New Haven Independent

Technically, what was before the commissioners Wednesday was the proposal to lease the property at 100 River St. so that Colony Hardware, currently at East Shore Parkway in the port district, can relocate and expand in Fair Haven.

The project’s pluses include the fact that Colony will bring many new jobs to the area with the proposed 165,000 square foot facility, from which hardware and construction materials will be distributed to builders throughout the area. Colony’s building and parking lot will also cap areas that require environmental remediation, reducing the costs to the city and Hess Oil Company as the revival of the River Street industrial area continues moving forward.

Colony CEO Mark Franklin and his architect Samuel Sargeant showed the City Plan Commission a proposed low-profile brick building (pictured at the top of the story), echoing the Bigelow complex and in keeping with the historic industrial district of the River Street Municipal Development Plan.

Commissioner Elijah Huge (pictured on the right below, with Commissioner Roland Lemar) had misgivings over the elimination of the grand vista of Blatchley Avenue extending all the way from Grand down to the river.

That is what is lost in the large Colony building.

“The extension of Blatchley down to the water was the single most important planning gesture in the whole plan,” he said. “New Haven is so cut off from the water in general that any opportunity to give access is important, and it’s lost in this plan; it’s not the only parcel Colony could have had.”

Franklin said that indeed it was, that there was no place for his company to expand any closer to downtown. He said New Haven has been good to the company, and he was pleased with the commission’s vote. Conditions attached included the need for a special permit application because the site is going to accommodate 200 or more vehicles; and site plan and coastal site plan reviews.

There will still be access to the water and a kind of linear waterfront trail and park that are part of the plan. However, instead of access via Blatchley, now cut off by Colony, residents from the area will be drawn down to the river via Poplar, Lloyd, and James streets.

Under the lease agreement, Colony will contribute $75,000 toward the cost of a fishing pier as a public access amenity to be located at the Quinnipiac River at the foot of Poplar.

That didn’t seem to mollify Huge, for whom the elimination of the vista from Grand down to the river is a profound loss, or Roland Lemar. They said they would keep a close eye on the project as it moves through approvals.