New Haven City Plan Commission
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·1· · · · · · ·VERBATIM PROCEEDINGS ·2 ·3 ·4 ·5· · · · NEW HAVEN CITY PLAN COMMISSION ·6· · · · · · · · REGULAR MEETING ·7 ·8 ·9· · · · · · · · ·JUNE 19, 2019 10 11· · · · · · · NEW HAVEN CITY HALL 12· ·165 CHURCH STREET, MEETING ROOMS 1 AND 2 13· · · · ·NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 06510 14 15 16 17 18 19· · · · · JESSICA NOBLE, CSR NO. 402 20 21 22 23 24 25 ·1· · · · · · · · · · · · ·(HEARING COMMENCED AT 6:24 P.M.) ·2· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· Let us start by ·3· ·having the members up here introduce themselves. ·4· · · · · · · · · MR. ZINN:· I'm Giovanni Zinn.· I'm the City ·5· ·Engineer. ·6· · · · · · · · · MR. ESTABROOK:· Elias Estabrook, Alternate ·7· ·Commissioner. ·8· · · · · · · · · MR. DiADAMO:· Kevin DiAdamo, Alternate ·9· ·Commissioner. 10· · · · · · · · · MR. PAGAN:· Ernest Pagan, Commissioner. 11· · · · · · · · · MS. RADCLIFFE:· Leslie Radcliffe, 12· ·Commissioner. 13· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· Ed Mattison, chair. 14· · · · · · · · · MR. MARCHAND:· Adam Marchand, Alder for the 15· ·25th Ward and Commissioner. 16· · · · · · · · · JENNA MONTESANO:· Jenna Montesano, Deputy 17· ·Director of Zoning. 18· · · · · · · · · MS. DAVIS:· Stacey Davis, City Planner. 19· · · · · · · · · MS. WOODS:· Aicha Woods, Director of City 20· ·Plan. 21· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· Okay.· Do we have to 22· ·do the microphones? 23· · · · · · · · · MS. DAVIS:· Well, we've been recording. 24· · · · · · · · · MS. MONTESANO:· Mr. Chair, you'll note that 25· ·we actually have court reporter with us today helping us ·1· ·with our meeting. ·2· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· So I am -- this is ·3· ·the regular meeting of the New Haven City Plan Commission. ·4· ·We have an agenda, which is posted outside.· At 7:00 we will ·5· ·stop doing our regular agenda, and we will do public ·6· ·hearings as required by our notice. ·7· · · · · · · · · Anybody who wants to speak at the public ·8· ·meeting when we take public comment, please sign up on the ·9· ·table that is right in back of this wall here. 10· · · · · · · · · MS. DAVIS:· Can we specify that that's for 11· ·the public hearing only. 12· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· That's for the public 13· ·hearing we're talking about.· In order to get -- it is our 14· ·general rule that in order to get through this multipage 15· ·thing, we can't take comments from the public on every 16· ·single thing because we would never go home and get our 17· ·dinner. 18· · · · · · · · · So shall we begin? 19· · · · · · · · · MS. MONTESANO:· Sure.· Mr. Chair, we have 20· ·one member of -- sorry. 21· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· Oh, yes.· Oh, yes. 22· ·An important thing.· The acoustics in this room are 23· ·terrible, and they are made infinitely worse when people 24· ·talk on their cell phones.· So put your cell phone on buzz; 25· ·and if it rings, take it outside, or else we'll all shut up ·1· ·and we'll just listen to you. ·2· · · · · · · · · Okay.· So the first item. ·3· · · · · · · · · MS. MONTESANO:· Mr. Chair, we're wondering ·4· ·if you'll entertain hearing the LCI referrals first in the ·5· ·interest of allowing that staff member to come forward and ·6· ·present, and then we can move on from there. ·7· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· Yes.· We'll get rid ·8· ·of a whole bunch of them very quickly. ·9· · · · · · · · · MS. MONTESANO:· So there's only two.· The 10· ·first item is 1558-20.· This is 80 and 88 Barclay Street. 11· ·I'll allow my colleague to present. 12· · · · · · · · · MR. TRACHTEN:· Thank you, Commissioner. 13· · · · · · · · · CHAIRMAN MATTIS:· Introduce yourself, 14· ·please. 15· · · · · · · · · MR. TRACHTEN:· I'm Evan Trachten from LCI, 16· ·Mr. Chair and Commissioners.· Thank you. 17· · · · · · · · · The first item I have is Barclay Street for 18· ·tonight.· And this was a sliver lot LDA we were proposing 19· ·for off-street parking.· This section of Barclay Street, as 20· ·well as Adeline, is very narrow, and there's been 21· ·unfortunately some illegal parking going on. 22· · · · · · · · · This disposition will allow much more 23· ·off-street parking.· We have a commitment from the 24· ·applicants to absolutely park off street so it's not a 25· ·narrow dangerous area anymore. ·1· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· Okay. ·2· · · · · · · · · MR. ZINN:· Was this the one we heard ·3· ·previously and tabled or something? ·4· · · · · · · · · MS. MONTESANO:· No.· This is brand new, I ·5· ·believe. ·6· · · · · · · · · MS. DAVIS:· So Barclay -- ·7· · · · · · · · · MS. MONTESANO:· I misspoke. ·8· · · · · · · · · MS. DAVIS:· About three months ago, the ·9· ·commission heard Barclay Street and the commission expressed 10· ·their -- 11· · · · · · · · · MR. ZINN:· This is the one that had all the 12· ·parking on the sidewalk. 13· · · · · · · · · MS. DAVIS:· Yes.