Affordability, traffic question surround planned New Haven project
Mary E. O’Leary
NEW HAVEN — Affordable housing, traffic and pedestrian
safety top the list of concerns around a proposed development on the Strouse
Adler property tied to a zone change in Wooster Square.
As the site plan evolves, however, there was frustration
Monday that specifics on the number of affordable units out of 135 apartments,
rental costs and the income levels of the tenants who would qualify were not
answered.
PMC Property Group wants to construct a 13-story apartment
tower, after the zone change, by dividing the 78 Olive St. site fronting on
Chapel Street and building on that 23,000-square-foot carve-out, according to
its attorney, Chris McKeon.
Changing the zone from BA general business to BD-1 central
business/residential would allow for greater height and density and favors a
transit-oriented development.
This has been approved by the City Plan Commission and next
goes to the Legislation Committee of the Board of Alders, and then to the full
board.
McKeon said they are working on the affordable housing component
with Alder Eli Sabin, D-7, who arranged for the public information session
Monday where the project was discussed.
McKeon said PMC is committed to an affordable component, but
still is “crunching numbers” on how that works.
He pointed out that developers of two large projects across
the street have no affordable units and while PMC also is not obligated to do
so, “we recognize it is an important issue to the city, citywide and are
factoring in the economics of the project.”
Alex Kolokotronis asked that the developer look at the area
median income for New Haven, rather than the region, a point stressed by
others, as well.
“I don’t know what matrix we are using,” McKeon said.
Sabin said his “number one priority for this site and for
any other development in the city is that it be inclusive and that it benefits
everyone in our community.”
He pointed out that the inclusionary zone recently adopted
by the alders, but not yet in effect, would require 15 percent of the units be
priced at 50 percent AMI.
“We are trying to work toward something along those lines.
In the ordinance, developers get a pretty significant tax break to help pay for
affordable housing. We are trying to balance those things,” Sabin said.
Jaime Myers-McPhail said New Haven has too many luxury
apartments. He thanked Sabin for pushing the issue. “I think the answers we
have gotten have been incredibly evasive and not helpful,” he said.
Bicyclists and pedestrians
Aaron Goode asked how the project promotes connectivity with
the Farmington Canal Trail, which will run adjacent to the PMC property and is
an important bicycle and pedestrian asset.
“Given the centrality of the Farmington Canal to the
Comprehensive Plan of Development I would think we really need clarity about
there being no adverse impacts,” Goode said.
Tom Daly of SLR, environmental consultants working with PMC,
said they will take “a hard look” at that and make sure there are no problems
with the trail.
McKeon said this will be worked out with City Plan staff as
the project advances.
“You are being heard,” McKeon said. “We are not trying to be
evasive. ... We are trying to listen.”
Ian Dunn said the two-block area on Chapel, given the
construction along Olive, has become problematic and he wanted to see the
safety plan when PMC’s construction is underway.
Design suggestions
Daly, in his presentation, said the plans call for a
seamless streetscape for Chapel Street from Olive Street to the end of its
property with plantings that will provide seasonal color. He also is
recommending taking down a wall on Chapel Street and putting in benches, which
was well received.
Lior Trestman, who was among the residents who offered
design comments, said there should be a front door on the street for the
proposed building.
“You are seeing just the butt-end of it (the proposed
building),” he said. Combined with the 13-story height, it makes it feel very
closed in, he said.
He asked that bike storage be maximized, and in conjunction
with the city, said his dream is for protected bicycle lanes on both sides of
Chapel. He said the four lanes of traffic there now are “ridiculous.”
The Strouse Adler site is bordered on one end by railroad
tracks and the rear of the State Street Train Station site.
Creating a back entrance to the station was mentioned,
something McKeon welcomed if the complicated engineering project was ever
seriously proposed by the state.
Lisa Savin pushed back on uniform landscaping and also said
a variety of building scales is better in an urban setting.
Arthur Nacht was told there is no agency that looks into
design issues per se, although they are incorporated into the City Plan review.
