Thomas MacMIllan Photo
“This is all craziness!” exclaimed one city official when presented with a plan to expand an Italian market on Orange Street.
That was City Plan Commission Chairman Ed Mattison (at center in photo) on Wednesday night. He criticized an expansion plan at Nica’s Market as ill-conceived.
City Plan commissioners were asked to weigh in on the parking component of the East Rock market’s expansion plan. The plan would add a second floor to the thriving neighborhood store and includes off-site parking for nine cars on a nearby street.
Commissioners voted unanimously to recommend the denial of the parking proposal. The matter now returns to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), which will make a decision on the expansion plan next month.
The BZA heard the plan at its meeting last week. It also heard opposition from neighbors who objected to Nica’s employees and customers cutting by their first-floor windows to get from the new off-site parking to the store.
The parking arrangement is “not functional,” Deputy Director of Zoning Tom Talbot told commissioners on Wednesday night.
Chairman Mattison agreed. “This just seems so poorly thought out,” he said. “They should be sent back and told to have a presentation with a planner.”
Talbot informed the board that Nica’s owners had offered to resubmit the application without the off-site parking. They would instead ask for permission to simply have fewer parking spaces.
“This is all craziness!” Mattison said.
Commissioner and East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker (at left in photo) said Nica’s is a “great asset” to the neighborhood. He acknowledged that the expansion plan has received support from many Nica’s customers. However, the proposed plan sets up a situation in which people may trespass across property to get from the store to the lot, he said. Further, Nica’s has “a clear record of not complying with the Board of Zoning Appeals and the City Plan Commission,” he said.
An advisory report from the City Plan Department includes a list of ways in which Nica’s has not complied with city regulations, including failing to file its food license with the BZA, having 12 tables where two are permitted, and having outside seating before May 15.
“The current proposal is not appropriate for the neighborhood,” Elicker concluded.