Zoning.
It's existed for over half a century and it is the map of property that regulates what you can and cannot do with your property. It is really a social compact in a community designed to channel development of different kinds into different areas so there is not conflict over uses of which the impact crosses property lines. The best example would be not allowing residential in an industrial zone.
When you buy property for a given purpose, its important to make sure the zoning is consistent for what you want to do, as getting a change of zoning is very difficult and often meets with neighborhood opposition.
It's not a perfect system as the community is always changing and the types of use for property have changed.
On Breen Avenue, the land has historically been mixed-use and is mostly zoned residential B and Residential C. The land proposed for a shelter home is zoned residential C. In both B and C, boarding houses are allowed, which is essentially what this project is.
This comes down to property rights. A property owner has a right to build what is specifically allowed in the zoning law, just as they don't have a right to build things not authorized in a residential zone.
For example, if something is zoned commercial, the property owner has a right to build a Burger King with site plan approval. The fact that City Council may prefer Wendy's or may think the Burger King contributes to obesity is not a legitimate way for a Council to regulate property rights.
The regulatory role of the City is to require an appropriate site plan that is reviewed by the Planning Board and ratified by City Council.
A site plan is not a judgement on the use. It's merely a judgement on whether the structure, layout and landscaping fit reasonable standards.
In this case, the owner of the property has a right to sell to whomever they want and the new owner has a right to develop within the confines of zoning.
Those who do not agree can lobby the prospective owners not to move ahead. They can lobby the Board of Directors of the agency in question or attack their funding sources or do whatever they want to dissuade them.
Asking the City Council to override its own zoning in place for decades is not likely to happen and is subject to court review.
Watertown Daily Times Council expected to vote on Monday on proposed women’s shelter project
9 comments:
I would suggest Mr. Doldo fight this with an article 78 and drag it out a long time. I would think he could argue it is more than a boarding house since it provides more than room and board. Call it a business that provides body guard service.
Maybe everyone should boycott the General Store as well and when he is up for election in two years lets all vote him out!!
What "holiday" is the Obama family posing for? Such BS.
I'd rather have this shelter next door to me than what I have now.
So the jail, hospital, hospice are all "boarding houses" too.
A house that only takes women to keep them out of domestic danger is not just a boarding house.
I see Moochelle headed off to Hawaii yet again a few days early. She couldn't wait for the Anointed One to travel with her. That will cost us dearly. What the hell are these people about anyway? We have our first chief executive with the financial sense of a rent-a-center customer. I'm getting where I almost hope the we return the man to the office. It's like the Kardashians meet a black Gomer Pyle on the Jersey Shore. Excuse me, the Hawaiian shore. If it wasn't such a joke it would really be funny.
Jeff, your opening paragraph contains a statement that most residents and homeowners would disagree with.
You've got it backwards!
Rather than the way you have it, the best example would be to not allow industry, or business in a residential zone!
This is where the current crop of city leaders fails miserably. There is a trend, it seems a quiet policy, of ignoring open and blatant violations of zoning and you and others on the council are aware of it. If the shoe were on the other foot, say a non-compliant bar or coffee shop were to open next to one of your establishments, would you still be so generous in the bending of the rules? I'm as much in favor of succesful small business as the next guy but let them do so in areas zoned for it or at least request having the zoning changed to allow it so the affected parties can have a say. Current policy is not fair to the neighborhood or the businesses that do play by the rules.
That said, the Breen ave project appears to be in line with the zoned usage. If the parties opposed to it wanted something different to be built there they should have made some effort to do so long before it was marketed for what is now planned.
Most places use a zoning officer to determine if somersetting is zoned properly and a zba if the applicant doesn't agree. They use planning boards to see if the site plan is good. City law requires city council approval on top of all this. Surely they are being asked to consider more than zoning law in their approval. If its just a question of zoning then the city council should repeal that part of the process and let the planning board do the job.
It's not anywhere near me, so I don't care. And look at all the positives. We have an opportunity to spend at least a million dollars, as any time there's a archtect involved there will be significant cose overruns. Eleana Marra Hedrick will get a chance to make a great name for herself. A good move after that last personnel fiasco she had a short time back. Cat fights with employees are never good. She should be able to turn that into a state level gig sometime in the future. It's kinda like the Rodman Landfill. Put it where there isn't a lot of chance for resistance. Then demonize as uncool the local people who have to deal with it. And like Rodman, you can always lie about it, like DANC does, and expand later. I love NY.
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