Neighbors next to the former Dworkin Chevrolet on Seymour Avenue are worried about plans to open a used car dealership at the site.
Frank’s LLC, the company that owns Frank’s Garage, a repair shop on Wakelee Avenue in Ansonia, wants to move in.
However, the garage has a controversial history with its Wakelee Avenue neighbors over on-street parking and the storage of motor vehicles. The business also has an ongoing feud with the Ansonia Police Department over which company the department calls when it needs a car towed.
Those issues had some neighbors concerned at a public hearing Tuesday on the Dworkin/Frank’s LLC application in front of the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission.
The discussion will continue at the Planning and Zoning Commission’s next meeting, scheduled for Nov. 17.
“I don’t think it’s in the best interest of Derby to let Frank’s move to Dworkin, “ said Edward Sheehy, of Iannotti Lane. “Anyone can drive by Franks and sees how he keeps it up and can see. I don’t see how this can be. Franks, LLC seems to be in trouble with the City of Ansonia and we don’t need that in Derby.”
Maureen Murphy, of Hawkins Street, said that she was concerned with the storage of rental cars.
Warren Dworkin, whose family owned the Dworkin dealership for some 40 years, said he would not allow the property to become undesirable.
“There won’t be garbage or wrecks,” Dworkin said. “I don’t want a junkyard.”
Elm Street resident Dan Waleski, of Elm Street, said Dworkin should consider other options other than renting to Frank’s LLC.
“I think a lot of other uses can be done with the property,” Waleski said. “Other people are trying to do other things with it and other businesses are looking at it. And, I am not for it. I think it should be left as is.”
However, Dworkin’s attorney, Barry Steinberg, had told the commission earlier in a statement from Dworkin that if the property continues to stay vacant that it will become a hangout for neighborhood children.
Dworkin said Frank’s LLC is the only business that wants to rents the space now.
Theodore Estwan, Jr., chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, said he drove by Frank’s Garage on Wakelee Avenue and didn’t like what he saw.
“There are certain conditions in Ansonia that we do not want to see in Derby,” Estwan said.
The commissioners also questioned Dworkin and Heusser about parking and car storage. They said they did not want to see cars parked on Winter or Hawkins streets.
Commissioner Glenn Stevens said he lives near the former Dworkin Chevrolet.
He said that although he knows the condition of Frank’s LLC in Ansonia, he was in favor of them opening the used car dealership because he does not like Dworkin’s property empty.
However, Stevens said the new business should be watched closely.
