New Haven Independent

The latest small chapter in the ongoing saga of the expansion of the controversial expansion in Morris Cove took place last week.

A larger issue in the saga — the legality of the creation of a PDD, or a planned development district — is no longer in question. It was decided by a 2006 State Supreme Court ruling. That ruling overturned a 2004 Appellate Court’s blocking the right of the city to pave the way Anthony’s expansion by creating a “Planned Development District,” or PDD. PDDs override local zoning rules.

Still in play is the slow pace of demolition of several community eyesores — houses adjacent to Anthony’s that the restaurant’s owners bought several years ago, but have been slow to demolish for the expansion.

Lawyers for Anthony’s were back before the commissioners last week specifically to fulfill requirements for more detailed drawings (see below) of the restaurant’s proposed new parking area, the new canopy, açade, and other features that were deemed too schematic in the previously submitted documents.

According to City Plan staffer Joy Ford, these were reviewed and seemed to have passed muster, although no vote was taken at the meeting.

However, the commissioners also wanted to know the status of the demolition plans for three houses, among them the one pictured above, on Bristol Place, along with a derelict nursing home that faces the harbor, which Anthony’s has purchased over the years. The idea was to demolish these and utilize the land to expand the parking and enhance the catering capacities of the restaurant. These steps were approved back in 2004, but progress has been slow.

As a result, for several years now the buildings have remained abandoned yet still standing. When the PDD fight was lost, local people grew particularly vocal about the increasingly dilapidated conditions of the buildings within the tidily kept Morris Cove community. Residents previously had appeared before the commission describing dangerous conditions, including fire hazard in the buildings, and possibly drug dealing. In previous appearances before the commissioners, nearby Morris Cove homeowners had demanded that the buildings be boarded up or demolished, and Anthony’s fined.

No local people were present at last week’s public hearing on the parking, servery, and facade to speak on the issue- either for or against. But the commissioners were cognizant of the past community concern. They added a condition before the expansion would be allowed: namely, requiring a timetable for the demolition of the Bristol Place houses, preferably within the next three months.

Reached by email, Susan Campion, one of the Morris Cove community leaders on the matter, wrote: “The neighborhood’s oversight of the PDD, even now, may be likened to a root canal — an awful but necessary action… We trust that the city in its oversight of the PDD will do nothing more or nothing less than is required by its own regulations and ordinances.”

As a result of the controversy over Anthony’s, State Rep. Robert Megna spearheaded in 2007 a new state law with more stringent criteria for the city if it goes the PDD route in future developments. In 2008, Campion, writes, she and residents from around the city, who attended Megna’s presentations, have formed a new group, the New Haven Citywide Planned Development Collaborative 2008 Initiative. Its aim is a full review of lnd use policies and zoning with an eye to establishing best practices standards for urban development in New Haven.

She described the collaborative as in its early stages of development and treading gingerly on complex issues and vested interests.

However, since Anthony’s expansion was granted before the new law, it will be allowed to proceed, as long as it meets the commission’s ongoing requirements.