New Commercial Gateway Zone Pitched

The City Plan department has drafted a zoning overhaul for Whalley, Grand, and Dixwell Avenues with the hopes of creating denser, more pedestrian-friendly ​“commercial gateway districts” between downtown and the city’s neighborhoods.

City Plan Director Aïcha Woods presented a high-level summary of those new proposed zoning regulations at last week’s special City Plan Commission meeting held in the City Plan department’s fifth floor library at City Hall.

The new proposed zoning regs represent the latest step in the department’s months long investigation into how reverse the automobile-centric impact of the city’s 1960s-era zoning code, particularly for the main commercial arteries that connect Downtown to Fair Haven, Newhallville and Dixwell, and Dwight, Edgewood, and Westville. Click here, here, and here to read more about the City Plan Department’s community outreach efforts for this rezoning project.

“The intention is really to encourage equitable and sustainable development along those corridors,” Woods said. ​“They’re the connections between the neighborhoods and downtown. We feel they’re a great place that could benefit from some additional density and improved access to downtown.”

Woods said the proposed zoning overhaul, which her department will formally present to the City Plan Commisison for a workshop later this month before submitting to the full Board of Alders in July, would create a new zoning category for sections of Whalley, Dixwell, and Grand Avenues.

That category would be called a Commercial Gateway District (CGD), and would mimic the current BA‑1 (Neighborhood Center Mixed Use) district with some key differences. According to a summary that Woods passed out to the commissioners on Monday, the overall goal of the new regs would be to create commercial corridors that are ​“pedestrian-friendly, livable urban neighborhoods that provide a buffer to surrounding lower-density residential uses.”

Some of the specific proposed zoning regs to be included in this new category would be:

• An increase in the baseline maximum Floor Area Ratio from 3.0 to 4.5, thereby allowing for a larger amount of usable living space in relation to the overall size of the parcel.

• An explicit inclusionary zoning requirement that 10 percent of housing units in residential developments 10 units or larger be reserved as affordable.

• Opportunities for bonus FAR, or allowable density, for the use of sustainable practices like ecoroofs, stormwater mitigation, renewable energy generation, or paying into the Advancing Green Infrastructure Program.

• The elimination of parking minimums, and the imposition of parking maximums.

Westville Alder and City Plan Commission Adam Marchand asked if Woods is hoping to create a totally new zoning category, as the department and the alders did with the new Westville Village zoning district, or to amend the text of existing categories.

In the long run, she said, she would like to see her department undertake a complete overhaul of the existing zoning code, much of which dates back at least five decades. But considering short-term budget constraints, she said, her department will be rolling out changes on a project by project level. This CGD proposal would indeed create a new district, rather than update existing ones.

“One of the primary barriers to investment right now is the low density” of these commercial corridors, Woods said. That is in large part due to some of these avenues, like Whalley Avenue, being antiquated and very specific zoning regulations designed to make the district a hub for car dealerships. ​“They’ve been kind of left to languish,” she said, ​“and this is a way to give them a boost.”

Hartford recently completed a comprehensive, and very expensive, overhaul of its zoning code, she said, and Bridgeport is currently in the midst of doing the same.

“I think this is a very exciting thing to do,” City Plan Commission Chair Ed Mattison said. ​“I think all of us on the board would like to see it take a proactive role instead of waiting for people to file things and we just sort of pass them. This is a good one because we constantly run into this auto problem, which makes utterly no sense. But until we do something about it, we will continue to have it.”

Read below a one-page summary of the draft Commercial Gateway District regulations, which Woods handed out on Monday night.

Go to https://www.newhavencorridors.com/ to read more about the proposed zoning overhaul.

Highlights of Draft Commercial Gateway District Regulations

Purpose
The purpose of the new Commercial Gateway District (CGD) is to encourage the development of a complementary mixture of appropriately intensive commercial and higher-density residential land uses that serve as strong gateways to Downtown. CGDs are intended to be pedestrian-friendly, livable, urban neighborhoods that provide a buffer to surrounding lower-density residential uses. Specifically, regulations for CGDs seek to foster the revitalization of historic commercial corridors; encourage private investment; encourage the development of safe, efficient, user-friendly pedestrian, bike and transit systems; and improve the functional and visual quality of development. The CDG introduces progressive requirements and incentives to encourage inclusive and sustainable development in these areas.

Structure
Added to Section 41 of the existing regulations as a new commercial district, with three sub-districts: Dixwell Avenue, Grand Avenue and Whalley Avenue. This structure enables different design parameters in sub-districts, while also enabling potential additional CGDs.

Uses
Permitted uses mimic BA‑1 with some modifications.

Density & Affordable Housing
The current draft requires minimum residential units per acre, with more required within a certain distance of fixed-route transit. In addition, residential developments of 10 or more units must dedicate 10 percent of housing units as affordable. Residential density incentives are provided for additional affordable units, thus combining inclusionary and incentive zoning for affordable housing.

Sustainability
Following the models of Portland, Pittsburgh, and many other cities, the draft regulations incentivize sustainable building practices and site function through increases int he baseline maximum Floor Area Ration (FAR) of 3.0 up to 4.5. Sustainable practices eligible for bonus FAR include ecoroofs, stormwater mitigation, renewable energy generation, building preservation, LEED, or a payment to the Advancing Green Infrastructure Program.

Walkability
The CGD zone employs several strategies to enhance the pedestrian environment. The zone includes front yard maximums that ensure new buildings are constructed close to the sidewalk, and street frontage buildout to develop the street wall. Applicants may reduce their building frontage if they activate their street frontage with public spaces including plazas or pedestrian arcades.

Parking
No parking minimums are required for either residential or commercial uses; rather, parking maximums are established. Parking areas must be located behind buildings. Applicants who want to exceed the parking maximums will need to provide additional analyses to justify the need for these spaces, as well as provide additional electric vehicle charging stations, and shared vehicle loading areas.