It’s the future of this lot even if the car wash is voted down.
The zoning application filed by the civil engineering firm representing the car wash company refers to eight parcels on the northwest side of the Main and Auburn roundabout. It’s important to take a look at current zoning for the address of each parcel and understand what the requested rezoning of five of the addresses could mean.
Altogether, there are eight addresses in the application: four are zoned residential (R-1), one is zoned C-1 (neighborhood-specific commercial) and three are zoned C-2 (broader-level commercial). The parcels zoned C-2 are at the southern and southeastern sides of the empty lot:
1313 Auburn St. was the address of a former Tudor building which, until 2008, housed Salon 1300 and Table 13 restaurant. 1502 N. Main St. was the address of Audio Installers, which also had been there until 2008. Both buildings were razed in early 2009 to make way for a Walgreens location. Within months of these buildings being razed in 2009, Walgreens announced the development would not happen.
The parcel zoned C-1 is just north of these addresses, on the eastern side of the lot:
- 1518 N. Main St.
We in the Save Our North End coalition believe current zoning for the northwest side of the Main and Auburn roundabout should stay as is — R-1 for the part that abuts residences, C-1 in the center, and C-2 for the part that is across from existing neighborhood businesses.
WE DO NOT OPPOSE DEVELOPMENT HERE. CURRENT ZONING DOES ALLOW FOR A MEASURE OF DEVELOPMENT.
What we are opposing is proposed curb-to-curb development that would result from all the lots being zoned C-2.
AND IT’S THIS REQUEST THAT IS the lesser-talked-about part of the zoning application for the car wash.
A wholesale rezoning — even if the Special Use Permit and variances for the car wash are denied — would be detrimental to unique improvements made in the surrounding area over the past seven years.
These improvements include the commitment of:
- independent business owners rehabilitating empty and underused buildings and turning them into distinctive, sought-out gathering places for dining, shopping and entertainment;
- community volunteers adopting a rundown veterans’ memorial and reviving it with thousands of flowers every spring and summer to create a welcoming streetscape, which not only is a fitting tribute to local veterans but also provides habitat and sustenance for important pollinators;
- residents and landlords maintaining and improving their properties.
Just as a car wash coming to this site would have negative impacts at many levels, opening the door to future broader-level development of the entire lot — without the community’s say — would result in various higher-density uses that would, among other effects:
- take away the buffer, which zoning ordinances now provide, for the homes adjacent on Latham and Vernon streets,
- endanger public safety by increasing traffic near the accident-prone Main/Auburn roundabout and encouraging traffic to use narrow residential streets,
- disrupt the peace across the street when mourners are burying or visiting loved ones at Greenwood Cemetery,
- diminish property values in surrounding neighborhoods where, after years of decline, home values are starting to rise.
Objections can be made to proposals for C-1 development.
Objections cannot be made for C-2 development.
Keeping the C-1 buffer is critical.
To learn more about how to oppose the rezoning proposal, please go to the main page of this website: https://saveournorthend.org