Rebuilders Surmount Post-Fire Zoning Hurdle

A Stamford-based landlord duo can now rebuild a house at the same size as the one that burned down earlier this year on a Sheffield Avenue lot, thanks to zoning relief unanimously granted by the Board of Zoning Appeals.

The local zoning board took that vote during its latest monthly meeting. The virtual meeting was held online via the Zoom videoconferencing platform.

The zoning commissioners unanimously approved five variances requested by Edward Zislis of 1605 Chapel Street LLC for the now-vacant property at 31 – 33 Sheffield Ave. Zislis co-owns the property with fellow Stamford real estate investor Deirde Vivro.

Those requested variances allow for a front yard of 9.1 feet where 17 feet is required, side yards of 8.9 feet and 2.9 feet where 10 feet and 8 feet are respectively required, a building wall of 34.7 feet where 17.8 feet is permitted, a minimum lot area per dwelling unit of 1,742.3 square feet where 2,000 square feet is required, and a total of three dwelling units where one is allowed on a non-conforming lot.

Zislis (pictured) explained at the meeting last Tuesday evening that his company needed all of this relief because the three-family house that used to stand on that 0.119-acre lot ​“just completely burnt down” in March. ​“Now we have to rebuild it.”

The 3:41 a.m. two-alarm fire on March 6 left 20 tenants in two buildings without a home, and ultimately destroyed the 31 – 33 Sheffield Ave. residences. The landlords pulled a $300,000 building permit for the property in April and demolished the rest of the burnt-out structure in May, according to city building permit records.

They then encountered a hiccup in those rebuilding efforts New Haven’s zoning code.

The 31 – 33 Sheffield Ave. property sits in a a RM‑2 High-Middle Density district.

Among other requirements, that zone sets a minimum lot area for new single-family, two-family and multi-family homes at 5,400 square feet, a minimum lot area per dwelling unit of 2,000 square feet except for efficiency units and elderly housing units, which can be smaller, a minimum front yard of 17 feet, a minimum rear yard of 25 feet, and one side yard of at least eight feet and the other of at least 10 feet.

In his presentation Tuesday as well as in his application to the zoning board, Zislis explained that the side yard and minimum lot area per dwelling unit requirements are too large to allow him to rebuild the same type of three-family home that stood on that lot for a century, and that exists up and down that stretch of Newhallville.

“[T]he lot can accommodate the rebuilding of existing structure to its exact same location/footprint with sufficient parking,” he wrote. ​“However, front and side setbacks limit rebuilding the structure to its original intended use and prevent it from being utilized to its full residential potential without the requested relief.”

He notes in the application that “[d]irect neighboring houses and majority of homes on the street/neighborhood are large multifamily properties. If granted permission, the house will continue to conform to the area.” And later in the application, he continued, ​“The property will conform to the look and size as neighboring homes on the street. (The architecture, size, style and character, will be similar to the rest of the homes on the street.)”

Indeed, according to the city assessor’s database, the 14 other residential properties that stand on the odd-numbered side of Sheffield Avenue between Division Street and Starr Street are all two-and-a-half to ‑three-story, multi-family buildings, including eight two-family houses, five three-family houses, and one four-family house.

In a Friday morning phone interview, Vivro told the Independent that, seven months after the house first burned down, she and Zislis are eager to rebuild. ​“Seven months is a long time,” she said. ​“We got paid six months of lost rental income” through their insurance company. ​“We want to rebuild. We want to revitalize the neighborhood.”

She noted that that stretch of Newhallville appears to be changing in part because of the expansion of nearby Science Park. ​“When we bought the property [in 2013], there were less Yale students there,” she said. ​“Now we’re renting to Yale students.”

Vivro also said that the property’s foundation proved to be so old and unstable that she and Zislis will have to rebuild that in addition to putting up a whole new above-ground residential structure.

The 31 Sheffield zoning plight is reminiscent of another multifamily house in the Dwight neighborhood that suffered a debilitating fire, was demolished, and left the owner with a nonconforming lot. In that case, the landlord decided to convert the property that used to hold a four-family house into a surface parking lot.