New Haven Independent

That’s exactly what he received on Wednesday night in a site plan review for Yale’s new biological sciences building. The 180,000 square foot Caesar Pelli building is due to be constructed on Science Hill, on the west side of Whitney, extending south from the intersection of Humphrey Street.

“Thank you and Yale for the great Pelli design, for seeking a ‘platinum’ environmental rating, and especially for interacting so effectively with the community. Everyone’s excited about this,” said Commissioner and Alderman Roland Lemar.

Yale also received a mighty thumbs up for the parking plan for its Department of Art’s sculpture building at 210-220 Howe St.. Regulations require 23 spots, abut in Yale’s landscaping of the site, twelve will be lost. The Board of Zoning Appeals had passed this in the previous week as well, because the lost spaces will be compensated for in Yale’s nearby Howe Street parking garage.

Graffiti Still on Drawing Board

In other commissioners’ actions, an ordinance amendment prohibiting graffiti, crafted by Fair Haven alders Erin Sturgis-Pascale and Joey Rodriguez, was sent back to the Board of Aldermen with suggestions to refine the language. The ordinance, which bans sale of spray paint and also requires business owners (as well as public entities) to remove graffiti from their property or be penalized, was judged not ripe for passage.

In particular, the City Plan staff was concerned that the proposed amendment, doesn’t specify if spray cans should be “locked up” and away from the reach of minors, and doesn’t specify how it might be enforced.

More seriously, it seems, staff suggested that as written the penalties on the owners of building are prohibitive and “might be met with strong resistance.”

Section 65 Rewrite

This section and others of the New Haven Zoning Ordinance as they pertain to planned development districts (PDD) and planned development units (PDU) — instruments for economic development — are being rewritten by the city. In a PDU, the zone remains the same and there’s an increase in density, for example. In a PDD, there’s a full zone change. PDDs are approved by the Board of Aldermen with City Plan Commission reviews. In a PDU, the application is to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Issues being refined in the rewrites include parking, traffic flow, appropriate uses, and aesthetics. Successful PDDs pointed to over the years include the Audubon Arts District. Contentious ones are reflected in the extension of the parking lot at Anthony’s Ocean View restaurant. The city’s been involved in litigation in these matters, including the city’s right to enact PDDs, which was upheld by the State Supreme Court in 2005.

However, a grassroots group, spawned by the Anthony’s case, was formed, the Citywide Planned Development Collaborative. Through them and legislators, such as Robert Megna, a state law was passed, in 2006, Public Act No.06-128 which requires the city to establish standards for PDDs and PDUs that among other things disallows expansions of pre-existing non-conforming uses, such as Anthony’s parking lot.

The Citywide Planned Development Collaborative had asked for the text of the law to be incorporated into the various amendments to Section 65. In the March meeting of the City Plan Commission (CPC), an opinion was sought from the corporation counsel on the matter.

Because that opinion has not yet been forthcoming, at the Wednesday City Plan meeting, the continued hearing on the matter was postponed until next month.

According to Joy Ford, staff coordinator of the CPC, another reason to continue the hearing until next month was that city received from the Collaborative its own “community-based draft proposal” for Section 65.

According to Susan Campion, co-chair of the Collaborative, the proposal reflects four years of information gathering from residents and city planners. “The city partnering with the community,” she wrote in an email message, “provides the best possible effort to advance land use policy.”