Paul Bass Photo
Sajjad Chaudhary with son Ali at their current garage.
Sometimes even heroes can get delayed by zoning ordinances. Sajjad Chaudhary made out better when he sought needed permission to take over an old auto shop on Dixwell.
Chaudhary already owns an auto shop up in New Haven. It was in that role that made headlines in 2016, when he and his son Ali caught a hit-and-run driver and held him until the police could arrive to arrest him. To thank the father-son duo, the New Haven police department awarded them a Certificate of Appreciation two months ago at a heroes’ recognition ceremony.
Now Chaudhary, who was born in Pakistan, has his eyes on expanding to Hamden. He was one of three applicants at this Thursday night’s meeting of Hamden’s Zoning Board of Appeals, as part of a quest to open Dynamic Auto 2 on a property he bought a few months ago.
As it currently stands, the property is divided into two lots, one on Dixwell Avenue and one on Treadwell Street. That means Chaudhary would have to get two automobile repairer’s licenses from the DMV.
His solution? Merge the properties into one, with a single address on Dixwell. Then Chaudhary will need only one certificate from the DMV.
But it’s not so simple. The two lots are in a T‑4 zone. In T‑4 zones, the maximum lot width is 100 feet. If the lots were merged, the new lot would be 140 feet wide.
In the state of Connecticut, the DMV requires that the Zoning Board of Appeals of a municipality grant the certificate of approval for proposed locations of auto repair shops. That was why Chaudhary had to come to the board — as well to seek a variance that will allow him to merge the lots even though the new lot will violate zoning ordinances.
The board voted unanimously to approve Chaudhary’s application.
Sam Gurwitt Photo
Sajjad Chaudhary shows his “hero” certificate at Thursday’s zoning meeting.
The site at the corner of Dixwell and Treadwell was formerly home to the auto dealer H.P. Scarpo & Son. It has been used as an auto repair and dealer since 1946, according to Chaudhary. It was an auto repair shop long before the T‑4 zoning ordinances were introduced, and the two lots have always been used as one. But since the site is changing ownership, Chaudhary needs new a license from the DMV before he can go ahead and operate the shop. He hopes to get his license from the DMV and open the shop within a matter of weeks.
Chaudhary has been working on cars since he was 13. He opened his first auto repair shop in Coventry in 1990, five years after immigrating from Pakistan. He then opened another in Manchester, then Dynamic Auto on Whalley in New Haven. Dynamic Auto 2, like its predecessor, will specialize in used car repairs.
Chaudhary said that he’s been successful running his own shops. “Since I opened my own shop, I’m in business very well because I never lie, never cheat, honest and reliable.”
A Deck And A Warehouse
Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Jeffrey Vita.
The first applicant at the ZBA meeting was Jeffrey Campbell of Still Hill Road.
Since a storm destroyed his deck last spring, Campbell has been in the process of building a new one. He’s trying to extend the deck by a few feet in order to make it easier to open the door.
Since his property is pie-shaped, that would put one corner of the deck 35 feet from the property boundary, and zoning ordinances require 40 feet for decks in R-2, the residential zone where he lives.
Campbell, too, got unanimous approval from the board for his application.
The third applicant, like Chaudhary, also sought to merge two lots in a T-4 zone. K&M Brothers, LLC, owns 2781 & 2785 State St., both of which are warehouses for convenience store supplies. When merged, the property will have a width of 197.68 feet, which is above the 100-foot maximum in T-4 zones.
The board passed K&M’s application unanimously as it did for the first two.
“T-4” New Urbanism
A T-4 zone is a designation within the transect zoning system. Transect zoning was pioneered by the New Urbanist movement, which emerged in the 1980s as a response to the spread of suburban sprawl. The first transect-based codes for zoning were written by town planning and architecture firm Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company in its SmartCode of 2003.
Transect zoning seeks to create mixed-use urban spaces that are better scaled to pedestrians. While traditional Euclidian zoning separates areas into single-use zones, transect zoning separates zones on a rural to urban gradient. A T-4 zone is a “general urban zone,” and in order to make it conducive to pedestrians and mixed uses, it limits the size of lots.
“The theory is that excessively wide lots are more apt to create buildings and structures that are excessively wide, and form-based new urbanist zoning doesn’t promote long building faces, so by saying that there’s a maximum lot width, the theory is that that will preclude the creation of wide building faces,” Assistant Town Planner Matt Davis explained.
But when buildings already exist on a lot, zoning ordinances are not going to promote new urbanist forms of development because the buildings already exist. That was why both applications that sought to merge lots in a T-4 zone could be approved with so little debate.
Davis added that, though the planning department’s job is to regulate land use, it “also [tries] to promote people reinvesting money in properties.” It has to strike a balance between ensuring that land is used responsibly and fostering economic growth.