next monthly meeting.

The City Plan Commissioners grounded their concerns about the shared-parking request on the observation that there are likely not enough parking spaces on-site to accommodate the existing businesses, and a busy new nightclub.

City zoning director William Long said that the proposed maximum capacity for the new ​“assembly hall” would be 50 people. He said that the applicant stated that there are 19 parking spaces that wrap around the existing commercial building, which is also occupied by a hair braiding salon and a beauty salon.

“If there’s not enough parking spaces there, where will people park?” Commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe asked. ​“How will they get back and forth to that venue site? It’s not near a crosswalk. It’s not near any traffic signals.” She said she’s concerned that the increased car and foot traffic that would come with a new ​“assembly hall” at that site could endanger the lives of pedestrians.

Westville Alder and City Plan Commissioner Adam Marchand agreed. ​“I worry that an assembly hall that could draw large crowds would draw more cars than that lot could safely handle,” he said. ​“I worry also that people who attend a large function might end up trying to park next door at the adjacent strip mall, which does have more parking,” but there does not appear to be any arrangement between Redding and the adjacent businesses to share that neighboring parking.

“I foresee that this could create some conflicts.”

“This just seems very half-baked and unthought-through in an area that’s already constantly overrun with cars and disputes,” Commission Vice Chair Ed Mattison said. ​“It makes no sense to add an assembly hall in my opinion, and therefore we should not recommend going forward with this.”