MOUNT VERNON – During its Oct. 19 meeting, the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) reviewed variance requests for the Old Mulberry School project and asked when construction would start.
The board did approve the renewal of existing variances and approved new variances for the property at 301 N. Mulberry St. during the meeting. It reviewed an application for a conditional use permit for residential in an NC district; a variance for maximum building height for garden apartments up to 45 feet; a variance for maximum square footage for those apartments up to 25,500 square feet and the townhouse structure up to 8,250 square feet; and a variance of the minimum number of parking spaces at 1.88 per dwelling unit.
Rebecca Mott, representing local developer Joel Mazza (the applicant), was asked if any work was being done on the project that would develop 102 multi-family residential dwelling units on the property, using the old school and constructing new buildings on the site.
She said a demolition permit was issued in 2021, with parts of the building already demolished as planned. Construction plans have been drawn up.
“Do you anticipate that any action is going to be taken on the part of completing this project at some point in time?” board member William Smith asked.
“Absolutely. Our client would not want to keep sending me back here before you for renewed conditional uses and variances,” Mott said. “They're doing all their due diligence and effort to move this along and get this started. And I know there's urgency and I know that the plan is to start after these are approved.”
The land use entitlements and the variances brought before the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) were necessary to build the plan as specified in the application, she said.
“Mr. Mazza is on record while we were in city council of having shovels in the ground for the end of the year,” Councilmember Mike Hillier told the BZA later in the meeting.
BZA member Tonya Boucher asked if the applicant has sought financing and if pending conditions exist for it.
Mott said one of the variances would enable a lot split to allow separate financing for building construction. Setting this up is done routinely to have different lenders on each portion of the property, she said.
Bill and Debi Fry, property owners at 303 N. Main St. sent a letter to support the property’s use for housing.
“Due to the current housing situation in our community, we do support and would like to see the building be used for housing purposes although our concern is that the building has sat for some time and has become an eyesore in addition to a hazard by its vacancy and current status,” the couple said in their letter.
If the property was not developed as planned, they asked that the building be demolished.
The BZA approved the conditional use permit and the renewal of the other variances.