Nacht said there is a “certain sameness” to the buildings being built in New
Haven.
Nacht was relieved that PMC will use real brick at 78 Olive
St., along with metal panels and some kind of stone around the base.
But he said he worries about the sheer number of apartments
built or approved downtown. While they appear to be filling up, he asked how
long that can go on.
Height of the building
The entire 78 Olive St. property, 2.5 acres, now is home to
the Strouse Adler building, also known as the Smoothie building, a converted
garment factory with 143 apartments and 148 parking spaces.
The BD-1 zone provides for a Floor to Area Ratio of 6.0. as
compared to 2.0 for BA. This is lowered to a FAR of 3.0 and a height of 70 feet
if a site is adjacent to a residential zone.
FAR 6.0 means that the floor area may be up to six times as
large as the lot area.
The site is bound by Olive, Chapel and Court Streets and the
railroad tracks.
In answer to a question, if PMC would build on top of the
Smoothie building in the BD-1 zone, McKeon said that would be adjacent to a
residential zone on Olive Street, thereby limiting the height.
Getting the height PMC wants depends on not being adjacent
to residential lots.
McKeon said carving out a lot on Chapel Street could be
thought of as replacing the two parcels originally there among several others
combined when PMC bought the property decades ago. Those parcels were 679 and
683 Chapel St.
“The FAR we are using (6.0 for the 135-unit building) would
be limited to the (new) lot,” McKeon said.
The new lot would be adjacent to 673 Chapel and across the
street from 630 Chapel, both of which already are zoned BD-1.
This would appear to surround the building site with BD-1
zoning.
The new building would be across State Street from the
30-plus floors at 360 State Street, an apartment complex with the Elm City
Market on the first floor.
McKeon, on a related topic, said a buffer along Court
Street, approved decades ago, would be taken care of whether or not the new
zone gets final approval and the proposed new apartment complex is built.
DANBURY — Blueprints for the biggest development of
apartments and commerce in the city have prompted concerns about safety,
circulation, and environmental impact as the 1.3 million-square-foot project
faces its first public hearing.
“[O]n the potential problem of emergency access should an
emergency along or within the main access drive prevent access to any part of
the development … (t)he issue of public safety is a serious concern that
requires mitigation,” said Jennifer Emminger, Danbury’s deputy planning
director, in a lengthy 10-page notice to the developer of WestConn
Park on Mill Plain Road. “[A] second means of access must be
provided.”
Emminger is referring an 11-building proposal by Danbury
developer Albert Salome for apartments, offices, stores and assisted living
beds on 31 acres in the heart of the booming west side. The project, which
would include a bank, a restaurant, a coffee house and retail shops along Mill
Plain Road, would require 1,000 parking spaces and attract 650 more vehicles
during rush hour on the already-congested stretch between the Stop & Shop
and Amity Lane.
Traffic promised to be a focus during the first public hearing about
the proposal by the city’s Planning Commission on Tuesday.
The developer’s traffic consultant estimates that the level
of service at the nearest intersections with traffic lights would “degrade”
from a current rating of “C” to a rating of “D” in 2025 if WestConn Park is
developed as planned.
If “D” sounds like a bad rating, it is, according to the
developer’s traffic consultant, Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, of Wethersfield.
“Similar to a report card, (level of service) designations
are letter based, ranging from A to F, with A representing the best operating
condition (lowest vehicle delays) and F representing the worst operating
condition (highest vehicle delays), VHB said in a 200-page report submitted to
the city’s Planning Department.
Salame’s proposal for a mostly undeveloped landscape south
of Western Connecticut State University’s west side campus and west of a
residential neighborhood calls for 200 apartments in three four-story
buildings, a 90-bed assisted living facility, a 50,000-square-foot office
building with a garage, a two-story retail and office building, a bank with a
drive-thru window, a 100-seat restaurant, a 30,000-square-foot building with
shops, and a coffee house.
To make all those elements work, a narrow private road on
the western border of the property called Amity Lane would be widened,
extended, and fitted with traffic lights.
