Christopher Peak Photo
Revamped designs for Delaney’s.
BZA’s Mildred Melendez and Anne Stone split on approvals.
Westville Village’s nightlife is poised to change dramatically, after the zoning board Tuesday night gave the green light for two restaurants, Delaney’s Taproom and Manjares Fine Foods, to proceed with building and expansion plans.
Both Whalley Avenue establishments won approval from the Board of Zoning Appeals — one, just barely — at the end of a two-hour meeting on Tuesday night at the Hall of Records.
The proposal to resurrect the burnt-down Delaney’s, with a 180-seat restaurant and 22 apartments above, squeaked past the board, after a dissenting member argued the developer hadn’t established why he needed to put a staircase right up to the property line
Meanwhile, the request to allow Manjares to serve liquor at night without providing any dedicated parking spots for customers sailed to board approval.
The two votes involved two different types of relief, with different burdens of proof.
Where’s The “Hardship”?
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Empty lot at 882 Whalley Ave.
Delaney’s needed a variance, a deviation from the zoning ordinance, to extend a staircase from the exterior all the way to the sidewalk, where an 11-foot side yard is normally required. The lot where the project is envisioned sits at the corner of Whalley and Central Avenues.
An advisory report from the City Plan Commission said the issue could go either way. The report pointed out that the proposed building itself was at least five feet back from the property line and that the nearest residence was more than 40 feet away even without the side yard, making the staircase “less objectionable.” But it also noted that Delaney’s “application does not really provide an explanation” why a variance is needed. “The applicant must provide a legally justifiable basis for this variance before it could provide a positive recommendation to the board,” the report said.
During a public hearing two months ago, neighbors also argued that the variance was needed to make the building appear less bulky along Central Avenue. With more room, the architect could vary the exterior, alternating a pattern of recessed balconies and brick walls, they pointed out.
Variances for a change like that are supposed to be granted only if a property-owner can establish an “unreasonable hardship.” The difficulty, as several homeowners have found out, can’t just be financial; even a building’s age doesn’t factor in. Instead, the developer has to prove that there’s a problem with the land itself, something that differentiates it from neighbors who don’t have any issue complying with the law.
On Tuesday night, a new board member, Anne Stone, who’s been a stickler about the hardship rules since her very first vote, said she didn’t see why Delaney’s needs to set itself right against the street. If the project needs a stairwell, as the architect had argued, it could make room by cutting out one unit, rather than squeezing it all in, Stone argued.
“I have a real problem with this,” she said. “I do have a problem with the evidence that was presented on hardship: I just don’t see it. People could feel differently on it. I assume I will be the minority opinion, but I need to voice that.”
City planners started frantically shuffling their papers as Stone explained why she’d be voting against the project. Because four-fifths of the zoning board must vote to approve a variance, they fretted that one more vote against Delaney’s could have sunk the whole rebuild.
Despite Stone’s opposition, the four other board members voted in favor of granting a variance. The board also unanimously approved a special exception — a slighter deviation from the zoning rules, compared to a variance — to permit a full liquor license at the restaurant and limited on-site parking.
After the meeting, Stone explained her vote.
“I know everybody wants this thing, but I couldn’t find the legal hardship,” she said. “Basically, they put the stairway on the sidewalk, and I just thought there were plenty of places it could have gone. Maybe they would have lost a unit.” She added that variances should be “difficult to get” to make sure city streets maintain their harmony.
Leon Mularski, the architect, said he always knew getting a variance would be a “tough” challenge. But with the approval in hand, Lior Israel, the developer, said he planned to keep construction on schedule, if not “maybe speed it up a bit.”
An artists complex, where Manjares will expand, at 838 Whalley Ave.
On the special exception for Manjares, a popular coffee shop across from Edgewood Park on West Rock Avenue near Whalley, Stone voted with the group. That project unanimously won a special exception to start serving liquor at night until 11 in a new space called “Sala Manjares” (Spanish for living room), without adding any parking spots, where nine are technically required by the ordinance.