New Haven Independent

After an over-two-hour public hearing before the City Plan Commission Wednesday night, commissioners denied without prejudice a proposal from Albertus Magnus to expand parking lots at three sites along Prospect Street. Plans drew heat from over 30 neighbors who showed up to defend the historic character of the neighborhood, where some of the priciest houses in the city are perched atop a leafy hill.

The Catholic college has shared that hill with residents since 1925. Longtime neighbors described how the parking plan — particularly the unexpected slaying of several trees — has fissured years of good relationships with the college. When neighbors returned home to find that grand trees, one as old as 240 years, had been hacked down, college officials replied the trees were removed because they were “sick.”

Neighbors like Sledge, a Yale psychiatrist and Master of Yale’s Calhoun College who has lived on nearby Prospect Street for 13 years, balked at that explanation.

“I’m a timber man,” Sledge told the commission in a deep Southern drawl. “I own land in Alabama, and I know a sick tree when I see one. There have been no sick trees.”

Lawrence Shanbrom, who’s lived next to Albertus for 23 years, said he had good relations with the college until his wife came home one day to find unexpected changes across the street. He passed out pictures comparing the view from his house before and after a series of trees were chopped down. “While I recognize [the college] had no legal obligation to notify me,” he said, the loss of trees will sink the value of his home, which is worth almost $1 million, according to the most recent city assessment. He and other neighbors charged Albertus Magnus had failed to heed or even respond to their input over the plans.

At the commission’s prompting, Chris A. DeAngelis of Civil Design Associates testified that at least 14 trees would be felled to make way for the parking plans at the three sites — 300 East Rock Rd. (expanded from 10 to 18 spaces), 765 Prospect St. (from three to 19 spaces), and 810 Prospect St. (from eight to 22 spaces).

Most disturbing to some neighbors was the plan for the latter, where neighbors said the nice lawn would be “obliterated” by the expansion of the parking lot in front of Sansbury Hall (pictured). A litany of speakers from the New Haven Preservation Trust, Urban Design League, and East Rock and St. Ronan-area neighborhood groups railed against the project for its wide curb cuts and insufficient buffering.

Attorney Marjory Shansky, representing a client on Ogden Street, argued a proposed driveway would prove dangerous because there is an insufficient line of sight for cars whizzing by, or students pulling out. She argued the tree removal “threatens the integrity” of an area in the National Register of Historic Places. Others noted there is ample street parking available on Prospect Street.

Attorney Bernard Pellegrino, representing Albertus Magnus, said he regretted neighbors’ concerns, but “this is an institution,” not a residence, and “parking happens to be an issue.” He declined a request by the City Plan Commission to use pervious bituminous paving, saying the technology was too new.

After emotional testimony, and some clarifications, the commission mulled the report.

“Poor Designs”

The City Plan team heeded neighbors’ words and slammed the college’s proposal.

“Quite frankly, the design for the parking lot, all of them, are just poor designs,” said City Engineer Dick Miller, a non-voting member who sits on the commission. “It’s consuming more land than they have to. I think the entrances can be narrowed. The neighborhood is precisely correct on that.”

Saying he was “personally struck” by the photos of fallen trees, Miller urged the college to redraft the plan “so that it is not so obnoxious to the community.”

Commissioner Roland Lemar spoke out against the “insufficient buffering.”

Chair Pat King said she was “distressed to me to hear of the sort of deterioration between the relationship,” and concerned about the curb cuts, tree loss and buffers.

Rattling off a litany of outstanding concerns, including the line of sight on Ogden Street and the inappropriately wide curb cuts, Miller suggested Albertus Magnus work with City Plan to find a more acceptable plan.

The proposal was unanimously denied without prejudice. “Yes! Yes!” came whispers of victory from the Prospect Street and preservationist crowd.

Jeanne Mann, Albertus’ vice president of finance, declined an interview as her team departed City Hall. Attorney Pellegrino, responding to the charge that the college had refused to cooperate with neighbors, said only: “I hope the wounds that have been caused will be repaired.”