LYNN — The Zoning Board of Appeals has voted not to allow an auto body shop on Willow Street, with officials saying the use is not compatible with the city’s vision for the downtown.
The ZBA voted, 4-1, Tuesday night against allowing an auto body/auto repair shop use on a parcel in the Central Business District, where such nonconforming use previously existed and was discontinued, according to ZBA member Norm Cole.
Pat Calnan, ZBA chairman, voted in favor of the use.
Josue Amaya, of Josue Auto Mechanics, Inc., was the applicant seeking an auto repair/auto body shop use for 105 Willow St.
Both an auto repair and auto body shop use are not an allowed use in the Central Business District. Cole said the applicant needed a use variance from the board.
“Based on the discussion that night, the majority of people felt that the use just wasn’t compatible with what the city is trying to do in the downtown area,” Cole said. “That whole area is now part of the cultural district.
“There’s just a lot of effort going on to revitalize the downtown. I think the overall feeling was this use just wasn’t what the city was looking for, for the future of downtown Lynn.”
Cole said the vote is consistent with past ZBA action. He said the matter was the third time the board has voted against some kind of auto-related business in the Central Business District.
James Lamanna, the city’s attorney, said the auto body use, which was denied, was the only component before the ZBA on Tuesday. At the crux of the matter for the auto repair is whether that prior use on the property has been discontinued.
Lamanna said the city’s Inspectional Services Department (ISD) will determine whether the prior owner’s auto repair use on the property had been discontinued before Amaya and his partner started operating their auto repair business in January.
If they determine use had been discontinued, he said the applicants would be required to go before the ZBA again for a use variance for an auto repair shop.
Sam Vitali, Amaya’s attorney, previously said he was representing two Hispanic individuals who are running an auto repair facility at 105 Willow St. He said Amaya and his partner are renting the building from Pat Todisco, of Todisco Properties.
Vitali said Todisco purchased the property from William Walsh, who owned an auto repair shop there for more than 30 years up until last October. He said Todisco spent about $60,000 to fix up the property and leased it in December.
Todisco Properties LLC bought the property from Walsh last November for $270,000, according to the Warren Group.
Vitali argues that the use was never discontinued — it’s been a continuous use of auto repair since the 1920s when the property was a gas station. But he said an auto repair license cannot be transferred from one owner to another, so the City Council approved their license in March.
His clients’ application to the ZBA was to allow auto body in an existing auto mechanic shop.
“I think their present intention is to continue what’s been there over the years, which is auto repair,” Vitali said. “Would they like to have auto body? I think the answer is yes … I don’t think there’s any way that anyone can establish that the (auto repair) use was discontinued for a year or more.”
But Lamanna said the ZBA believes the former auto repair use had been discontinued — he said there were indications from multiple members that they had driven by the site and not seen any activity there in 20 years. But he said the evidence before the board on Tuesday was insufficient to make that determination.
Lamanna said the previous owner, Walsh, did get his auto repair license renewed with the city every year, but the question is whether he was operating the business or discontinued the use with intent to open up at some point.
Cole said when a non-conforming use has been discontinued for a year, it should not be reestablished and future use should be in compliance with the zone ordinance.
Allowed uses in the Central Business District where a variance wouldn’t be necessary would be apartment house by special permit, artist work space, mixed use street level with retail/commercial and residential, multi-family residential high rise, open air or food stands, public parks and open space, Cole said.
