Strong School Revival Back In Play

I have a vision of New Haven having a combination food hall, farmers market, food wholesalers, craft bazaar market with local CT, New England farmers goods/wares, locally made crafts/wares, and fair trade ethically made goods that support global impoverished communities, eateries, an indoor/outdoor cafeteria seating with views of the water, a bandshell or amphitheater for performances by local musicians, dance groups, and other performing arts, and a nearby marina/boat and kayak launch facility for the river and the harbor to coordinate with the boat house on Long Wharf, and guided boat tours of the river and harbor for nature and history. If it was connected with the canal rail trail, the West Haven boardwalk, The Haven (soon to be built,) City Point, the East Shore parks like Nathan Hale and Lighthouse Point with connections to the bike trails and walking trails much the way that Chicago's Lake Shore and the Chicago River and all the nearby attractions are, it could be a huge tourist attraction and a jewel for all of the Northeast. A coordinated bike rental with bike locks and carts you can rent to attach for children to sit in, or for shopping with a fold down security top that can be locked, and repair shop with public restrooms and eateries could be located on the Farmington Canal Greenway Trail near Newhallville/Dixwell and also in Fair Haven near the river, and near Long Wharf/City Point. If the Shoreline trail and the Farmington Canal trail and the other local bike trails were connected, along with the parks, you could ride from West Haven to New Haven to the Shoreline, and all the way up to Northampton, MA, and enjoy all the places to visit, eat, shop around the area. If you had parking garages or lots near the bike rental and repair shops you could ride all over and come back to your car after a day of enjoying the city and get back in your car to go home. Develop interconnected bike/walk trails along all the parks and waterfront areas with maps and signs.

Heather, that is a lovely vision (seriously). How would you finance it?

Heather-- like Kevin said, there is no plan to fund any of the ideas you offer. NH is bleeding money in waste and fraud and corruption. There are no funds to do nice things when we can't even keep our streets safe.
BTW--- do you live in NH? Just wondering. We have many commenters who don't live in the city or have been here a minute or two but seem to have all the answers on how to spend taxpayer money.

Though no longer a resident of the neighborhood, I always felt that those very well intentioned and dedicated neighborhood advocates had a perhaps overly optimistic view of the desirability of the location and so the true price the market was willing to bear to rehab the property for more elaborate use.

Kevin and CityYankee, why do you say there is no money?

Take 1% of the money we spend each year on highways and use it instead to build the kind of biking and walking trails that Heather C suggests, which are precisely the types of amenities that would draw more businesses and tax revenue to New Haven.

The $100 million we recently spent to build a 12-story-high off-ramp to MLK Boulevard could have built an entire citywide network of such trails.

City Yankee, Kevin McCarthy, Yim-a- The city wouldn't finance these changes, developers, entrepreneurs and volunteers with vision would see the value in working towards this plan. If a smart person with bicycle repair knowledge bought/rented a building in Newhallville right next to the canal trail and teamed up with a bike rental company, the city could help with paving a driveway to connect the building with the trail. Then a food truck or other eatery/coffee shop could rent in a lot or building next to it or really close by. I've heard comments that trail users don't have food, drink and restroom options conveniently located to the trail. I've visited a similar set up on the Erie Canal trail in upstate NY. Pay for use self sterilizing public toilets could be located nearby and sponsored for upkeep. Volunteers are already working in getting the bike trails connected. The city could help with getting sponsors to fund more bike routes to connect the trails with paved trails, maps, website and trail signage along the river and harbor. If the city got a food hall developer to coordinate with the farmers markets already in the area, local food truck/restaurant owners and local artists/craftspeople to team up, the city could connect all them together. The Strong School would make a good food hall, and there are lots of places along Front Street that a developer could build a boat, canoe, kayak launch with rentals, and a marina could be encouraged to be developed along the banks of the river. Entrepreneurs could run river or harbor tours from there and Long Wharf. If you start with one project here and there but with an overall vision, once the ball is rolling, others will see the potential for profits. With all the biotech moving here, the employees will enjoy these facilities, as well as all the new residents in all the new apartment buildings being built. Maybe the biotech companies would sponsor some of the infrastructure needed for the recreation sites.

Anonymous, I didn't say there was no money. I asked Heather for thoughts on how the project would be financed. It's not her responsibility to come up with a detailed business plan. I certainly could not do this. But anyone proposing to develop the school will need to come up with plausible capital and operating budgets. I tend to find that financing proposals that require changes in federal or state law, such as yours, to be less plausible than those that do not. Federal and state law dictate how money in the Highway Trust Fund and Special Transportation Fund can be spent. That does not mean we should not seek to change these laws. But I would not suggest holding our breath in the meantime.

I agree with yim-a. The area has MAJOR quality of life issues and the "progressive" community leaders choose to downplay the problems and blame poverty, etc.

And the decision to delay zoning changes wont help.

NO grasp on reality - Cruz et al.
The 1916 building has sat unused for many years, each year, deteriorating more and more.
Tear it down, end the ridiculous pipedream that somehow this building will be useful and maintainable going forward.

Xavier: NO grasp on reality - Cruz et al. Exactly and the et al includes most members of the BOA's.

Heather, I really like your ideas. I bike periodically on the Farmington Canal Trail, and would appreciate having the options you describe nearby.

But redeveloping Strong School is a far more costly and complicated project. The cost estimate for the last proposal for the site was $17.2 million. The school undoubtedly has lead paint that would need to be dealt with; it probably also has asbestos. The process for getting the permits needed for a boat launch/
marina is also very complicated. In addition to state permits, such a project would likely require approval from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard. Here is an overview of the permitting process https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Coastal-Resources/Coastal-Permitting/Overview-of-the-Connecticut-Coastal-Permit-Program. In addition, the site's location in the coastal zone complicates the local permitting of any redevelopment, whether or not it includes these facilities.

You are not responsible for coming up with a detailed plan to redevelop the site. But coming up with the financing for the project and getting it through the regulatory processes is going to be wicked complicated.

Kevin McCarthy- true, a marina would be difficult, but there is a demand for more marina space in CT. If we start off with a kayak/canoe/small boats launch that should be easier. A marina can be a ways down the road. If the Strong School is too far gone, then tear it down to build the food hall. Or find another location in the Fair Haven or Long Wharf area. Perhaps the industrial and commercial buildings that have been empty for decades can be converted to this purpose. If you have an overall plan and goal, and work on each item individually with sponsors, developers, entrepreneurs and volunteers, then the city can provide a guiding hand and help the individual projects to come together eventually, and perhaps add new ones as people have other ideas to add. (The batting cages facility on the East Shore that's going to be built is a great addition to the overall plan of how to make New Haven a great place to live and play.) It took decades for the Ninth Square project to come together and to move Gateway downtown and develop Science Hill and the Route 34 development to start to come together. