Aliyya Swaby Photo
Harper: Townhouses will block “natural light.”
East Rock neighbors stalled developers’ plans to put five three-story townhouses on Anderson Street, claiming the townhouses would block their light and deny them privacy.
Developer Larry Levinson of Larda Holdings asked the Board of Zoning Appeals Tuesday night for a variance to allow five three-story townhouses at 66 Anderson St. where just one house is permitted. After neighbors at the meeting registered complaints, Levinson agreed to meet with them before going forward with the public hearing at a later zoning meeting. The zoning board took no action.
Two existing buildings on the 20,848 square-foot property are zoned for office or commercial use, and the site is surrounded by multifamily and single family houses. In 2006, the board granted Levinson’s request to convert the rear building to professional offices, but he never went forward with the development, because of the subsequent “economic downturn,” said his lawyer Bernard Pellegrino.
The planned developments would contain two residential floors as well as third-floor attic — each with two bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. At 26 feet high, Pellegrino said, they would be “in keeping with other buildings in the neighborhood.” Parking would be provided in a proposed lot. He said they decided on five townhouses in order to recuperate the costs of demolition and development.
The townhouses would likely be rentals, he said.
But neighbors said there was a fundamental difference between bringing a one-story office building to the neighborhood and renting three-floor houses to five separate groups. They said they wanted the property developed, but developed in keeping with nearby buildings and homes.
Annie Harper, who lives at 58 Anderson St., said a smaller one- or two-story building would ensure nearby homes “get as much natural light as possible” and ensure privacy from potential peepers into neighboring yards. She asked developers to consider putting in “a fence and a screen of trees” between the property line and the doorways of the new homes.
Dick Lyons, whose backyard is next to the property, said he was “shocked” to hear the houses would be rentals, and said he was already surrounded by “freshmen” who throw parties without cleaning up after themselves. He said he did not think the developers should include 22 parking spaces in the lot, because it would take away space for snow removal in the winter. “Where is all that snow going to go?” he asked. “This plan needs to be worked on significantly.”
In the report, zoning staff had recommended Levinson decrease the number of houses to at least three from five, decrease the height of the building, and increase the amount of open space along the property lines.
Pellegrino said the height of the building and the number of townhouses would be difficult to negotiate down. “The third floor is not an occupied space where people would be looking down into others’ backyards,” he said.
After hearing the commentary, he agreed to “table” the application “so we can look into some of these issues” and meet with the neighbors.