This was sent to me from a Chamber board member who attended the most recent Community Council meeting:

“At the Wallingford Community Council meeting, there was a presentation about a set of changes to the city land use code released last summer as the Jobs and Regulatory Reform Act. The architect who made the presentation, Greg Hill, is very concerned that the changes will be disastrous for small local businesses. I’m going to attach the write-up he sent me – it’s in rather incendiary style, but definitely gets his point across, though just sending it to you doesn’t allow me to talk through any of his explanation. It seemed to me an issue that the Chamber of Commerce at least ought to be aware of, but possibly needs discussion – and the time pressure is that the act is scheduled to be acted on by Richard Conlin’s committee next Wednesday.

A few comments from hearing him Wednesday night that didn’t make it into his summary:

• Most of 45th Street would not be affected, but the east end would be, Tangletown, a lot of other areas – it would have meant there needed to be no commercial space in the building going up at Stone and 40th, for instance.
• Commercial space is more profitable in the long run because it rents for much more, but it takes longer to rent. He said most developers flip their buildings in the first year, when residential is usually full but parking and commercial space are not yet full, so in the short run the profit is in residential only, no commercial and no parking. (That’s where his short-term profit line comes from.)
• Yes, this originated last August, but no one seems to talked to anyone in any neighborhood about it, and it only surfaced last week when it came up in regards to a development on Queen Anne.”

This concerns me as the President of the Chamber. As a matter of fact I have a building going up across from my salon that has no land use sign, I’ve heard that it will be 4 stories with 10 rooms on each floor and one common kitchen. 40 residents and no parking. I had two clients last week that got parking tickets. There’s not enough parking now and if just 20 of the tenants have cars there’s a big problem. This could effect many businesses in the immediate future.

Read Greg Hill’s letter outlining his concerns here.

If you would like to voice your concerns or get more information, feel free to contact us at the Chamber office: info@wallingfordchamber.org