by Thomas MacMillan | Jun 21, 2012 8:14 am

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Posted to: Business/ Economic Development, Bishop Woods/ Q Meadows

When bankers wouldn’t lend Barbara Soffer the dough to upgrade her 40-year-old movie theater’s projectors for the digital age, she turned to an unlikely source for help—a city government commission.

Soffer turned up at the monthly meeting of the City Plan Commission Wednesday night to ask for a zoning change to the area surrounding her movie theater, Cine 1-2-3-4 on Middletown Avenue. She said the bank had told her it won’t help finance her theater’s move to digital technology unless her business can obtain a conforming use in its zone.

The theater is part of a small group of commercial properties allowed under variances over the years in what is otherwise zoned as a residential area.

Banks can be nervous about lending money to businesses with essentially non-conforming uses. The concern is that it might be difficult to rebuild the businesses that get damaged. Such businesses are seen as a risky investment, explained Tom Talbot, deputy director of zoning for the city.

The City Plan Commission voted unanimously to approve the change despite concerns voiced by a couple of neighbors. The matter now moves to the Board of Aldermen’s Legislation Committee.

Alderman Mark Stopa (pictured) and attorney Bernard Pellegrino presented the application to the commission. Stopa, who took office in January, said he took over the application from his predecessor, Gerald Antunes, who had been working on it.

The zoning change would cover five properties: 25 Flint St. and 411, 429, 420, and 423 Middletown Ave. They are the movie theater, a mixed-use building, a vacant residential structure, an office building, and the 91 Diner restaurant.

“This is an area, given its location, that is really always going to operate in a commercial setting,” said Pellegrino.

Carol Nista, who lives several blocks away on Pawtucket Street, rose to speak. “We never heard of any changes,” she said.

Pellegrino said that all the properties in the proposed zone change area and some of the abutting properties had been notified.

Tina Jandrzewski (pictured), who lives on Donna Drive, said she’s worried the zone change is a way to double or triple the value of the property and then sell it off. Pretty soon the neighborhood might have a big box store there, she worried. She said a BA zone would allow more businesses and allow them to stay open later, leading to more crime.

“We say enough is enough,” she said.

Soffer (pictured) said she bought property in 1970 with her husband and built the theater. Her husband has since passed. She’s trying to keep the business going, she said.

A digital upgrade is absolutely essential, she said. “We will not be able to get any film. We’ll have to close our doors.”

“We’re not trying to change anything,” Soffer said.

Pellegrino (pictured) said the change will not increase property values. “Unfortunately that’s not the case, but we wish it was.”

In some ways, the surrounding neighborhood will have more protection if the commercial area is a BA, said Talbot. For instance, under current zoning, if the convenience store in the area wanted to stay open all night, the city couldn’t say anything about it. In a BA zone, the store would need to apply for permission.

“Knowing what a BA zone entails, I don’t think [neighbors] will be any worse off,” said commission Chair Ed Mattison.

The commission voted unanimously to approve the application. The Board of Aldermen will have its say next.

“I don’t want a Route 80 on Middletown Avenue,” Nista told Stoffer on the way out of the hearing.