NORTHAMPTON — In the place sometimes known as the Paradise City, it may come to no surprise there would be pushback against putting up a parking lot.

That’s the dilemma currently facing Carla Cosenzi, president of the TommyCar Auto Group, which operates five car dealerships in Northampton and Hadley.

Cosenzi purchased a long-vacant 5.35-acre site at 171-187 King St. — once home to a Honda dealership that closed in 2005 — near downtown Northampton in 2023, with the intention of building another dealership.

But that dealership plan has faced complications, in part because unlike other auto dealerships on King Street, this property falls within the city’s Central Business Gateway District, meaning it must meet stricter zoning requirements. Though the City Council in May banned auto dealerships within the district, Cosenzi’s plan for such a development would still be allowed to go forward if she files a site plan that complies with zoning requirements within the next several months.

In the meantime, Cosenzi has been using the vacant lot to store more than 300 cars from her other dealerships, much to the consternation of nearby residents, who say that when TommyCar employees are searching for a vehicle on the lot they frequently use a car’s panic button alarm to locate it.

“Many weekends we spend time in our backyard, and this has become basically impossible because of the TommyCar people constantly pushing the panic alarms to look for cars,” Adam Novitt, who lives on nearby Hooker Avenue, told the Planning Board on Thursday. “I brought it to their attention, but they did nothing about it. So I just feel like it’s bad faith.”

But keeping the cars on the lot is more than just a noisy nuisance. It’s also illegal, according to city officials. In July, Cosenzi was sent a cease-and-desist notice by Building Commissioner Kevin Ross, who ruled that having cars on the lot was not allowed under the city’s zoning ordinance. He ordered the company to remove the vehicles.

“If you do not comply by August 5, 2024, I will take enforcement action, including seeking fines of $300 a day, retroactive to June 19, 2024, until all vehicles have been removed,” Ross wrote in the notice.

Cozenzi’s legal team responded on Aug. 5, saying that the company disagrees with the city’s position that parking was not permitted because it was a commercial parking lot. They warned that any enforcement action would be “vigorously defended.” That same day, Cosenzi filed a major site plan review asking the Planning Board for permission to operate a commercial parking lot on the property.

On Thursday, board members were not swayed by arguments made by Cosenzi’s attorney, Tom Reidy, that the space constituted a commercial parking lot. Members at the public hearing said that rationale could only be applied to lots where customers pay to park on the property.

“The public doesn’t have access to the parking lot, they can’t park there and buy a ticket and stay there for a length of time,” said Planning Board Member George Kohout. “It’s a private lot used for storage as opposed to something for the public.”

Although the board unanimously rejected the site plan, there was at least one sympathetic voice for Cosenzi’s situation on the board.

“What the City Council did, to go and change the rules after the [lot] was purchased was just wrong,” said board member Sam Taylor. “The idea that you have a business and made a business decision, and someone changes the rules out from underneath you, is just gross.”

Cosenzi’s team is mulling whether to appeal the decision, or else face serious fines or be required to move the cars off of the lot.

If Cosenzi doesn’t appeal the decision, enforcement action will take place, said Carolyn Misch, director of the Office of Planning and Sustainability.

In a separate request on Thursday, Cosenzi also filed a preliminary subdivision plan with the Planning Board, a necessary step if she is to eventually build a dealership on the property. The board voted to continue discussion of that agenda item for its next scheduled meeting on Sept. 26.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.