suns along the Mohawk

– the noncommercial entryway to the Stockade  –

The bagels and soup will probably be great and the ambiance surprisingly tasteful at Jack McDonald’s upcoming Gillette House fast-food restaurant, but there are at least two important issues that the Stockade neighborhood and City planners need to address if we indeed care about the residential nature and quality of life of our neighborhood:

• the façade: we should keep the façade of the Gillette House free from structural changes, such as larger windows and doors, not just for the sake of historical and architectural integrity, but because those changes will surely mean the building will never go back to being used as a residence or professional offices — the variance will become a de facto permanent zoning change
• traffic issues: we must deal with inevitable traffic problems caused when a building that’s been vacant for two decades suddenly brings a lot of customers and employees in motor vehicles to a location near a major intersection and alongside a one-way, one-lane, one-block, one-exit street that empties into a major thoroughfare, a few yards from a busy intersection, without the benefit of a traffic device.

This slideshow suggests some important issues:

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Saving the façade of the Gillette House:  The façades of our buildings are especially prized and protected in the Stockade.  Even the most minor changes must be approved by the Historic District Commission.  No one altered the structure of the street-side walls of the Stockade Inn when it became a restaurant, nor of the VanDyck when it reopened.  Each building tastefully announces its function without damaging the historic face of the structure.

It seems especially important not to alter the exterior walls of an important historical building such as the Gillette House, especially when it sits at the most prominent entryway to the Stockade.  It is the image most visitors (or potential ones) first see at the Gateway to our proudly residential historic district. And, Schenectady County and New York State taxpayer spent over $300,000 to restore that façade precisely because of its prominent location and historic importance as the home and office of one of Schenectady’s most important women.

Those who pooh-pooh worries about the Gillette House façade need to remember that Jack McDonald tends to get his way (even when he wants something that violates our zoning laws) and he told the Zoning Board he wants larger windows for the Gillette House bagel shop.  Indeed, Jack rejected my offer not to sue to reverse the unlawful use variance if he would promise not to change the exterior structure of the Gillette House.

Moreover, despite my urging they get out in front of this issue with strong voices in opposition to façade change, the chair of the Schenectady Heritage Foundation has merely made the very guarded promise to “advocate for appropriate treatment of the exterior of the building,” and the president of the Stockade Association (who voted for the Use Variance as a member of the Schenectady zoning board) has said to just let the Historic District Commission do its job.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to actively work to protect the exterior structure of the Gillette House:

• Changing the Gillette House façade to make it look commercial will turn the use variance into a permanent defacto zoning change.  The commercialization of the exterior, along with making the first floor a fastfood restaurant with a commercial kitchen, etc., will certainly mean the building will never revert to a residential use or become professional offices, which are much more residential-friendly in operation and appearance.

• The Historic District Commission recently allowed Cafe Nola to carve up the side of 617 Union St., part of the Union Street Corridor Historic District, with a giant window display (see above, and click on the photo for a larger version).  Followup: Cafe Nola, despite its giant, nonhistoric, commercialized window, closed in December 2016, due to a failure to pay its taxes.

• Despite the mantra of bagel shop supporters that the streetview is already so commercial at the Stockade entryway that nothing is lost by making the Gillette House look commercial, the residential look of the Stockade is still distinct and clearly demarcated from the downtown commercial zone around it [there’s even about 50′ of empty pavement between the rear of the Gillette House and Clinton’s Ditch Bar & Grill].

That’s how it should be at the Gateway to a historic residential district that is the oldest continuously residential neighborhood in the nation, and that is treasured precisely because the Erie Canal (now Erie Boulevard) saved the neighborhood from the commercial development that overran the rest of downtown Schenectady. (For more, including many photographs, see my posting on the Gillette House streetscape.)

• The standard is never “that would look nice, too” (or “that ain’t so bad”, nor “whatever Jack wants”) when the question is whether or not to make significant (or even minor) changes to the exterior of a Stockade building.
• Bakeries, ice cream parlors, and restaurants in historic districts around the nation make use of old homes without changing their outward appearance. And,
• The Gillette House is not “on the periphery of the Stockade.”  It is the most prominent structure at the ceremonial gateway to our grand and special Residential Historic District.

Traffic Safety

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– scroll down past the updates for the original piece about the Gillette House’s distinctively noncommercial streetscape and the need to preserve it.

update (February 9, 2011): For the reasons stated in this email to a Stockade neighborhood group, I have decided not to bring a lawsuit challenging the clearly unlawful bagel shop use variance.  However, in the posting “a bagel shop – with a side order of preservation and safety,” I urge more action to protect the Gillette House facade and consideration of some inevitable traffic problems that will arise around the Gillette House once it is a busy sandwich shop.

