New Haven Independent

City Engineer Dick Miller, pictured, announced that the new heated shelters should be ready within a month. One of the five new shelters required the city to get an easement, because the location of the stop is on private property. That shelter is on Temple and Crown Street, right in front of the Kelly House. The chance to build a new structure gave the city the opportunity to “go green.” The roof, covered with vegetation, will insulate the shelter. Plus, Miller said jokingly, bird droppings won’t stain it.

The new shelters, and the Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport’s plans to relocate Dodge Avenue, were discussed at Thursday’s aldermanic Municipal Services Committee meeting at City Hall.

All of the shelter renovations are paid for through the city’s transit authority. They will run on electricity, with the heat pouring out through overhead vents. The shelters will be enclosed, with two open entryways and will run on a thermometer as well as a motion sensor.

The new heated structures will be at high-volume locations such as 55 Church St., the corner of Elm and Temple streets, and the corner of Temple and Chapel streets. Miller said he hopes the modifications will increase the use of buses.

Miller also presented to the committee on the relocation of Dodge Avenue. City transportation czar Mike Piscitelli and Public Works Director John Prokop sat alongside Miller. All three gave their approval to the project, which moves the existing Dodge Avenue north and wraps it around an unused parcel of land, lengthening a safety buffer at the end of the runway.

Airport Manager Rick Lamport said the relocation plan is part of a larger project on highway safety. “The runway is not currently up to safety requirements,” he said. “We need to get it up to standards.”

The proposed relocation was also discussed at Tuesday’s East Shore Management Team meeting.

Robert Furey, pictured, briefed the committee on the plan, which includes more than just the road relocation.

Another big part of the project is wetlands restoration and floodgate replacement. The area is prone to flooding and the engineers are putting in new, machine-operated flood gates that will open and close with the tides is order to drain the area.

Miller emphasized that the project is just “relocating, not changing the traffic pattern, not increasing.”

Miller said a public hearing had already been held on the proposed plan and that letters, nearly 100, had been sent out to people living within 500 feet of the relocated road.

A main concern was that the new road would run directly behind a line of homes on Holmes Street. He said the airport planned to work with those neighbors to reduce noise. A buffer will be built as well as vegetation planted.

“Public works is obligated to look at the effect of public use of a roadway,” explained Prokop. “How is it affected? It’s not affected at all in terms of access,” he said, regarding the relocation.

The committee’s chairwoman Hill Alderwoman Dolores Colon (pictured with Newhallville Alderman Charles Blango), asked what is currently on the land that the new road will wrap around.

Prokop said there is nothing there, just a fence surrounding it. He also noted that the land is already owned by the city.

Piscitelli noted that Morris Cove Alderwoman Arlene DePino as well as neighbors had requested plans for traffic calming. He said the transportation department would look into it.

Ninety-five percent of the project is funded by the federal goverment; 75 percent of the remaining 5 percent is paid for by the state and the rest is paid locally, said Lamport. The whole project is projected to cost $16 million.

Hugh Manke, the airport’s attorney, said the plan has to be approved also by the town of East Haven, as Dodge Avenue runs from New Haven into East Haven. Manke said they weren’t responding well yet, but that if one municipality, New Haven, were to approve the plan, it may help with East Haven’s decision-making.

(In fact, Manke’s pitch bombed at the latest East Haven Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. Click here to read Mark Zaretsky’s account in the Register.)

Also discussed at the meeting was a proposal brought by Beaver Hills/West Hills Alderman Thomas Lehtonen that requests a residential parking zone for the residents of Tour Street, Valley Street Extension and West Rock Avenue. The residents are having trouble finding parking because of a popular bar, the Owl’s Nest.