Mini-Apartment Boulevard Battle Brews

The president has his war room. Boulevard neighbors have Doris and Edward Zelinsky’s dining room table. 

The Zelinskys and 14 of their neighbors gathered there this past week to strategize about how to stop a national bank from selling out an iconic piece of their neighborhood to a Long Island developer known for building micro-apartments. They argue that it will crowd too many apartments into the building and reverse a positive family trend in their area.

They plan to bring their case next week to a public hearing of the Board of Zoning Appeals, which will consider whether to grant developer Eyal Preis a special exception to create seven apartments in an existing residence at 1377 Ella T. Grasso Blvd.

The dispute raises the question of how best to preserve homes and build up the Edgewood area. It also touches on a citywide debate over where to promote dense development in New Haven, how to preserve affordable housing, and what role if any micro-units — tiny apartments — should play.

Define ​“Vibrant”

The home is zoned RM‑1, or low-middle density, district. Preis plans to create one three-bedroom apartment, two two-bedroom apartments, and five one-bedroom apartments. The square footage per apartment varies from as little as 575 square feet to as much as 1,890 square feet.

At least that’s the latest version of his plans.

Previous versions of the plan indicated that he sought to create nine units and needed relief from the BZA for parking, but that has since been taken off the table. To get the exception, Preis must convince the BZA that his plans are ​“in accord with the public welfare,” according to Section 63(d) of the city’s zoning ordinance.

Preis said in an email that his proposed plan takes a ​“currently vacant … increasingly in disrepair building, with boarded-up windows” and makes it an asset to the community again.

“Our plan will restore the building and bring a vibrant residential community to the neighborhood,” he argued. ​“We think our project will fit quite well with New Haven which is a growing and changing city. By restoring an old home, which is currently derelict, and bringing back the original residential use of the structure, we see a positive return for the neighborhood and the city.”

Preis said based on his reading of the zoning regulations for the RM‑1 district, conversions like his proposed one can have one unit per 1,000 square feet of existing gross floor area. The house is more than 9,000 square feet, but only 7,000 of that counts for gross floor area, he said. He needs a special exception because he wants to build more than three residential units.

The neighbors gathered at the Zelinskys said that whether for seven or nine apartments, such an exception would be out of character for an area brimming with single-family homes, and specifically for a historic home that was never a multi-family house, let alone a multi-unit apartment building.

They’ve circulated a petition that they hope to submit to the BZA in December. They also plan to be out in droves to testify against the proposed exception.

Built around 1900, the three-story single-family home was formerly a part of the Old Alms Farm House complex. The house was last owned and occupied by now-deceased attorney William Gallagher. For many years, the once head of the state bar association had his office on the first floor and lived upstairs. When he died in 2013, the house ultimately was thrown into foreclosure when it was discovered that Gallagher owed clients nearly $2 million.

For the last four years, the house, which is now owned by Wells Fargo Bank, has been vacant and left to rot, neighbors said.

Then Preis stepped into the picture.

“The bank has shown the house several times over the years” but found little interest, Doris Zelinsky said.

Banksters

Neighbor Stephanie Fitzgerald questioned how hard Wells Fargo, which has a reputation in the neighborhood for letting its properties sit, has worked to find a buyer who wanted to live in the house and possibly rent the first floor. She knew a neighbor who was interested in the house and tried to reach out to the bank but could not get a response, she said.

That sounded familiar to Zelinsky. Neighbors once had to formally intervene in the foreclosure of another house on the block because Wells Fargo had failed to maintain it.

Even now, the house at 1377 Ella T. Grasso Blvd. has been vandalized by graffiti and copper thieves — a common problem in New Haven with properties owned by and controlled by liens held by negligent out-of-state banks.

Neighbors said that they hope to convince BZA members that an out-of-touch bank and an out-of-town developer with no ties to the community might not have the city’s best interest in mind.

Preis’ proposed plan for parking to accommodate the new units on Boulevard includes paving the side yards around the house and creating an entrance on Maple Street and an exit onto Boulevard. That is another sore point for neighbors, particularly those who live in adjacent properties.

“I can’t see how they’re going to fit seven cars in that backyard,” said Michael Hanson, who would be living next to that parking lot. ​“What happens to the quality of life for neighbors who live there?”

At the strategy meeting, neighbors zeroed in on what they don’t like about the proposed development: too many units, out of character with the neighborhood, and subjecting neighbors to the ills of a parking lot.

Trina Learned, who serves on the city’s Historic District Commission, challenged her neighbors to be solutions-focused. She said as a commissioner she often hears concerns, but what she’d rather hear is an alternative.

“Do you know someone who will buy the property?” she asked. ​“Is there someone else who could use it?”

The prevailing preference among neighbors is that it either be used as it has been — office space on the first floor, living space above — or that it be a two-family home. Learned encouraged neighbors to reach out to organizations like Neighborhood Housing Services that might be interested in taking on such a project. She also volunteered to pull the historic documents on the house and the neighborhood to present to BZA members.

“Our neighborhood is not obvious,” she said. ​“A lot of people drive down the Boulevard and don’t see it as a neighborhood but it is.”

Neighbors like Learned and the Zelinskys and others at the table have raised their children in the area. They said the kind of density proposed by Preis belongs downtown, not on the Boulevard.

Neighbor Michael Hanson said that he has noticed more families — families with young children — in the area. He said the city should encourage that trend. ​“Halloween was a blast this year,” he said. ​“I had like 55 kids come by for candy.”

Preis said he would like to market the apartments to ​“professionals, such as a medical secretary, a doctor, a young couple with a child,” which he called a ​“net positive for the neighborhood.”

Preis said the proposed conversion includes façade improvements and no expansion of the existing building. Seven parking spaces, including one van-accessible handicapped space, would be provided behind the building. He said his plans now call for closing off the existing paved area and curb cut along Maple Street, returning it to lawn and a walkway. Preis said that modification will add back two additional on-street parking spaces that don’t exist now. He noted that the original zoning exception that allowed the office required 29 parking spaces, so he argued his proposal will limit the number of cars.

“We think our project will fit quite well with New Haven which is a growing and changing city. By restoring an old home, which is currently derelict, and bringing back the original residential use of the structure, we see a positive return for the neighborhood and the city.”

“Due to the size of the proposed units, we do not expect our tenants to have more than one vehicle and will include a prohibition on more than one vehicle in our leases,” he said. ​“In short, we believe that we have proposed a plan which will not have any adverse impact on the parking situation in the neighborhood, and in fact will result in additional spaces being available.”