Nathaniel Rosenberg photos
At Tuesday's BZA meeting, where commissioners heard plans ...
... for 8 rent-reduced apartments to rise at Lombard ex-laundromat site.
An empty Fair Haven lot that once sparked a high-profile arson trial could soon be the site of eight new affordable apartments.
That’s the latest with 83 Lombard St., which was on the agenda Tuesday night for the latest monthly meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA)
The 0.17-acre property is currently owned by the city. It used to be home to the People’s Laundromat, until it burned down under suspicious circumstances in 2009. The laundromat’s owner, Fair Haven developer Angelo Reyes, was charged with hiring someone to torch the building. Reyes was acquitted in that trial but is currently serving a 25-year sentence for other arson convictions.
Paul Bass file photo
83 Lombard after 2009 fire.
The lot has sat vacant since the city foreclosed on it in December 2013. Now, according to filings with the BZA, the Elicker administration has reached an agreement with developer Douglas Allen Investment Group to build a three-story apartment building made up of eight two-bedroom rental units on the site.
The public land, which has an appraised value of $101,900, would be sold to the private developer for $55,000. Doug Woods, the developer, could not immediately be reached for comment for this article.
The property came before the BZA Tuesday night because the applicant, represented by local attorney Ben Trachten, is seeking a host of zoning relief in order to make this proposed 8‑unit apartment development happen.
The requested relief for 83 Lombard includes variances to permit a rear building wall height of 30 feet where 25 feet is permitted (south), 922 square feet of lot area per dwelling unit where 3,500 square feet is required, an average lot width of 48.6 feet where 50 feet is required, a front yard of 7 feet where 20 feet is required (Lombard Street), a front yard of 12 feet where 20 feet is required (Downing Street), to allow 8 residential dwelling units on a nonconforming lot where 1 dwelling is permitted, and a special exception to allow 2 off street parking spaces where 8 are required.
At Tuesday night’s BZA meeting on the second floor of City Hall, Trachten laid out the affordability provisions in the proposed public-to-private sale, which would require all units to be affordable to rent at 80 percent of the area median income — currently $92,900 for a family of four — for at least 20 years.
“This furthers the city’s affordable housing goals in a significant way,” Trachten testified at Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s a rare day that I can — or anyone can — stand before the board offering eight long-term rent-restricted units.”
One neighbor, Donna Presnell, showed up to testify against approving zoning changes for the lot, arguing that adding eight apartments and only two parking spots would exacerbate an already “terrible” shortage of parking on Lombard Street.
Fair Haven Alder Frank Redente Jr., whose district includes the site, submitted a letter in support of the development of a lot that he described as a “source of blight.”
BZA commissioners sent the application to its next stop at the City Planning Commission and will vote on the matter at their December meeting. While the BZA has the final say on the requested zoning relief for this project, ultimately, the Board of Alders must decide whether or not to sell the publicly owned property.
On Wednesday morning, the lot, which sits on the corner of Lombard and Downing Streets, was completely fenced off. The concrete foundations of the laundromat remain, but there was little else that hinted at the site’s former use save some rotting wood and rusted metal beams.