Aliyya Swaby Photo
The former home to Westville Wines won support from the City Plan Commission for an proposal to transform the Whalley Avenue property into a new six-unit retail and office space — with a caveat.
Commissioners at their regular meeting Thursday night voted unanimously to recommend that the Board of Zoning Appeals grant a special exception request to allow no on-site parking spaces where six are required. But they added a condition: that tenants close up shop by 7 p.m. each day.
The owner of the building, Varsha Mehta, who was not in attendance at the meeting Thursday, seeks to renovate the 837 Whalley Ave. property, which used to house Westville Wines. (It currently houses the campaign offices of Board of Ed candidate Ed Joyner.) Mehta seeks to transform an additional 1,100 square feet that is now zoned for storage into office and retail space.
Mehta’s plans call for maintaining a large Whalley Avenue storefront at property and adding five small units on the West Rock Avenue side.
Westville neighbors objected to the proposed special exception at a recent Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, not so much arguing against the need for parking, but objecting to any plans that involves more retail space.
Neighbors would prefer artists studios and restricted hours. (Read more about their concerns here.)
City Plan Commissioners agreed Thursday that they don’t want to restrict Mehta’s ability to get tenants into the property by not supporting the parking exception. But they also didn’t want to put forth a recommendation that might attract a business that neighbors would object to like a bar, hookah lounge or a head shop, they said.
Their solution was to recommend to the BZA, which will make the final call, that the parking exception be allowed as long as the hours of operation don’t go past 7 p.m.
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Commission Chair Edward Mattison (pictured at right in the above photo), who initially had been leaning toward recommending the exception without any restrictions, said he believes that the owner likely will have a tough time finding tenants for an area that already has several vacant storefronts. “We need more economic activity in this area,” he said.
Commissioner Adam Marchand, who as an alder represents the area where the property is located, raised suggestions that tried to meet the needs of both the property owner and the neighbors including allowing the parking exemption with a restricted use and hours of operation.
Commissioner Maricel Ramos-Valcarcel (pictured next to Mattison) pointed out that restricting the hours of operations would effectively limit the kinds of businesses that could go into the space.
“If you limit the hours,” she said. “You limit the use.”