Allan Appel Photo
The future hookah lounge and eatery has already received a new facade on Church Street.
A hookah club and international food court to open this summer on Church Street easily passed its site plan review by the City Plan Commission.
Commissioners also gave easy passage to the city to apply for and accept a cool million bucks from the state to renovate the former Army Reserve Center on Wintergreen Avenue as the new site for the police academy and indoor firing range.
Commissioners offered a thumbs up, but not without some reservation about the land use, to Yale University’s plan to construct a surface parking lot on the island at 24 and 40 Dixwell Ave. and 49 Goffe St., at the entryway to the Dixwell business corridor.
All three actions took place Wednesday night at the commission’s monthly meeting.
No Nefariousness Seen
James Perito, the lawyer for Charbal Eid, co-owner of Hala Inc, which is opening the club and restaurant at 27 – 33 Church St. diagonally across from Gateway Community College, had barely settled into his seat at City Plan’s meeting room before commissioners offered some pleasant, if provincial, banter about hookahs. They voted unanimously to, in effect, fire up the pipes.
Perito said that the renovations of the site, formerly a two-story retail store, are all “de minimis.” The first floor is being converted into a restaurant or food court that Eid said would feature seven cuisines. The second floor would be a hookah club or lounge, with a roof deck.
Eid estimated the second floor lounge will accommodate 65 to 70 hookah folks and the street-level food court about 150 people.
He pooh-poohed media-based stereotypes about smoky, murky hookah dens in which nefarious whispering is rampant. He said the lounge will have high ceilings and be well lit.
Shhhhh5h>
Site of future police academy and firing range.
City Engineer Giovanni Zinn presented the case for the city to accept an estimated $1 million in a state bonding grant to fix up the long vacant former West Rock Army Reserve center to become the new police academy site and indoor firing range.Commissioner and Westville Alder Adam Marchand asked if the city has been in touch on the matter with officials at Southern Connecticut State University to discuss potential impact of the project on those living in the school’s large residential buildings adjacent to the site.Zinn confirmed that consultations have taken place and that the outdoor noise audible would be minimal. He pointed out that the repair and maintenance of police vehicles are to remain at the current police academy location on Sherman Parkway.The matter passed unanimously.
No “Taj Mahal” Coming
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Architect Steve Brown presents on Yale’s plans at February’s City Plan meeting.
Allan Appel Photo
Work has begun on the new triangular parking lot.
Not so the site plan review for construction of a surface parking lot by Yale University on the triangular parcel at the entryway to the Dixwell neighborhood. The plan, which includes, new lighting and landscaping and overall improvement of the lot that had previously been home to a UPS store but was otherwise unused, had previously been presented to the commissioners in February.
At that time Commissioner Leslie Radcliffe urged Yale officials to pow-wow with the Dixwell Community Management team on the proposal, even though the use is guaranteed to Yale by right and management teams have no specific authority in the matter.
Since then a meeting did take place, and Lauren Zucker and Karen King of Yale’s Office of New Haven and State Affairs reported the endorsement of the plan by Dixwell Alder Jeannette Morrison.
Commissioner Radcliffe was not mollified. She reminded the applicants of the city’s comprehensive plan to reduce surface parking lots, and asked, “Is that the best use? What about a structure [with other uses] and a parking lot?”
Zucker replied that the use is by right and that the university has no other plans for the site for now. She said the planned signage, lighting, and resurfacing will be an improvement and are of a piece with Yale’s investment in propertiesalong the first block of Dixwell.
Zucker also pointed out that tour buses, which can clog traffic in the area, will now be able to sojourn on the lot without idling engines. She said the lot is not to be restricted to Yale employees, but will be available to customers of the nearby stores.
Radcliffe persisted hat another use would be better. Marchand pointed out what he termed “the thirst for reinvestment in that community.”
Zucker replied: “We have invested in Dixwell. Over time is that the best use? Maybe, maybe not. There are no current plans for that site. You might ask for the Taj Mahal to be there, but that’s not our current plan.”
The lot is to have 60 spaces for public parking, with the northern portion paved in concrete, while the central and eastern portions will be paved with asphalt. A wrought iron fence will encircle the site.
The commissioners voted to pass the site plan; Commissioner Radcliffe abstained.
When I read the article in the NHI on 3/14/16 titled "DIXWELL LOT REIMAGINED", I thought it might be that Yale had figured a better use of the lot at the top of Dixwell rather than a surface parking lot ... the 'gateway' to Dixwell community. Yale suggests that the plan will be an overall improvement to the area, but what it WILL be is a concrete & asphalt paved lot filled with cars and tour buses for the Broadway consumers and Yale athletic visiting teams to park. Lauren Zucker calls this 'Yales investment in Dixwell'. Now at the other end of Dixwell, Yanbo Li and Juan Pablo Ponce de Leon have presented a different 'vision' of what an investment in Dixwell can look like. They designed a model for an affordable 30 unit 4 story housing development with green terraces. But they were not consulted or commissioned by Yale ... even though they are Yale School of Architect students. This 'vision' was presented to Beulah Land Development (a not for profit organization of the Beulah Heights Church which is right across the street) for their lot at the northern end of Dixwell/Orchard/Munson ... a lot that is the exact shape and exact same size (.6 acres) as where Yale could only envision putting a surface parking lot. To use Lauren's words, 'Over time is that the best use?'. The answer is 'ABSOLUTELY' ... because the 'best use' was actually given some thought. Yale will use the land it owns in the Dixwell community for a parking lot. It's their land, they can do what they want. Beulah will use the land it owns in the Dixwell community for housing. It's their land, they can do what they want. Take a lesson Dixwell Community ... support those who support you!