C‑Town Expansion Blocked

C‑Town Supermarket’s attempt to spread commercial activity onto an adjacent block in Fair Haven came to an end after neighbors convinced lawmakers to overturn a zoning decision.

The development came Thursday night at a meeting of the Board of Aldermen’s Legislation Committee. Aldermen voted unanimously to turn down C‑Town Supermarkets’ request to rezone two residential lots on Exchange Street. The lots are adjacent to C‑Town’s grocery store at the corner of Ferry and Grand; C‑Town had hoped to build stores there.

In their vote, aldermen sided with neighbors feared the zone change would hurt the residential character of the block and make traffic worse. Aldermen also overruled the recommendation of the City Plan Commission, which had voted 3 to 2 in January in support of the plan.

The proposal was put forward by Fair Haven Alderman Ernie Santiago (Ward 15) on behalf of C‑Town’s owner, Marcos Paulino.

Controversy arose because properties in question — 137 and 141 Exchange St. and a piece of the C‑Town Plaza being used as a parking lot — sit on the border of a commercial and residential zone. Click here to read more about Santiago’s proposed solution.

Thursday night Santiago and Paulino tried to make their case again. But an argument made by a different Fair Haven Alderman, Ward 14’s Santiago Berrios-Bones, prevailed.

Berrios-Bones, who won a special election in February to replace the AWOL Gabriel Santiago, had asked the legislation committee for additional time to study the issue when he came before them in March.

In April he convened a meeting of residents and tested the waters on his own. ​“We — and I echo the voices of the residents of Ward 14 — oppose unanimously the changing zone of 137 and 141 Exchange and 184 Grand. We live in a residential ward. Ward 14 is our home and we want to keep it this way,” he said in a prepared statement.

That was good news for Juan Roman, who bought 140 Exchange St. seven years ago and invested $60,000 in renovating the two-family house.

“As it is, it’s like a buffer zone. If they knock it [137 and 141 Exchange] down, my property values will go down,” he said.

Paulino said he wished he could have made his case at the community meeting Berrios-Bones convened, at which he was not present. But he accepted the outcome.

“I’ll leave it alone. Everyone will be happy,” he said.

Paulino welcomed a silver lining in the rejection. It pertains to the 184 Grand Ave. section of the plaza that C‑Town now uses as a parking lot. Deputy Economic Development Director Tony Bialecki testified that it is not clear that parking is permitted on the lot, the site of a burned-down home. The lot appears to have fallen into that use without official designation.

If it is still zoned residential, Bialecki said the city will work with Paulino to create a legal ​“transitional parking zone.”

That’s an existing designation for parking areas that border residential zones, precisely the case at 184 Grand.

Paulino said he was eager to proceed in this direction. The direction would hold a benefit for neighbors, too: It might result in the construction of a buffer, with fence, vegetation, and lighting to improve the now open gap in the house line, with its not-so-nice views of C‑Town delivery trucks and dumpsters.

Roman said that would go a long way to solve the problem of people in a hurry driving right out, over the sidewalk, onto Exchange and in the process messing up the newly installed curbs.

Berrios-Bones was at pains to say he is not anti-business but needs to represent the majority of the area’s residential population.

Alderwoman Jessica Holmes agreed. ​“I appreciate the situation of the petitioner, but the best place to develop the business corridor is on Grand rather than Exchange,” she said.