EPIMONI DESIGN
BoomBoomBoom! 186 units on tap for Fair Street.
City zoners unanimously approved land-use relief for two projects that promise to bring hundreds of new market-rate apartments to Wooster Square and East Rock.
They took those votes Tuesday night during the a special virtual meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) meeting. The half-hour-long meeting took place online via Zoom.
186 Apts On Fair St.
Zoom
Tuesday night’s BZA meeting.
The first vote came in regards to 20 – 34 Fair St. That’s where the New York City-based developer Epimoni plans to build a new 186-unit apartment complex and, in partnership with the city, reopen the currently closed-off street to through traffic in the form of a new “greenway” connecting Union Street and Olive Street.
The zoning commissioners voted unanimously in support of a special exception granting a so-called planned development unit, or PDU, that increases the Fair Street parcels’ allowable floor-area ratio (FAR) from 2.0 to 3.0, reduces the site’s minimum gross floor area per dwelling unit from 1,000 to 850 square feet, and reduces the required number of off-street parking spaces from 186 to 61.
The zoners also voted in support of a separate variance that permits 175 square feet of usable open space per dwelling unit where a minimum of 250 square feet is required at the Fair Street site.
Thomas Breen photo
20-34 Fair St. (the blue garages behind the construction vehicles).
City zoning staffer Nathaniel Hougrand reminded the commissioners that the BZA and the City Plan Commission have received a total of four letters of support for the project, two members of the public have spoken in favor, and four in opposition.
“The majority of the opposition for this item was more in respect to the process than the actual [zoning] criteria being met,” he said. “The applicant and staff met all legal requirements for public noticing and participation.”
Hougrand also noted that the project still has to go through site plan review before the City Plan Commission. The local land-use commissioners can vote to hold that site plan review as a public hearing, open to public testimony and input, if they so choose.
Some Wooster Square neighbors have criticized the Fair Street project —which is going up right across the street from 299 new market-rate apartments and down the block from another 230 new market-rate units—for not providing any affordable housing, and for being more of a financial instrument for out-of-town investors to profit from than a place that will foster community and connection among people who already live in Wooster Square. Proponents have backed the proposal as increasing the city’s tax base and housing supply, and thereby contributing to lower overall rents citywide by slaking rental demand.
Relief OK’d For 75 State St. Apts.
1041 State St.
In a separate vote later in the meeting, local zoning commissioners unanimously approved another suite of land-use relief for 1041 State St. That’s where the Fairfield-based developer Post Road Residential plans to build 75 new apartments at the site on an industrial stretch of Upper State Street right across the street from the upscale Corsair apartment complex — which Post Road Residential also built.
The variances and special exceptions approved on Tuesday night allow for a residential use on the first floor in combination with residential use in upper floors, increase the maximum allowable FAR from 3.06 to 4.6, permit a rear yard setback of 0 feet where 25 feet is required, and allow for 33 off-street parking spaces where 37 are required.
Post Road Residential has promised to set aside 5 percent of the apartment complex’s units for tenants earning no more than 30 and 50 percent of the area median income (AMI). The remaining 71 units planned for the complex will rent out at market rates.
Click here, here, and here for previous stories about this project.