Following a neighborhood intervention, a company has withdrawn its request to put a Laundromat on Whalley Avenue.
Precision Wash ‘n’ Dry, a chain Laundromat, wants to open a new store next to the new Walgreens at the corner of Ella Grasso Boulevard and Whalley Avenue. A proposal seeking parking relief was set to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday.
In an emergency meeting last week, Whalley leaders urged the company’s attorney, Anthony Avallone, to delay the proposal until it could be vetted before the area’s management team.
In a letter to the city Friday, Avallone complied. He announced his client was withdrawing its application before the BZA. “In the spirit of cooperation, the applicant wishes to have an open dialog with community representatives,” he wrote. “It is the applicant’s intention to refile at a later date.”
Neighborhood activist Eli Greer touted the move as a temporary victory. Meanwhile, he and some area non-profits and business owners have retained an attorney to represent them in the fight against the Laundromat. Their attorney, William Gallagher, sent off a letter Monday to the BZA stating that, contrary to zoning law, neighbors had not been properly advised of the pending application.
Click here to read the letter. Avallone couldn’t be reached Monday to respond to that specific charge.