nothin Builder Can Start Work; Wharton Objects | New Haven Independent

Builder Can Start Work; Wharton Objects

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Neighbor Wilkins-Chambers: Fears another cancer cluster.

A developer won permission to stockpile clean dirt in preparation for the cleanup and future development of a former Winchester Repeating Arms factory — over the objections of one City Plan commissioner who argued that the neighborhood has been shut out of the process.

The developer, Double A Development Partners LLC, has plans to transform a 13-acre site formerly owned by Olin Corp, which bought out Winchester in 1931, into a yet-to-be detailed housing complex. But first it has to get rid of the contaminants that remain from the site’s former industrial life. And to do that it needs clean soil.

It won permission to do that Wednesday night in a four-to-one vote by the City Plan Commission. The commission approved a special permit that will allow the storage of 26,000 cubic yards of soil. That’s much more than the 500 square feet of outdoor storage that the developer is allowed by right. The soil will come from the site of a Yale science building which is under construction about a mile away on Whitney Avenue.

Double A won over commissioners who had worried aloud last month about the potential lasting impacts of a huge dirt pile in a rapidly changing neighborhood.

Double A did not convince lone dissenting Commissioner Jonathan Wharton. After learning of communication problems that have kept developer and neighbors apart and neighbors in the dark, Wharton called the case an example of how not to effectively communicate with an urban community, which in this case sought to know more about what kind of housing will be built in their neighborhood and what health problems they may encounter in the process.

There is a failure here,” Wharton said. The connection has been lost.”

Developer Anderson.

Double A Development principals Douglas Gray and Brent Anderson put in a personal appearances at Wednesday night’s meeting, all the way from California and Colorado, respectively. The meeting which was a continuation of a public hearing on the special permit that was carried over from the commission’s June meeting after neighbors and commissioners raised concerns about the fate of what will be an enormous — but, according to the developers, temporary — dirt pile.

Anderson laid out for the commission a fairly aggressive schedule for utilizing the stockpile of dirt and tearing down remaining structures on the site, removing that debris and removing most of the contaminated soil on site and replacing it with the clean dirt. Demolition work is already underway and is expected to last about 70 days. The cleanup of the soil is expected to start in August and conclude by the end of the year. The clean soil coming from Yale will be needed to replace any soil that is removed.

A Matter Of Place

Concerned neighbors at Thursday’s commission meeting.

Developers were forthcoming on their plans for the dirt pile but stuck firmly to their guns about not revealing their plans for the housing they plan erect on the site. The housing would add to a part of the city being transformed by the development of Yale University and new market- rate apartments.

When pressed by commissioners and the handful of residents who showed up to express their concerns about the project, they begged off.

We have a project meeting with the Dixwell community and would like to present the details to the neighborhood first before we present more here,” Gray said.

That was a problem for Newhallville residents Claudine Wilkins-Chambers and Jesse Hameen II and his wife Iman. Hameen, who lives closest to the factory site on Munson Street and recently saw the developers keep a promise to clean up the overgrown site, pointed out Wednesday night that the developers are meeting with the wrong community first. The truck route proposed for bringing the dirt from the science building goes through the Dixwell neighborhood, but the actual factory site is in Newhallville.

Gray said he and Anderson have been trying to schedule meetings with both Dixwell and Newhallville neighbors since October of last year. Had they been able to do so, the details of the plan for future housing, including this plan for the dirt stockpile, would not have been such a surprise.

Wilkins-Chambers pointed out that neighbors would not have known about the meetings at City Hall had it not been for the Hameens, who attended the first hearing last month. Anderson said that notices were sent to property owners within 200 feet of the site, which is the legal requirement. But Wilkins-Chambers noted that many property owners in Newhallville live out of town. She said renters deserve notice too about what is happening in the community. She said the more effective way to reach people is through the management teams and flyers placed on the doors.

The improved Munson Street forest.

Neighbors are wary of plans for the contaminated factory site because of the contentious cleanup of a former Olin Corp. site that took place near the Hamden Newhallville border. That site was a dumping ground for industrial waste where houses for factory workers was eventually built. Some people’s houses damaged in the process, Wilkins-Chambers said a cancer cluster is believed to have developed in the area as well. She lost an 11-year-old nephew who lived there. The Hameens know of at least two other people who lived on that site who also died of cancer.

Wharton: Communication failure unacceptable.

This breakdown in communication prompted Commissioner Wharton to vote against the approval of the special permit Wednesday though his colleagues were satisfied with the explanations of the developers.

With all due respect, I disagree with you all,” Wharton said after listening to his colleagues praise the developers’ responsiveness and neighbors tenaciousness in getting information about the development. There should be no chasing. Government has a fiduciary responsibility to inform and communicate and that should be the same for those who are seeking to enter into development. Clearly, there is a failure here. So with all due respect, I will plan to vote against this because now it requires more time and more communication. Clearly, the connection has been lost.”

Wharton said too often neighbors are left out or clued in late in projects like these.

Commission Chairman Ed Mattison said New Haven does a better job than most when it comes to getting residents involved and residents actually participating.

Wharton, a Southern Connecticut State University political science professor who studies urban development (and chairs the Republican Town Committee), argued that just because New Haven is better doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.

Not only do they have to be informed, they have to know what’s going on,” he said of neighbors. If it requires a paper chase by neighbors, if it requires the alders to be in communication but they’re not, if [the developers] are not certain which management team to go to, then it’s a problem.

There are all kinds of problematic holes,” he said. It’s like Swiss cheese. Somebody ought to be doing a better job connecting the dots.”

Commissioner Leslie Radcliffe.

Commissioner Leslie Radcliffe pointed out that in addition to the coming meeting with the management team, the developers will have to come back to the commission for more approvals, which will provide more opportunities to learn about the project.

Wharton said the process of informing neighbors should not have started at the City Plan Commission.

I’m not blaming anyone, but I think that there are so many missing steps in all this it’s like a bad game of telephone,” he said. There is a rich tradition in inner cities of oral communication and the management team serves that function. I have studied the heck out of this for my research. You can write all the notes you wish, you can send all the letters but communication face-to-face is more sacred and respectable than a letter that is legally required.

I have lived this with the interviews I’ve conducted on urban development,” he added. If you’re not communicating it, guess what, you’re disrespecting it. I’m not disregarding the law. You followed the law and that’s great but there’s the human element. That is worth more than gold.”

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