New Haven Independent

The 5 p.m. meeting Monday was a perfunctory event, lasting only 15 minutes and ending with a quick and unanimous vote of approval. This is the last time that the Redevelopment Agency will review the proposal. “This is a good project for the city of New Haven,” said Vice-Chairman Harold Greenbaum.

The next step before breaking ground is to clear a switching of funds with the state Bond Commission. This should be a simple matter, according to Bonanno, but it has been delayed by a budget dispute between the General Assembly and the governor, who vetoed the most recent funding bill. (Click here and here for related stories.) The disagreement has prevented the Bond Commission, which is supposed to meet every month, from meeting in August and September. Christine Bonanno, the city’s deputy economic development administrator, said that if the commission does not meet in October, then the Shartenberg project could miss the winter construction season and be delayed up to a year.

The Redevelopment Agency last reviewed the proposal during its May 29 meeting. The biggest change to the proposal since May is the agreement between the city and the developer to split state tax credits 60/40, said Bonanno. This change came out of the Sept. 4 meeting of the Board of Aldermen.

Other changes to the proposal have been minor. Bonanno described them as purely technical, including spelling and formatting corrections as well as clarification of language.

Greenbaum drew attention to the Shartenberg proposal’s workforce requirements, which stipulate, among other things, that at least 25 percent of the total work hours during the building’s construction be performed by women and minority residents of New Haven. This is a standard requirement for all publicly-funded building projects in New Haven, according to Bonanno. “We want city land to reflect city values,” she said, referring to the proposal’s workforce requirements and the inclusion of affordable housing in the building.