KSQ Architects
Yale grad students will soon get to move into apartments on what is now a parking lot in the Broadway district.
That’s because the Board of Zoning Appeals Tuesday night unanimously voted to give Yale permission to build a 51,777 square-foot, 73-foot-tall building with two floors of retail and four floors of graduate housing at 272 Elm St. — despite a zoning staff report stating just one floor of retail was warranted by zoning law.
Yale was granted two variances, one to allow the rear yard to run 16.4 feet at its narrowest point rather than the required 24.34 feet, and another to allow a total floor to area ratio (FAR) of 2.984 where a maximum of 2.0 is allowed.
It was also granted a special exception for parking, to allow zero spaces on a lot that would require a total of 145 spaces — including 101 for the two proposed retail floors, 44 for three existing retail operations in adjacent buildings it owns.
“The applicant really went to the community on this one and did the right thing,” said commissioner Charles Decker, before making a motion to approve the variances and special exception.
Deputy Director of Zoning Tom Talbot wrote a staff report in February recommending the zoning board deny Yale’s request, unless the university could show it needed zoning relief. Yale asked to postpone the public hearing one month and then returned with a virtually unchanged application, backed up by more data.
Talbot said in June he was concerned the second floor of retail drove the variance, although Yale could not prove it needed that floor to make the project work. Zoning staff kept that clause in this month’s staff report.
Zoning commissioners did not discuss the application in depth before voting to approve the requests.