New Haven Independent

An aldermanic committee Monday night approved the first phase a five-year-long, $180 million Brookside and Rockview redevelopment package and sent it to the full board for final approval. Groundbreaking is expected in the early spring on the first phase, which includes 101 rental units and 20 owner-occupied houses.

The plan is to build 463 new homes in two connected developments in the West Rock neighborhood, replacing unpopular barracks-style housing projects that were recently torn down. The Legislation Committee unanimously approved a Planned Development District (PDD) and the City Plan Commission report on the project.

Questions remained, however, about the condition of the roads that will take people to the tree-lined rows of homes (pictured in an architect’s rendering).

The roads leading up to the West Rock area are some of the worst in the city. Their gaping holes and cracks bear the same neglect as the housing projects in that neighborhood, where residents complain of swamps in their backyards and wild, overgrown shrubs. Click on the play arrow to follow the Independent on a bumpy ride through those roads.

Committee members asked development or housing authority officials about plans to fix those roads. They were unable to get specific answers.

City Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts, reached by phone after the meeting, said the city has “no explicit plans right now” regarding Brookside Avenue, Wilmot Road and other roads in the area.

“Those are getting pretty worn. I expect we would try to repave them, but we have not looked at the specific” problem, he said. The city would take into consideration the fact that there will be heavy construction work in the area for the next few years, he said.

“If we expect construction, that would argue for paving after that phase of construction,” he said. “We are not going to wait until the very end” of the project to improve the roads, he said.

Developer Peter Wood of New Jersey-based Michaels Development Co. said he is moving forward despite falling a bit short on funding for the first homeownership phase of the project, comprised of the 20 homes. The units would be sold for between $175,000 and $180,000. Wood said.

“Right now, we have about 80 percent of the financing,” he said. “We’re trying to line up the gap,” he said. The source would probably be public rather than private, he said.

Although he said he would not feel “comfortable until it’s all in place,” Wood said he didn’t foresee “any major delays in putting financing together for next summer” when construction is scheduled to begin on those units.

“We would have to see a financing close in June. I feel very confident about that at this point,” he said.

Gregory J. Pepe, pictured, of the Southport-based law firm of Neubert, Pepe & Monteith, who acted as the lead presenter for the nine-person development team before the committee, said financing for the rest of the first phase is in hand.

“The overall structure is in place and all those pieces will be implemented as we get them,” he said. The team of architects, engineers, lawyers and other experts took nearly an hour to make its presentation before the committee as they had to a laundry list of city agencies, committees and commissions.

The Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH) is partnering with Michaels in the project and will own it after it is built. HANH director Karen DuBois-Walton (pictured), said she is “very excited about the project and the community participation in it.” The West Rock Implementation Committee had been active in all phases of development, including the choice of Michaels as developer.

The committee members asked mostly technical questions about the controversial zoning tool being used for the project, the PDD. Both city economic development lawyer John Ward and deputy City Plan director Thomas Talbot assured the members they were on solid legal ground.

Only one member of the public appeared and spoke. Yul Watley, who is working on the site doing demolition and expects to build the first 20 homeownership units, was unsurprisingly upbeat about the project.

After declaring the meeting closed, the six committee members took about three minutes to pass the resolution and send it to the full board for an early December hearing and a probable vote on Dec. 21. That is the last hurdle for the PDD and this phase of the project.

“After that, they just need to get building permits,” said Deputy Development Administrator Chrissy Bonnano. “This is a great project for the city. I’m really excited about it,” she said.

The project comprises 357 rental units in 90 buildings, 38 homeownership units, most subsidized and 38 flats for the elderly at 122 Wilmot Road. The PDD comprises 212 acres, of which 97.6 acres will be developed.

The Housing Authority has committed $36 million in capital funding and the city has kicked in $9 million for infrastructure costs, according to the PDD application.