STANTON : Neighbors Don’t Like Plan for Dental Office

Fearful that crime, illegal parking and late-night noise will return to their neighborhood, some Bock Avenue residents have urged the Planning Commission not to rezone the area to allow a dental office on their street.

Six residents attending last week’s meeting told commissioners what their neighborhood was like six years ago, when a medical facility was at the site where the dentist’s office is being proposed, on the southwest corner of Western and Bock avenues.

Residents said the facility’s employees and patients illegally parked in their driveways, residential burglaries increased when the facility was open, and late-night noise and drug deals were a problem in the area.

“I’m not an arsonist, but when that place caught on fire a few years ago, I almost didn’t call the Fire Department,” said Bill Girard, who lives across the street. “But it was so close to my house that I was afraid it was going to spread.”

Some residents suggested tearing down the one-story building and putting a park or a day care center in its place. Others said the complex should be sold as a house.

But real estate broker Walter Bowman told the commission that the building is suited for commercial use and that a dentist’s office would be perfect.

The commission decided to delay a decision until its Feb. 15 meeting. The area has always been zoned residential, even when the medical facility existed on the corner. The office has been vacant since it closed six years ago, and now commissioners are debating whether to amend the zone to include commercial use.