BRHA Update
July 23, 2008 by admin comment
BRHA sent out the following e-mail to their members regarding the proposed zoning change and development plans at 3115 Fairfield Avenue.
Dear Members,
We desire well conceived development that enhances all our property values and grows our community. Along the way we know we may need to compromise as long as our key objections are addressed.
We have reached a resolution with the developer regarding 3115 Fairfield Avenue as they have agreed to address most of our top four concerns (Appendix below)
1. Developer will not seek a zone change on Clarkson Street, Courtland will still be changed to accommodate a small piece of parking, but the developer has shown us a deed that says the house must remain on the property and he intends to renovate it
2. The building has been redesigned to an L-shape and it will only be in the OR-S zone
3. Developer will create two access points to the facility - one on Clarkson in addition to the proposed driveway on Courtland Street
4. Building access has been improved - all units can now be accessed from the parking lot-previously ten units were accessible only from Fairfield Avenue.
Given all the issues we had the number of units was something we had little leverage negotiate on:
1. The ZBA granted height and parking waivers to the developer in March this year. This combined with the OR-S regulations means that he can build 26 units on this property.
2. Zoning regulations for this area would only require 36 spaces
3. The original plan called for 54 parking spaces, this plan has 47 spaces
4. The new plan we have agreed would have been in conformance with the new Master Plan regulations coming in September.
5. However we will be working with the City and developer to mitigate the impact e.g. make Fairfield Avenue a no parking zone
This represents a significant victory for Black Rock Homeowners. The developers, their lawyer and the City were intractable originally. Once we hired our lawyer, gathered our petition and contacted the mayor, Christopher Shays and other politicians and they understood how determined they were they came to the table.
We sent a strong message to developers in the area that they need to address the concerns of the lifetime investors in our community. We also maintained a good relationship with the investor so we can influence some other outcomes e.g. condo regulations how the windows onto the street etc should display.
We would also like to thank Joel Green our attorney for his generosity and the twenty or so members and the NRZ Board who helped us make this happen.
Please email us with any questions
BRHA Board
Black Rock Homeowners Association
