Allan Appel Photo
The lot in question.
New Haven’s zoning board chose affordable housing over spaced-out housing in a crowded section on of the Hill, overruling its own staff to approve a 10-unit apartment plan a builder devised with another city agency for an abandoned lot.
The large lot in question, 232 – 238 Columbus Ave., is at the corner of Columbus Avenue and narrow Salem Street right across from the the Boys and Girls Club.
The city took over htat lot in 2017 from Sacred Heart Church and helped a private developer devise a plan to bring new housing there, a plan that required special zoning permission.
Despite concerns from neighbors, the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) voted Tuesday night to allow the denser project to proceed.
Builder Ralph Mauro and his consultant, Jim Pretti of Branford-based Criscuolo Engineering, came before the BZA commissioners seeking variances to permit them to build ten, smaller apartments than allowed by law in three connected buildings. Five units would be above and five on street level behind long stoop-like steps descending down to the sidewalk.
They could have built six units total without seeking a variance. A city zoning staff report suggested in fact that zoners not allow more than six units, the maximum the report concluded would fit in right with other buildings in the zone.
Preliminary rendering of the proposed 10-unit project
Mauro said he responded to a request for proposals from city government’s neighborhoods anti-blight agency, the Livable City Initiative (LCI), which was selling the property. He worked for months with LCI on the larger plan for the proposed brownstone project.
The builder also made a second request for special permission, to have the front set-back with the steps come close to the sidewalk. Pretti explained that would allow enough room for parking, one space for each of the ten units, in the back.
Commission Chair Carmen Melendez asked about the size and affordability of the apartments.
The answers: Two bedrooms per unit, and half the units, five, priced as “affordable,” although no details of the proposed rents were offered.
“Committing 50 percent of the units to affordable housing, that’s an unusual and impressive offer,” said the city Deputy Director for Zoning Jenna Montesano.
And the developer will finance the project himself withought seeking government subsidies, she emphasized.
No neighbors spoke on behalf of the proposal. Despite the blessing of LCI for the project, two neighbors rose to oppose it. One, Verna Green, said it is too dense, right across the street from the Boys and Girls Club. It would add pollution that would endanger many kids in the area, she added.
She asked for the proposal to be tabled.
Pretti explains the proposal.
A lengthier statement of opposition came from Angela Hatley, a homeownership advocate and active member of the Hill South Community Management Team.
“I like the affordable housing,” she said, “but it’s not good enough to shove so many people into a small space.”
She said she grew up in the neighborhood and was certain there had never been anything close to ten units on the site. It’s more suitable, she asserted, for three two-family houses, in keeping with the neighborhood.
Then she moved on to the issue of parking. If the project comes to pass, “we are talking 30 people. How many have cars? Salem Street is so narrow fire trucks can’t get in. This will exacerbate traffic, which is already backed up on Howard to Cedar,” she said.
Angela Hatley objects.
“I like how we are addressing affordable housing, but I’d prefer a less dense project. Just because housing is affordable doesn’t mean they should be like sardines, cheek to jowl,” she concluded.
Pretti defended the project’s parking plan. He noted that one space is permitted per unit, by right. He said access to the parking area is such that there would be no left-hand turning off Columbus.
Calling it a “fantastic development,” in no small part because affordable units are to be privately funded, Chairperson Melendez moved to approve the plan.
With one dissenting vote — Commissioner Shirl Wilkins said she wanted to honor an objector who questioned if the project was fully noticed for neighbors to attend the hearing — the commissioners gave the four-to-one thumbs up for both of the builder’s requests.
Commission Chair Carmen Melendez asked about the size and affordability of the apartments.
The answers: Two bedrooms per unit, and half the units, five, priced as "affordable," although no details of the proposed rents were offered.
Notice no details of the proposed rents were offered.So he is selling Snake-Oil and Three Card Monte.