Wooster Square’s Transformation Takes Another Step Forward

A month after a plan to build 200 new market-rate apartments won approval, a second plan to bring a second complex next door with another 285 apartments to the downtown edge of Wooster Square on the support of the City Plan Commission.

The City Plan Commission voted to approve zoning relief for that second plan, for a new complex at 87 Union St. by the State Street train tracks, at its monthly meeting Wednesday night. The matter now goes to the Board of Alders for final approval.

Noel Petra, the developer, would replace warehouses and a plumbing supply store with a mix of studios, apartments, townhouses, and retail. In order to carry out the project as envisioned, Petra applied to convert the space from a BA zone to a BD‑1 zone, which would enable denser and more mixed-use development.

Spinnaker, the developer for the first project in that immediate area, at the old Comcast building at Chapel Street between Olive and Union, applied for a similar zone change from BA to BD‑1 for their parcel. That request was recommended for approval by the City Plan Commission in May and ultimately approved by the Board of Aldermen at the beginning of August.

Kyle Bogardus, an architect for Petra’s Union Street project, explained that city zoning rules allow mixed-use developments such as the planned project only in BD‑1 zones, not BA zones. This mixed use in a BD‑1 designated zone would enable developers to bring building edges closer to the street and create more active sidewalks and streets, he said.

“We’re bridging the gap as a transitional zone between Downtown and Wooster Square,” Bogardus said. ​“If we were to remain a BA zone and have a residential project, we would have to adhere to setbacks associated with an RM‑2 zone, which means buildings would be pushed back and we would be unable to activate streets.

Also part of the team is David Waldman, a Westport developer who said he has been active in rehabilitating and developing downtown Westport for the past two decades.

87 Union St. and the Comcast building conversion are part of a larger trend of converting these spaces back into apartments, demonstrating a market for more housing and a desire to better connect the downtown with Wooster Square. Located near both the State Sreet and Union Avenue train stations, this area is accessible and can be improved significantly, developers argued.

Downtown Alder Abigail Roth (pictured) and Wooster Square Alder Aaron Greenberg testified Wednesday evening in favor of the change.

“[Amending the map] will encourage appropriate, walkable, mixed-use, transit-oriented development at the edge of the downtown area. This is a more fitting and appropriate design for 87 Union St. than the BA zone,” Greenberg said.

The board voted unanimously in favor of the zone change. Commission member Adam Marchand said this vote made him ​“feel better” about the change to the adjacent lot because the new BD‑1 zone will now be more ​“continuous.”

Neighbor Susan Bradford warned against constantly making changes and exceptions to the zoning code in an unpredictable way.

“It seems to me that this has become a pattern in the city: Developers one after another propose these expansions, map changes, and text changes, and to me it always seems like they say, ​‘Well, they did it over here, so why don’t we just do it over there,’” said Bradford (pictured). ​“Don’t let the developers just make all the laws.”

When Spinnaker brought its application for a zone change for the Comcast project to the City Plan Commission back in May, some members of the public similarly testified that the application represented ​“spot zoning,” in which developers ask for special exceptions that would disrupt the feel of the surrounding residential neighborhood.

City Plan Commission Chair Ed Mattison recognized these concerns Wednesday night. He said that although the city desires a more comprehensive zoning code that needs fewer exceptions, the process is time-consuming and expensive.

“It does feel to me, as Susan said, that we ought to have a transparent process in which we look at these issues and bring our zoning code up to date,” Mattison said. ​“Everyone who’s looked at this [case] thinks this would be an improvement, but I do think that we will get into situations in which we will be asked to make changes that do not feel so natural… I’m going to vote for it but with some misgivings with the process.