· So I think Evan can speak 14· ·to how maybe LCI has worked with the proposed -- 15· · · · · · · · · MR. TRACHTEN:· Right.· So we have the 16· ·applicant's representative present.· We have reached out to 17· ·the applicants based on some of the feedback about, you 18· ·know, respecting the ordinance as written regarding parking, 19· ·blocking sidewalks, and there's not a clear delineation in 20· ·this block of where the sidewalk is or isn't.· There's 21· ·several large garage overhead doors. 22· · · · · · · · · So the customary past practice was parking 23· ·right in front of these doors, which we don't want.· And by 24· ·creating this off-street parking, it should absolutely end 25· ·that behavior, which we think is clearly going to better the ·1· ·community.· And so that's why we're here tonight advocating ·2· ·for your support of this item. ·3· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· Okay.· Do either of ·4· ·you want to say anything? ·5· · · · · · · · · MS. MYRIAN RODRIGUEZ:· I'm Myrian Rodriguez ·6· ·and that's Elisa.· She's representing Roberto Rodriguez on ·7· ·the property.· And we've had it for over -- how long? ·8· · · · · · · · · MS. ELISA RODRIGUEZ:· 1994. ·9· · · · · · · · · MS. MYRIAN RODRIGUEZ:· Yeah.· And we always 10· ·worked -- unfortunately, we had -- you know, there's 11· ·situations with the parking of people across and people 12· ·thinking it's ours.· But we really, really believe in the 13· ·stability of that property and our business to try to -- you 14· ·know, we're going to offer used cars for people who 15· ·sometimes can't afford them and can't afford, you know, 16· ·whatever, but we want to -- 17· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· But you understand 18· ·what he said about what you're going to do and you agree 19· ·you're going to do it? 20· · · · · · · · · MS. MYRIAN RODRIGUEZ:· Yes, I do, 21· ·absolutely. 22· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· So you will not use 23· ·your -- you will not use the streets and the sidewalks? 24· · · · · · · · · MS. ELISA:· Oh, no.· That's why we need 25· ·the -- yeah, exactly. ·1· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· Okay, good. ·2· · · · · · · · · Any questions? ·3· · · · · · · · · MS. RADCLIFFE:· I do. ·4· · · · · · · · · CHAIRPERSON MATTISON:· Go ahead. ·5· · · · · · · · · MS. RADCLIFFE:· I was the one that raised ·6· ·the question.· I live in the neighborhood, so I'm familiar ·7· ·with the area.· And there are a number of different ·8· ·businesses there, so like you said, it is hard to tell, you ·9· ·know, who -- what vehicles belong to what. 10· · · · · · · · · There -- the lots that are there, the ones 11· ·that you're talking about as far as the sliver lots to use 12· ·for your commercial use and for the parking of your 13· ·vehicles, the ones that you're either working on or going to 14· ·be working on so that they won't be parked on the street, 15· ·those are the empty lots.· Do you have any lots there that 16· ·have cars in them already. 17· · · · · · · · · MS. ELISA RODRIGUEZ:· Yeah.· The front lot 18· ·does and behind.· And those will be the cars that are going 19· ·to be for sale. 20· · · · · · · · · MS. RADCLIFFE:· Okay. 21· · · · · · · · · MS. ELISA RODRIGUEZ:· It's a working garage 22· ·right now.· It's not open.· That's what we're trying to do 23· ·right now, is reopen it.· And, I mean, you've got a tire 24· ·shop that's right there, and they do the tires outside on 25· ·the street. ·1· · · · · · · · · MS. RADCLIFFE:· And that's part of what the ·2· ·problem is, because, again, there's lots that are there. ·3· ·There's, I think, two lots that have cars that have trees ·4· ·growing out of them and bushes and we don't know -- you ·5· ·don't know who owns what property so that it's hard to ·6· ·delineate who to go to, to have, you know, a certain issue ·7· ·addressed. ·8· · · · · · · · · And as I said, I live there, so I see it. ·9· ·And I did notice that it has been -- 10· · · · · · · · · MS. ELISA RODRIGUEZ:· Cleaning up. 11· · · · · · · · · MS. RADCLIFFE:· -- a lot cleaner and a lot 12· ·easier to maneuver.· And I'm appreciative of that if those 13· ·are your efforts.· But my question, again -- now, the lots 14· ·that have cars parked in them that are not being used or 15· ·moved or repaired on, they're pretty much, like, being 16· ·stored.· Are those your lots? 17· · · · · · · · · MS. ELISA RODRIGUEZ:· Well, yeah.· We're 475 18· ·Ella Grasso Boulevard, 150 Adeline Street, and 84 Barclay. 19· ·That's our lots.· The lot that we're asking for is the one 20· ·that's right next to 84, which is empty and fenced in by the 21· ·city. 22· · · · · · · · · MS. RADCLIFFE:· Okay.· Again, that's fine 23· ·for taking the cars that are currently on the street; but as 24· ·your business, you know, hopefully progresses, you know, 25· ·you'll have a lot more cars, a lot more business. ·1· · · · · · · · · What I'm asking is:· The lots that currently ·2· ·have cars sitting in there that are not going anywhere, ·3· ·they're rusted, they're old -- ·4· · · · · · · · · MS.