by Mona Mahadevan The New Haven independent
Rafael Fuentes: “If there was an issue with parking, I would be the first one to say something. But, there’s enough parking.”
Two-year-olds don’t need parking.
So argued architect Fernando Pastor during Tuesday’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) meeting, as part of a pitch to reduce parking requirements for a project that would repurpose vacant industrial buildings into a 300-child daycare in Fair Haven.
The property owner, Vargas Business Hub, was represented by attorney Ben Trachten during Tuesday’s proceedings. According to the state’s business registry, the company is run by María Vargas, the executive director of another daycare in Fair Haven.
Convened in City Hall, the BZA did not vote on the special exception request on Tuesday, as the Zoning Ordinance requires the City Plan Commission to issue advisory reports on parking-related applications. After the BZA votes on the request, the project’s next step will involve site plan review.
Vargas Business’s plans for 184 and 196 Chapel St. involve converting three abandoned warehouses and offices into a daycare for children under five, said Trachten on Tuesday. The project includes a large playground and gym. It also reserves the lots’ two other buildings for future development needs, such as housing for daycare teachers, said Pastor.
The five-building parcels were purchased by Vargas Business in 2024 for over $2.3 million. According to Pastor, they once housed the H. B. Bigelow & Company and Lynn Ladder and Scaffolding Company. The oldest building was built in 1870, and one of its neighboring structures recently caught on fire.
The proposal was prompted by the growing wait list at First Step Learning Center, the Fair Haven daycare run by Vargas, said Pastor.
In 2025, one childcare expert estimated that New Haven had a shortage of 2,194 infant and toddler slots for daycare. Since the Lamont administration and the state legislature created a statewide endowment for early childhood education, 1,000 daycare slots have reportedly opened across Connecticut.
The 300 new slots proposed for Fair Haven require a special exception to allow for nine parking spaces where 84 is required, argued Trachten.
Because the project is planned for an industrial zone, one off-street parking space is needed for every eight seats in the gym. By comparison, in residential zones, daycare centers must provide one loading space for every 24 children and one off-street parking spot for every three employees. Using the residential zone calculation, the project would only need 13 loading spaces and 15 parking spots, according to a staff report from the City Plan Department.
“The parking requirement is based on maximum occupancy, not anticipated occupancy,” said Trachten. Not all families would need to drive, he added later, since the daycare would be located near bus stations and a dense residential neighborhood.
Pastor said Vargas Business is working to finalize a parking agreement with a nearby church, which owns a lot that is less than a block from the Chapel Street parcels. After a land disposition agreement is finalized, he also expects a city-owned lot to create more parking in the area.
BZA member Chris Peralta pointed out that three of the nine proposed parking spaces have already been designated for one of the non-daycare buildings. So, he said, there’s really only six “spaces for staff members that are going to be there all day.”
Pastor responded that many employees walk or take the bus to work, reducing the need for parking.
Rafael Fuentes, a long-time Fair Haven resident, stressed the abundance of underused parking near the Quinnipiac River, which is just a couple blocks away from the proposed daycare.
“I’ve seen the effort that they’re putting into it,” said Fuentes. “I think it’s a very positive thing for the neighborhood, for the city, and for the kids.”
After closing public testimony, the BZA referred the application to the City Plan Commission.