129 AMITY ROAD LLC
The proposed new self-storage site slated for 129 Amity Rd.
Plans for a new four-story self-storage facility on the far west side of town moved ahead, with the help of side and rear yard relief from city zoners.
That was the outcome of Tuesday night’s latest monthly meeting of the city Board of Zoning Appeals.
The half-hour-long virtual meeting took place online via Zoom. The zoning commissioners voted unanimously in support of variances to allow for a side yard of six feet where 13 feet is required and a rear yard of 10 feet where 17.33 feet is required at 129 Amity Rd.
That’s the 0.74-acre vacant plot on the town border with Woodbridge. The site’s owner, 129 Amity Road LLC — a holding company controlled by Glenn Greenberg — plans to work with a developer to build a new four-story rentable home for furniture, clothing, electronics, and household clutter.
Zoom
Tuesday night’s zoning board meeting.
Tuesday’s approval came roughly three months after the BZA granted a use variance to allow for a self-storage facility to be built at that site, which previously housed never-realized plans for a medical marijuana dispensary and a Wendy’s fast food restaurant.
“You all recognize the need for this self-storage facility,” local attorney Jim Segaloff said in his pitch to the commissioners for this yard variance. “There’s a real need for it, and it would be very helpful for us to do what we want to do here.”
129 AMITY ROAD LLC
Plans for the new self-storage building.
He referenced a recent Independent article about how self-storage sites around town are currently at capacity, thanks to a mix of college students leaving town for the summer and rising rents across the city.
“The shape of this subject lot is unique. It has a number of angles [that are] unusually situated],” Segaloff continued. This requested side yard and rear yard relief will “enable the applicant to develop the property to the extent that’s necessary for this venture to be successful.”
The property is surrounded on three sides by the Wilbur Cross Parkway and its southbound entry ramp. All of that surrounding land is owned by the state Department of Transportation (DOT).
The project now must go through site plan review at the City Plan Commission before the developer can start pulling building permits and begin construction.
This particular plot of land wasn't much good for anything else due to it shape, location and traffic concerns. And with all the coming evictions and foreclosures, people are going to need somewhere to store their possessions until they get back on their feet and find somewhere new to live.
The government needs to get its priorities straight and start subsidizing and building affordable and low income and no income housing. We as a society need to stop treating housing as a commodity and instead treat it as the necessity and civil rights issue that it truly is.
Housing for people, not to line investors pockets!