A second-floor apartment above a downtown shop has been notified that residential life may no longer be compatible with the surrounding business district, despite having occupied the space since approximately the invention of stairs.
Tenant Liv Inwell received a letter explaining that the district is intended to encourage commerce, pedestrian activity and upper-floor windows that look charming but reveal no evidence of a person eating cereal.
“I thought living over a store was mixed use,” Inwell said. “Apparently it is only mixed use if nobody uses the mixing bowl after 6 p.m.”
Residential character deemed overly residential
Inspectors identified several features inconsistent with the district’s commercial vision, including a bed, a laundry basket and a refrigerator containing groceries not offered for individual retail sale.
Inwell may convert the bedroom into a consulting office, replace the dining table with a point-of-sale system or charge visitors admission to an experiential lifestyle showroom.
The ground-floor shop owner objected, noting that Inwell buys coffee downtown, walks to nearby businesses and notices when the building is leaking. Those activities were described as valuable but insufficiently categorized.
Inwell plans to remain while evaluating her options. She has placed a price tag on the sofa and renamed the kitchen “Housewares.”
More zoning awaits.
Browse the district before it closes for the evening.