New Haven Independent

The city’s plan to build a new Hooker School in a Whitney Avenue church is up in the air, blocked by a judge after neighbors on Everit Street took the matter to Superior Court. The city has been waiting to see if the decision can be challenged in a higher court. The city should know by Labor Day if an appellate court will hear the case, figured Joseph Williams (pictured at left) of Shipman & Goodwin, the law firm hired to fight for the city.

The East Rock community has already gathered en masse and agreed: Let’s push for an appeal and stick with the site at 691 Whitney Ave. (Click here and here for background on the site and zoning battle.)

At a corporation counsel briefing Tuesday, aldermen joined the conversation, mulling possible recourses to the uncomfortable wait: Construction was supposed to have started in the spring of 2006 and ended in August 2007. The court case alone could take two years, said Susan Weisselberg, the public school rebuilding chief (pictured above at right).

Can the city cash in on a recent state Supreme Court case that boosted the city’s zoning powers, allowing it to create a Planned Development District (PDD)? aldermanic President Carl Goldfield wanted to know.

“Can we just bring it back to the Board of Aldermen” and “rezone in a way that’s less vulnerable?” he asked. “It seems to me that you might do better with a PDD.”

That may be, but a new state law makes it harder for non-residential facilities to expand into residential zones. Changing the Whitney Avenue site from RH-1 into a PDD is “not on the table at this moment,” said Williams. The city’s Tom Ude (pictured above, in middle) agreed.

Is there a way to compromise with neighbors, to avoid having to redesign a new school on a new site if the appeal fails? Can we reach a settlement? asked Goldfield.

Williams didn’t say “No.” But “I haven’t had any discussions” with neighbors along those lines, he said.

How about looking around for other sites while awaiting news on the appeal?

Weisselberg, the public school rebuilding chief, said she had reviewed the sites discussed in a 2001 report, some of which are unavailable now. One new option has popped up: The city might be able to buy the St. Francis Church on Prospect Street, a facility that’s having some zoning troubles of its own.

But Weisselberg made it clear her eyes were set on 691 Whitney, which has one advantage over all other sites discussed: A big, fixed-seat auditorium. “The only way it will get its own fixed-seat auditorium is to use that site.”

East Rock Alderman Ed Mattison reminded the room how much East Rockers (like this proactive group) want to see the school rise on the Whitney Avenue site. “The neighborhood and the parents seem very supportive of the course of action that the city is taking.” The opposition, he noted, has been “remarkably quiet.”