Allan Appel Photo
They don’t love this ugly garage that has been at 87 Cove St. since at least the 1950s. But residents of Morris Cove came out in force Tuesday night to lobby against a local developer converting it into a single-family house.
Gloria Bellacicco (pictured below) lives next door and wanted to buy the property herself. When her deal fell through, Bellacicco gathered 26 signatures of neighbors objecting to the plans of Chris Goetsch, the developer who purchased the long-empty property.
On Tuesday night, the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) considered Groetsch’s application to develop the property. The BZA did not vote on the matter, but referred it to the City Plan Commission. The BZA will vote on it next month.
“It’ll be a shoebox,” Bellacicco predicted of the tiny, 1,008-square-foot house expected to rise on a footprint of 504 feet. It would be the smallest house on the block.
Bellacicco said all the houses on the street are colonial, and said she was skeptical of what Goetsch was going to build. “It’ll destroy” the neighborhood, she said.
Other neighbors voiced concerns that their views of New Haven Harbor would be obscured by the house.
However, a City Plan Department advisory report on the application noted that Goetsch’s proposed house would go no higher than the current 19-foot building. The plan would also stick to the current footprint, although Goetsch would replace the gabled second floor with a flat roof to afford more livable space.
Morris Covers have been to the BZA to fight the plan before. However, previous plans were for a proposed house that rose much higher to take advantage of the harbor views.
Goetsch stood patiently with his hands behind his back and listened to the objections. Then he replied, “We withdrew a [previous] 35 foot height.”
After listening to more objections, he said, “We agreed to maintain the existing height. View blocking is minimal. It’s unfortunate we’re not pleasing the neighborhood. We’ve done our best.”
Morris Cove Alderwoman Arlene DePino represented the neighborhood overwhelmingly opposed the plan.
“We feel it’s an intensification of a non-conforming use,” she said. A local person still wants to buy and beautify the property, she said.
Another neighbor said that the lot, which is quite small even by Morris Cove standards, should be a community garden.
“Morris Cove is jewel,” said Vladimira Hartmannsgruber, who lives nearby and said that even an inch’s worth of change in the structure would damage her view of the harbor. “We don’t want to have a structure there that will destroy the look.”
The City Plan report to the BZA noted of the vacant building, “If left as it is, this building will continue to deteriorate and possibly become infested with rodents, feral cats or other pests. Developing the lot with a new home will cure a blighting situation and improve the neighborhood.”
Because the plan includes a front-yard parking space, by law the application was referred to the City Plan Commission, where it will be heard next week.
Hmmmm, I am usually in support of neighbors banding together to protect their neighborhood. However, from reading this article, it appears that the neighbors, who for one reason or another, did not buy or attempt to buy the land, are now trying to bully the person who did purchase the property. Additionally, it seems as if the developer has a decent plan of fixing a delapidated structure without making it into some ridiculous mcmansion that takes up too much space. The developer's plan seems responsible......am I missing something?