Did Anyone Think About Setback?

A few days ago, someone, in talking about the new Stewart's building, complained that the door on the Fairview Avenue entrance to the building was going to swing out onto the sidewalk. I told her that there was a portico over that entrance, so the door couldn't be swinging out onto the sidewalk. Yesterday, while driving back from the supermarket, I realized what she was talking about.

The building is much closer to the street than any of the other buildings on the block. The other buildings sit back from the street--far enough back to have small front yards--but the portico of the Stewart's building extends right up to the sidewalk and the building itself is set back only a few feet from the sidewalk. This is consistent with what is considered to be urban design--for example, with only a few exceptions, all the buildings on Warren Street extend right up to the sidewalk. Unfortunately, this is not consistent with the neighborhood in which Stewart's is located. 

The Planning Board went through a long and conscientious review of the plans for the new Stewart's which included, among other things, number and species of trees, nature of plantings, material for fencing, brightness of lights, color of parking lot surface, height of the canopy over the gas pumps, position of driveways. Gossips was there for every meeting, and I don't recall the setback from the street and its consistency with the rest of Fairview Avenue ever being considered. It's quite clear now that it should have been.
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