After a vote held last week, the Fishtown Neighbors Association turned down Alberto Rivera’s zoning request regarding his property at 1117 Day St.
Rivera had plans to convert the single-family home into a duplex, one apartment on each floor, in an effort to provide inexpensive housing in the area. The vote, facilitated by the Fishtown Neighbors Association and representing the wishes of the surrounding community, was not in Rivera’s favor, something that does not sit well with him.
“I felt like the board is not concerned with the neighborhood or the people,” Rivera said. “They have their own agendas, their own little boxes, and I was just another number in the list of people approaching the board. I just felt irrelevant.”
Members of the Fishtown.us forums were not surprised at the decision. They noted the block at large would rather see families in the area and splitting the property would be too small for comfort. They further stressed the issue of parking was not the main contributing factor to the property’s zoning denial.
Despite the decision, Rivera moves into the future. “It’ll be a single-family, and I will rent it as it is.”
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