Neighbors organizing to stop a laundromat from opening on Whalley Avenue have taken a new tack: focusing on parking.
Edgewood and Beaver Hill activists have been trying for weeks to convince city planners and zoners to deny permission to brothers Frank and Louis Sproviero to open a 40-washer outpost of their Precision Wash ‘n’ Dry chain in the Walgreen’s plaza on Whalley near Boulevard.
The neighbors have complained to the zoning board and City Plan Commission that the business would drag down efforts to revive the commercial corridor.
However, the brothers’ lawyer, Anthony Avallone, has convinced decision-makers that the only issue up for legal review is parking— that otherwise the laundromat can open there under existing laws without needing special permission. And Avallone has argued repeatedly that the plan has enough parking under city zoning laws.
This week the neighbors produced an expert opinion suggesting otherwise. Prepared by transportation consultant Herbert S. Levinson, the opinion states that according to a formula used in a 1990 study by the Eno Transportation Foundation, coin-operated laundromats should have 0.5 parking spaces per machine.
That formula was based on a suburban setting, where everyone drives. “In areas where there is walk-in or public transport ridership, it could be reduced,” Levinson wrote in the Nov. 28 opinion. “For a facility located at Boulevard and Whalley Avenue in New Haven, it could be reduced by an estimated 20 – 25%.” That would require 30 spaces — more than double the 13 envisioned.
The City Plan Commission approved the request for the laundromat. It now comes before the Board of Zoning Appeals on Dec. 9. For previous coverage of the controversy, click here and here.