Thomas Breen photo
30 Lenox St.
A former Fair Haven Heights fabric-coating chemical factory could become a mix of private studios occupied by artists, small business owners, and small-scale manufacturers — as well as a site for self-storage.
Local attorney Ben Trachten talked through those plans for 30 Lenox St. during Tuesday’s latest monthly online meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA).
The 2.07-acre property contains a handful of former mill buildings that were most recently used as an American outpost for the Swedish company Trelleborg Coated Systems US, Inc.. Work done at the Lenox Street complex included laminating fabrics to make them resistant to water, chemicals, and flames.
Trelleborg, which still owns the property, has applied to the BZA for a use variance and coastal site plan review to permit the use of a “Flex-Shared Workshop Space” within an existing structure in an industrial zone.
Trachten said that Trelleborg occupied 30 Lenox St. up until last year. This zoning-relief application represents the first step towards what would be a “major renovation” of the property, which would be repurposed as “more of a maker space.”
Much of the main former mill building’s interior would be rented out to individuals and business doing “artisan manufacturing,” Trachten said. “It’s basically small trade, with no retail component,” and “similar to micro-manufacturing.”
The use variance application describes the intended use of 30 Lenox St. as “a cluster of private studios catering to a diverse array of professionals including small business owners, artists, craftsmen, hobbyist, designers, and small-scale manufacturers. These units, ranging from 300 to 1,500 square feet, will provide temperature-controlled, Wi-Fi enabled workspaces equipped with a freight elevator and access to shared facilities such as loading docks and a common kitchen area.”
The application describes the “adaptive reuse” of the 130-year-old former mill building as creating a “synergistic environment that supports local creatives and entrepreneurs, while preserving the architectural integrity of a community landmark.”
In the short term, Trachten added, the property’s owner also plans to apply to the City Plan Commission to permit self-storage in the basement and on the first floor of the main mill building.
“This property, if approved, would support the local artist and maker community as well as small commercial/industrial users,” the application continues. “The new ‘Flex Workshop’ designation would give significant leeway to allow small [hobbyists] along with larger more established artists and makers to have a dedicated and cost-effective space for production of their goods.”
The BZA didn’t take a vote on the application at Tuesday’s meeting, referring it instead to the City Plan Commission for review, as required for coastal site plan reviews.
On Wednesday, the City Plan Commission voted unanimously in support of recommending approval of the item, thereby sending it back to the BZA for deliberations and a potential final vote at next month’s meeting.
Before casting her vote of support, City Plan Commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe described the plan as “a wonderful reuse of the building,” but worried about what specific types of use might be allowed inside the new “flex workshop.” Could metalwork, for example, be allowed to take place alongside a relatively less intensive and dangerous craft? Would this be safe to allow all in one place?
City Planner II Donnell Hilton replied that this site is already zoned for heavy industrial use. There will be a “lower number of manufacturing impacts” under this flex workshop proposal than under the building’s former and currently allowed use.
City Plan Director Laura Brown also advised that the the city’s zoning code does not have any on-site parking requirements for flex work spaces. In their favorable vote, the commissioners also encouraged the zoning board to “consider” whether or not add a parking requirement for this project.