John Zaccaro on Tuesday withdrew his application for a change in land-use regulations that would have allowed him to keep commercial use in future development of a property he owns on Sullivan St. in the South Village. The withdrawal was apparently in anticipation of a rejection by the City Planning Commission of Zaccaro’s application to rezone the east side of Sullivan St. to include a commercial overlay to the residential zone between Spring and Broome Sts.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and block neighbors who opposed the rezoning were pleased at the withdrawal. “This is a very positive development,” said Andrew Berman, G.V.S.H.P. director. “The proposed rezoning would have allowed a much larger scale of commercial stores on this quiet, historic side street.”
The society has been calling for a hearing on a South Village Historic District that would preserve the character of the area’s side streets. There are currently several small businesses on the ground floors at Zaccaro’s property at 73-75 Sullivan St., including Grandaisy bakery and a Greek specialty food shop. But those spaces were “grandfathered” into the residential street as pre-existing uses and would disappear if the buildings were demolished. Neighbors feared that if the commercial overlay were granted, Zaccaro would demolish the buildings and bring in large-scale retailers.
City Planning was scheduled to vote on the zoning change on Wed., Feb. 24, but the item was dropped from the agenda after Zaccaro withdrew it. Zaccaro could not be reached by press time.