Update & Intro (Jan. 23, 2011): Below you will find many pictures, a little discussion about the Gillette House Bagel Shop tale, and links to important materials.  Click “Board ignored law in approving bagel shop for Gillette House” for the text of my Sunday Gazette Viewpoint column (Jan. 23, 2011; at D3; pdf.; also available with subscription at the Gazette website).  And see “Making Sausages & Laws — and Bagels” (14 pp. pdf.) for an in-depth version of the Use Variance story, with background facts, explanation of the law, and details of the application process and the decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals [BZA].  As I say in that essay:

BZA’s job is to apply the law.  It doesn’t matter whether we like and respect Jack McDonald; or if he could make more money selling bagels rather than office space, or get additional tax exemptions or public grants.  Neither does it matter that some or all Stockade residents would like to have convenient, fresh bagels nearby and believe Jack would run an excellent bagel shop based on his other enterprises; nor that the surrounding blocks along Erie Blvd. might be commercial.  Without concrete proof of a hardship that is not self-created, the Board has no authority to grant a use variance to allow the bagel shop.  It must instead follow the law and promote its purposes, especially those meant to protect the quality of life and nature of residential neighborhoods.

. . . [O]ur long-standing Stockade zoning restrictions were enacted with the purpose “to protect the area’s distinctive residential quality and the architectural or historical significance of structures therein.” (Schenectady Zoning Ordinance § 264-10. Purpose)

Here are links to other important documents:

• Application for a Use Variance for 252 Union St., by John M. “Jack” McDonald, asking the Schenectady Board of Zoning Appeals to permit a fast-food restaurant (a bagel and sandwich shop) at the Gillette House; plus the accompanying drawings, and the submitted environmental assessment form.
• BZA Guidelines for Applicants – explains what the Board usually expects from Applicants.
• Letter in Opposition by David Giacalone to BZA (8 pp. pdf.), and its 13-photo Photo Appendix (Dec. 30, 2010) – explains why granting the request would clearly be unlawful, as well as contrary to the purposes of the residential historic district zoning. (It was written prior to the January 5, 2011 hearing where the request was granted.)
• Letter in Support from Stockade Association to BZA (Oct. 27, 2010) requesting approval of the the bagel shop use variance
• NYS General City Law Article 5-A §81-b – – the governing state statute on the power of a zoning board of appeals to grant a Use Variance. See especially § 81-b(3);
• Zoning Ordinance of the City of Schenectady (adopted March 24, 2008). See especially § 264-10. RH-2 Stockade Historic Residential District (pp. 23 -24); Schedule A: Regulations for Residential Districts (at 39); § 264-118. Appeals application (p. 129)
• Stockade Land Use map from the City of Schenectady Comprehensive Plan 2020 (page 5 of the Stockade Neighborhood portion of the Plan); yellow, pink, purple and dark blue parcels are in residential use.

– click on a photo for a larger version –

. . . the original weblog posting, with updates:

Update (Jan. 6, 2011):  Yesterday evening, the Board of Zoning Appeals granted the Use Variance allowing Jack McDonald to put a bagel shop in the Gillette House.  (Read about it in the Gazette, here, if you are a subscriber) The Board’s action is clearly unlawful, but they seem unconcerned about the law or the facts.

The big concern for me now is preserving the Gillette House façade which is clearly in jeopardy. Jack says it needs larger windows and he likes the look of Clinton’s Ditch.  Stay tuned — and be vigilant.

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[original posting]

– the gateway to the Stockade Historic District seen from below the Amtrak trestle –

– the Gillette House, 252 Union St. –

In his application for a Use Variance to allow a fast-food bagel/sandwich shop at 252 Union Street, Jack McDonald suggests that the setting of the Gillette House — the streetscape and activity around it — is already so commercial in character and appearance that nothing of significance will be lost by turning the building into a fast-food restaurant at the gateway to the Stockade Residential Historic District.  Several of my Stockade neighbors have echoed the same argument in supporting Jack’s application and trying to dissuade opposition.

For example, in his Application for a Use Variance, Jack McDonald says that the So. College Street view “is commercial being adjacent to Clinton’s Ditch [Bar & Grill],” when explaining why the variance won’t change the character of the neighborhood.  Similarly, in the Full Environmental Assessment Form he has submitted, when responding to a question about whether the proposed action is “consistent with the recommended uses in adopted local land use plans,” Jack states that “the building is bounded by commercial uses.”

The assertions are incorrect, as you can see from the array of over a dozen photos in the captioned gallery below, which look at the Gillette House, the Stockade gateway and So. College Street from several vantage points and perspectives and belie the notion that the streetscape is essentially commercial already (click on each for a larger version).  Furthermore, the Gillette House is not “bounded by commercial uses”.  Jack owns the Millington House, which is right next to the Gillette House to the west and is not zoned for nor being used as a commercial structure.  Neither, of course, is the apartment building next to the Millington House (248 Union St.), nor the one directly across from it at 243 Union St. (an 8-unit building), and its multi-unit residential neighbor, 241 Union St.

. . .

Of course, if the Stockade gateway were being overwhelmed by commercial activities and sights, it would be even more important to preserve the distinctive residential ambiance of the historic district by assuring that the most prominent building at its entryway — the Gillette House — be used as either a residence or professional offices, which are far more compatible with a residential neighborhood (especially with ample parking a few yards away across So. College Street).   The columns announcing entry into the Stockade are meant to set the district apart — and to announce how distinctive our residential historic district is.

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