Christopher Peak Photo
ZBA Chair Ben Trachten questions Pasquale Casano about his request.
An East Rock homeowner found out city planners’ definition of “hardship” the hard way on Tuesday night. He’ll now need to find other plans for his elderly aunt.
During a rescheduled meeting at the Hall of Records (after a bomb threat last week), members of the Zoning Board of Appeals said Pasquale Casano needed to prove an “unreasonable hardship” before they could grant him permission to add another unit to his two-family dwelling on Nicoll Street.
That’s because all homes in residential areas are expected to offer a minimum of 1,000 square feet per unit. Casano sought a variance to cram a third dwelling into his 2,843 square-foot house.
The extra unit was intended for his 67-year-old aunt who was looking to move back to America from Italy, Casano said.
“I have a financial hardship: I wanted to give her that, but I felt that I couldn’t charge her rent,” he explained, after apologizing that this was his first experience with the process. “I can’t afford to lose the rent for my mortgage, so I need a third unit. I think that’s about it.”
That misunderstood the city’s definition, board Chair Ben Trachten said. “Hardship doesn’t mean a difficulty for you financially to do this,” he explained. “It has to be something particular rooted in the land that necessitates relief.”
Trachten asked if he could come up with some difficulty, a quirk on the block, like an unusual topography, a historic structure or an irregular lot size, that would necessitate a change. Casano couldn’t answer and slunk away.
After the public hearing closed, board member Patricia King said she was “somewhat sympathetic” to Casano’s position, but she just couldn’t support his application without evidence of a hardship related to the property itself. The board voted unanimously, five to zero, to deny the variance.