Neighbors Speak Out Against Parking Lot Plan at Shehadi Building

A plan to divide the Shehadi building on Main Street into four different spaces and redo a parking lot at the site to make it easier for vehicles to park there ran into intense opposition from neighbors at a Chatham Borough Planning Board meeting Wednesday.

Shehadi Flooring has been present at 400 Main St. for 50 years but is relocating. Its owner, John Shehadi, said he has tried to find tenants that will not leave a large footprint on the area in terms of lots of cars coming and going from the building.

Those tenants include a high-end conservatory company, a drycleaning company and an attorney's office. There is one space that has not yet been filled.

There are currently 14 spaces in the Shehadi parking lot, which has an exit on Dunbar Street. Shehadi representatives said they felt it would generally not be full during the day.

Planner Michael Tobia said the attorney has three employees, while the conservatory has two and the drycleaning business—which sends the clothing to a facility in Fort Lee to be cleaned—has two. The unleased space would likely only have one employee, according to Tobia.

That would leave five spots—not including a handicapped slot—for customers.

Tobia said he felt there were ample spaces on site for the building's needs.

"When you look at what can go wrong with an undeveloped site, you can have parking going all the way down Dunbar," he said. "We don't want that."

But residents from the neighborhood nearby—some of whom live on Dunbar—said they were worried the parking lot would be filled easily and said cars would spill over onto nearby streets.

"I think it's a big mistake if you allow this to go through," said Jude Tarasca, who lives on Van Doren Avenue nearby.

Tarasca said the potential for additional cars on the streets could threaten children playing on the block.

Others said they did not think the drycleaner or the conservatory businesses should be permitted in the area.

Nearby neighbor Bill Tackaberry said in his opinion, the conservatory is a retail trade, which is not permitted in the B-1 zone where the building is located. He also said he feels the drycleaner is a personal service, which is also not allowed in the zone.

"I would respectfully request that the board decline this," Tackaberry said.

Shehadi said he felt he should not be penalized for having lots of parking spots in a town where people are often saying there are not enough.

He also said lots of people were coming in and out of his facility when it was operating—even more than would be coming in and out at the newly formulated building.

"I had little to no negative interaction at all with the members of the public," he said.

Planning Board attorney Anne Marie Rizzuto said the board needed more answers before approving the Shehadi plan. It wants more information about whether the conservatory and dry cleaning uses were permitted.

Shehadi representatives agreed to Rizzuto's request, and the matter is scheduled to be discussed further at an Aug. 18 meeting.