by Laura Glesby The New Haven independent
Zoning board members Michael Martinez, Al Paolillo Sr., Chris Peralta, and Gaston Neville on Tuesday.
In a divided vote, the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) denied a use variance that would have paved the way for an outdoor soccer field, a volleyball court, and a concession stand to be built on a vacant industrial Fair Haven lot.
Now, the lot’s owners are considering putting a construction business there instead.
The zoning board members made that decision at the board’s January meeting on Tuesday evening at City Hall.
They ultimately voted 3-2 to reject the zoning relief request for 2 Haven St., a currently undeveloped plot right by the Mill River. They similarly voted to reject a required coastal site plan, which the City Plan Commission had previously recommended to approve.
At December’s BZA meeting, Maria Barzallo (the lot’s legal owner) and Marcelo Latacela had proposed transforming the property into an athletic club open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The parcel is zoned for Heavy Industrial uses, meaning that Barzallo and Latacela needed a use variance from the zoning board in order to build the athletic club.
The City Plan Department recommended that the BZA approve both the coastal site plan and the use variance, with certain conditions on the variance including reconfiguring the parking plan and limiting the dimensions and operating hours of the concession stand. The City Plan Commission also recommended approval of the coastal site plan.
Barzallo and Latacela pitched the sports club as a means of bringing more positive, community-building activity rooted in Latino culture to the area.
At a December public hearing about the proposal, zoning board member Chris Peralta questioned the rationale for locating an athletic club right beside a larger public sports field at John S. Martinez School.
He was one of the three board members to vote Tuesday against the variance.
Board members Adam Waters and Gaston Neville voted in support of the variance, while Michael Martinez and Al Paolillo Sr. joined Peralta in voting against it.
There was no public discussion about the item at the meeting. The board members each cast their votes without any public explanation, and Paolillo was the sole board member to respond to questions about his vote.
In an interview after the meeting, Paolillo cited the industrial setting of the neighborhood as one reason for his vote to deny the variance. “I don’t think it was a good fit for the area,” he said.
Paolillo expressed concern that a sports field would “bring in hanging around” and unwanted activity to the area.
Plus, he noted, “You have the fields at the school” right beside the property.
“I’ve gotten calls from constituents there,” he added.
The sole person to publicly advocate against the proposal at the December zoning hearing was Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller, who serves as the executive director of CitySeed, a food justice nonprofit across the street from the Haven Street property in question. (Miller represents Fair Haven’s Ward 14; the Haven Street lot in question is in Fair Haven’s Ward 16.)
On Tuesday, Miller said she feels that the BZA made the right decision in denying the variance, citing concerns about damage to city property that she had raised at the December hearing.
She said, meanwhile, that she sees a potential for CitySeed and local composting business Peels & Wheels to combine forces and build composting infrastructure across multiple Haven Street properties, should the owners of 2 Haven St. decide to sell the lot to Peels & Wheels.
On Wednesday morning, Latecela said that he and Barzallo are not interested in selling the property.
“I don’t want to sell it because I want to put a business” on the lot, he said. He argued that a business would bring “good in this area.”
“I only want to change this area… The people want change,” he said.
He said that while his preference had been to build an athletic club on the property, he is now considering opening a construction materials business instead.