The property is the same location that Salame was marketing
in 2005 as a science
park.
WestConn Park is the largest and latest development on the
west side of Danbury, which continues to be one of the fastest-growing cities
in the state.
One mile west of the WestConn Park proposal, construction is
underway on a 45,000-square-foot Caraluzzi’s
Market and liquor store, for example. Further west and south, near the
New York border, redevelopment is underway at the 1.2 million-square-foot
office park known as the Summit, where the city hopes to build the first
condominium-style high school and middle school in Connecticut.
Unlike the Summit, which had revisions to its master
plan approved, Salame and WestConn Park are just beginning land use review.
Safety is at the top of Danbury’s concerns, particularly
with last week’s winter storm still fresh in officials’ minds.
“The (Planning) Department is concerned about whether the
project site can adequately and safely operate during inclement weather
conditions,” Emminger said. “The applicant must provide a plan that addresses
snow removal or winter maintenance on the site.”
Among the two-dozen issues Emminger raised in her notice to
the developer were requests for more information about blasting, about how
retaining walls as high as 50 feet would be constructed, and about rights the
developer is yet to secure from neighboring property owners to make the site’s
infrastructure work.
In addition, Emminger and other city officials want the
developer to build sidewalks — not only on Mill Plain Road but within WestConn
Park itself.
“The absence of connecting sidewalks within the development
promotes and encourages auto dependency as the primary means of access, rather
than walking or bicycling,” Emminger said. “Residents would be required to walk
along the edge of the main access drive if they wish to visit any of the
commercial business within the development. Additionally, the lack of sidewalks
provides little-to-no options for residents and school age children who require
access to school bus or public transportation along Mill Plain Road.”
Chamberlain Elementary School's $50 million renovation coming into focus
NEW BRITAIN – City officials have released images of what
the renovations to Chamberlain Elementary School will look like once completed.
Members of the School Building Committee spoke with the
city’s Common Council last Wednesday to update the public about the progress of
updates on Chamberlain Elementary School. The $50 million renovation project,
which began in July 2021, will be completed with reimbursed funding by the
state and is slated to continue throughout the winter. The renovation project
is being led by a team from Newfield Construction.
Director of Support Services Paul Salina presented to the
council a fly over presentation of what the school will look like when it is
completed. The virtual simulation shows the former main entrance has been moved
near where the media center used to be and the former entrance will be
converted to the auditorium and gymnasium. The school will have a new health
clinic in offices beneath the gym. The building will have an additional wing
which will make space for more classrooms. There will also be audio testing
rooms for students who are hearing impared.
“The school department has designated this building to have
specialized programs for the hearing impared,” Salina said. “So the students at
elementary level who have hearing loss or hearing difficulties will be housed
here and all of the services will be housed in one building.”
The first floor of that wing will hold the administrative
offices, like the principal office and main office, which will have entrances
on both sides of the building. Salina said the cafeteria will remain in the
same location but undergo extensive renovations to improve the space. Traffic
patterns of school buses and parent drop off were also concerned when
renovations were drawn up for the exterior of the school.
When completed, the building will include an updated
security system, specialized rooms and services for hearing impaired students,
and a 16,000 square foot addition for administration offices.
“It was just amazing to see. Once they started to demo, it
was an amazing accomplishment to see how quickly it went,” Salina said.
In December city officials visited the Chamberlain
Elementary School project site for a ceremony to commemorate the completion of
steelwork. Representatives from Newfield Construction, members of the School
Building Committee, Board of Education, the Common Council and Mayor Erin
Stewart visited the school for a topping out ceremony. Construction workers
assisted in the placement of a steel beam on the building project to represent
the “last piece of steel” erected in the structure.
Salina said although the bond was approved for $50 million,
there is a possibility that the project cost will be lower than originally
suggested, at around $47 million. He said the project is progressing according
to schedule because Newfield Construction has worked collaboratively with the
unions and suppliers by ordering supplies in advance in anticipation of
shortages.
“This will be a very good use of consolidating the services
into one building for the needs of each student,” Salina said.