78 Olive Zone Change Advances

The Board of Alders’ legislation committee unanimously supported a request to rezone the lot at 78 Olive St. on Tuesday evening, inching one step closer to a 13-story apartment building at the site. 

The rezoning request had been submitted by PMC Property Group, the Philadelphia-based developer that owns the Strouse-Adler building currently at 78 Olive and that seeks to build a second, 13-story apartment tower on the same lot, in a spot currently taken up by parking spaces.

In order for PMC to build those apartments, however, the lot would need to be changed from a BA zone (General Business) to a BD‑1 zone (Central Business/Residence).

As a line of apartment buildings begins to rise along the Downtown-Wooster Square border, a couple of other Olive Street lots have been rezoned from BA to BD‑1 in recent years — despite the best efforts of PMC, which sued against the rezoning of 630 Chapel St. six years ago.

So on Tuesday night, PMC found itself in the position of advocating for the zone change it had previously argued against in court. 

In a brief presentation, attorney Chris McKeon argued on behalf of PMC that changing 78 Olive St. to a BD‑1 zone would be a ​“logical extension” of the other zone changes on the street. ​“The same rationale that was applied to the parcels to the south is applicable, if not more applicable now, to justify the change in zone from BA to BD‑1,” McKeon said.

After passionate testimony and deliberation, the committee advanced the application, which will next go before the full Board of Alders for a final vote.

Previous public meetings on the proposed building at 78 Olive have garnered fiery debate. Tuesday’s meeting, however, focused on the zone change request — not on any specific plans for a new building there, which would have to undergo a separate set of approvals.

One of the major differences between a BA and BD‑1 zone is the floor area ratio — the ratio of the total floor area across all building stories to the area of the lot itself. In a BA zone, the floor area ratio is limited to 2, while a BD‑1 zone allows for a floor area ratio of 6 (with the exception of lots adjacent to certain residential districts.) A higher permitted floor area ratio would allow PMC to build a taller, more dense building.

If the zone change goes through, the minimum ratio of parking spaces to residential units would be reduced, too: PMC would be required to provide only one parking space for every two apartments, rather than the one parking space per unit required under a BA zone.

Eight people testified against the zone change, while four testified in support of it.

A handful of residents argued that the taller permitted height under a BD‑1 zone would not fit in with the Wooster Square neighborhood. 

Downtown resident Arthur Nacht argued that a 13-story building would ​“tower over Wooster Square.” Such a building would be ​“way out of proportion to the low rise community feeling which surrounds it,” he said.

Others called out PMC’s track record as a landlord, and as a legal challenger to other developers’ rezoning efforts.

“This whole song and dance…. it’s literally the exact opposite of PMC’s posture over the course of all those lawsuits,” said Ethan Rodriguez-Torrent. ​“PMC also has a storied history of being a terrible landlord,” he added, noting that former economic development chief Matt Nemerson once asked the developer to sell its properties and leave the city.

Later in the meeting, McKeon responded that the lawsuits reflected a different era of the neighborhood. ​“The changes [since then] are significant. Most notably, there are two significant developments that are well on their way to completion,” he said.

As for tenants’ criticisms of PMC’s management, McKeon said, ​“There are going to be people who have less than perfect experiences — they’re going to be vocal and rightfully so. But there are many more people who have great experiences, and you’re not going to hear from them.”

Proponents of the zone change, meanwhile, called attention to the impending climate crisis and the dire need for more housing in the city. 

Pearl Street resident John Martin noted that the building’s proximity to the train station would make it ​“environmentally friendly and neighborhood friendly in every way” by bringing in new residents who would use public transportation and support local businesses. ​“Our farmer’s market that’s so beloved in Wooster Square — maybe can have another day of the week,” he said.

“I am no fan of this landlord,” said Will Viederman, the housing policy manager at the housing authority, but with more people people moving to the city, ​“without new housing, rents will go up and people will struggle to stay where they live.” Failing to keep up with the city’s housing needs, Viederman argued, would affect ​“the poorest in our city.”

When alders had a chance to deliberate, Eli Sabin, a committee member whose ward includes 78 Olive, asked his colleagues to support the zone change request. Since the new year, Sabin has held community meetings on the proposal and negotiated with PMC to include 14 units of affordable housing in their plans for the building. 

“The community is pretty split on this issue, which puts us as this committee in the position of making a difficult tough call,” Sabin said. But he argued that the benefits of increasing density in the area outweighed the drawbacks. He cited the lower climate impact of dense housing and public transportation, the public safety and economic benefits of more people in the area, and the construction jobs that would be created by the development. 

Most of all, Sabin focused on the consequences of building more housing in the city. A vote against the zone change, he said, would be akin to ​“telling renters in Dixwell, Newhallville, Fair Haven, and the Hill that we’re fine with less affordable housing and higher rents, and we’re fine with them getting pushed out of their neighborhoods.”

Westville Alder Adam Marchand pointed out that since New Haven is ​“fully built out,” adding more housing to the city will often necessitate building upwards. 

“To boil it down, it’s really a question of, continuing a pattern of development where Downtown is no longer stopping at the train tracks,” Marchand said. ​“Downtown, in a certain sense, is stopping at Olive Street.”