Affordable Homes To Replace Munson Lots

A local faith-based development company has obtained approvals to build three new units of affordable housing atop two long-vacant Munson Street lots.

The Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously granted that requested zoning relief to the Beulah Land Development Corporation during its regular monthly meeting in the municipal building at 200 Orange St.

Beulah, the development affiliate of an Orchard Street church that has been building affordable housing in Dixwell and Newhallville since 1994, won variances to build a two-family home at 232 Munson St. and a single-family home at 245 Munson St.

Both sites, which Beulah purchased from the city for a combined sum of $3,000 in 2018, are currently vacant sliver lots.

“To date we have created over 43 units of affordable housing in the community,” Beulah Land Development Corporation Chief Operative Officer Darrell Brooks told the zoning board as he stood alongside project architect David Wagner and legal aid attorney Ming-Yee Lin at last week’s meeting..

“And this application that you have before you is in direct response to that: Creating affordable housing in Dixwell.”

This project, like other single-family and two-family homes Beulah has built in the neighborhood, will be made available for home ownership for residents earning between 60 and 80 percent of the area median income (AMI), or between $55,680 and $74,240 out of an $92,800 benchmark for a family of four. The rental unit in the two-family home, Brooks said, will be targeted towards residents earning closer to 50 percent AMI, or around $46,400.

For 232 Munson St., Beulah earned a variance to permit a two-family house where a single-family structure is permitted on a nonconforming lot, a variance for a side yard of 0 feet where 10 feet is required, and a variance for a building wall height of 17 feet where 0 feet is permitted. The house will be 2,060 square feet, according to the City Plan adivsory report, and will stand atop a 5,148 square-foot noncoforming lot.

For 245 Munson St., Beulah earned a variance to allow a side yard of 1 foot where 8 feet is required, and a building wall height of 18 feet where 2 feet is permitted. The single-family home will be 1,840 square feet, according to the City Plan department’s advisory report, and will stand on a 3,520 square-foot nonconforming lot.

“The proposed use will allow for a greater consistency with the surrounding property both in use and aesthetically on an otherwise vacant lot,” the advisory report reads for the 245 Munson project. ​“The relief being sought is minimal and the RM‑2 district in which the property is located allows for density of 22 units per acre which this propsal meets.”