A public-private effort to develop a George Street lot into 190 new apartments hit a speed bump Wednesday — following a debate over whether or not the city’s Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) ordinance waives loading-space requirements in addition to parking minimums. That was the outcome of one of t he public hearings hosted by the City Plan Commission during its latest monthly meeting online. The commissioners reviewed site plan and special permit applications from the housing authority and the New York-based firm LMXD. Those co-developers are looking to construct a new seven-story, 190-unit mixed-use building atop existing publicly owned surface parking lots on George Street near Orange Street. The project would set aside 49 apartments for renters making no more than 30 percent of the area median income (AMI), another 49 for renters making no more than 50 percent AMI, 62 apartments for renters making 80 percent AMI, and the remaining 30 units at market rates. It would also include 3,400 square feet of commercial space. LMXD’s Max Ritchie said that this new building will be “well-amenitized for our residents,” with 10,000 square feet of indoor lobby space, 7,000 square feet of outdoor patio space, and an indoor area to store bikes. Thanks to one of the development incentives included in the city’s IZ ordinance, the project does not include any on-site parking spaces. That’s because IZ waives parking minimums for housing developments that set aside a certain percentage of units at below-market rents. “We do not have parking as part of this project,” Ritchie said. He said the developers have been in touch with the city’s parking authority. “They have plenty of spots” at nearby publicly owned garages on State Street and Temple Street. Ritchie said there are enough parking spaces in those garages to accommodate parking spaces for the new development’s market-rate and affordable units. During the public hearing portion of the meeting, a half-dozen residents from the adjacent Trader’s Block condominium complex at 15 Orange St. spoke up with concerns about the project — particularly in regards to its impact on trash pickup, package deliveries, and shadows cast by a new seven-story building right next door. “I support more housing in New Haven, including mixed-income and affordable housing,” said Janna Wagner, who lives at Trader’s Block. She expressed concern about the “loss of rear alley access” — referencing an area that trucks use to pick up trash and drop off packages for residents and businesses like Miso restaurant and Million Asian Market. This development would see that back alley narrowed from around 22 feet wide to five feet. D.M. Wood, the president of the Trader’s Block condo association, said that the four-story building at 15 Orange St. “will be utterly dwarfed” by the new seven-story building. Eric from Miso said that the restaurant’s front door is not designed to bring in all the deliveries that the restaurant gets on a daily basis and that it is able to accommodate through its doors fronting the alley. “It will be very hard for us to run the restaurant without the access,” he said. “That five-foot [width] is definitely not going to work.” Not everyone who spoke up during the public hearing, however, were critical of the project. East Rocker Kevin McCarthy said that he is “strongly in support” of the development; he also applauded the builders for going beyond IZ’s affordability requirements. Ritchie thanked neighbors for speaking up with concerns, and said that the developers have tried to incorporate their feedback into the design of the project. He said that the developers are looking to “create as much high-quality housing, particularly affordable housing, as we could.” Introducing 190 new individuals and families to the area “will certainly serve as a net positive for the local businesses to help spur economic development.” In response to concerns about a taller building being constructed atop an existing parking lot, Ritchie said that part of living in a city means that “environments change over time.” Counter to one neighbor’s concern that this building will take three years to construct, Ritchie said that construction should actually take 24 months to complete. As the commissioners took up the matter for deliberations and a potential final vote, Westville Alder and City Plan Commissioner Adam Marchand noted a potential flaw with the site plan application. The project as it stands does not include any loading spaces. “I think this development needs to have two loading spaces,” he said, according to rules laid out in Section 45 of the city’s zoning ordinance for buildings that have a gross floor area of more than 10,000 square feet and are located in BD-1 districts, as is the case here. The IZ ordinance — Section 50 of the city’s zoning ordinance — clearly waives parking requirements for “automobile parking.” But it does not appear to waive requirements for loading spaces. The project’s architect, Alex Merlucci, pointed to the city’s Inclusionary Zoning Monitoring and Procedures Manual to bolster his case that IZ does appear to waive loading-space requirements as part of its overall waiver of parking minimums. The manual says in part: “Sections 29 (Residence District: Parking) and 45 of the Zoning Ordinance, (Business and Industrial Districts: Regulations for parking, loading, automotive, and drive-in establishments) related to parking for Residential uses, are waived. Inclusionary Developments must, however, comply with bicycle parking requirements.” Marchand replied that the IZ manual is meant to be a helpful guide for what the relevant zoning ordinance does and doesn’t do. The underlying ordinance, however, is what matters when determining what’s actually required of a relevant project. “I think that is something we need to revisit,” City Plan Executive Director Laura Brown said in regards to whether or not this George Street development needs loading spaces to be zoning-compliant. Marchand said he takes that to mean that IZ “does not reduce the number of loading spaces in the underlying zone.” Assistant Corporation Counsel Michael Pinto said that, if IZ does not waive loading-space requirements as well as parking requirements, then the developer will need to either change their site plan accordingly or get zoning relief from the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA). “There clearly is some inconsistency between the manual and the actual code,” Marchand continued. The commissioners ultimately decided to continue the matter to its next meeting in April before taking a final vote on whether or not to approve the 190-apartment plan. Before moving on to the next agenda item, commission Chair Ernest Pagan put in a request to city staff: “If we could get the code and the manual consistent, that would be great.” The post Parking-To-Housing Plan Delayed Amid IZ Ambiguity appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less