Thomas MacMillan Photo
Three years after neighbors helped kill a plan to open a convenience store on a residential stretch of Blake Street, the owners tried out a different idea: How about a daycare center?
Nope, said neighbors. They told the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) that they don’t like that plan either.
Which leaves open the question: What can the owners of an abandoned gas station do with his property?
The neighbors’ testimony came Tuesday evening in the Hall of Records at 200 Orange Str., at the monthly meeting of the BZA.
Leading off the agenda was a new proposal for 145 Blake St., the long shuttered gas station at the corner of Blake Street and Osborn Avenue. The owners, 145 Blake St. LLC, bought the place three years ago, expecting to open a convenience store there. That plan died at the BZA, amid neighborhood opposition.
On Tuesday, the owners pitched a new plan: A daycare. Again, neighbors spoke out against the proposal, raising concerns about traffic and the safety of neighborhood kids.
The BZA didn’t vote on the application. The board sent it to the City Plan Commission for a recommendation.
The owners seek permission for front-yard parking and a smaller side-yard than required, and a special exception to have a daycare in a residential zone.
“I have a serious problem with finding any of this in the public convenience,” said BZA member Victor Fasano. Twice a day, the corner of Blake and Osborn becomes “one of the worst bottlenecks in the city,” swarmed with school buses stopping on all four corners in the morning and afternoon, he said.
Fazlay Rabbi (pictured), one of the owners, said since he bought the place four years ago, he has been paying taxes and trying to start a business there. He said he would “like the opportunity to do something.”
“I agree with you. The place is terrible as it is,” Fasano said. But a daycare would only make the traffic congestion worse, with pick-ups and drop-offs at exactly the time that traffic there is already bad, he said. Fasano said he’d prefer to see some business that has customers arrive by appointment.
“We saw they traffic,” Rabbi said. “That’s why we invested” in the property, to capitalize on passersby.
“This will be the best use,” Rabbi said. “It’s not going to be a lawyer’s office. It’s not going to be a doctor’s office.”
Neighbors stood up to oppose the plan. Richard Bell (at left in photo), who lives nearby on Osborn Avenue, said a daycare is “the last thing we need,” given the amount of traffic there already.
Maria Lamberto, who lives on Ruby Street, called the idea of a childcare center in the residential neighborhood “absurd.”
In all, a dozen neighbors offered opposition to the plan, based on concerns about traffic and children’s safety.
Rabbi offered no rebuttal to their testimony.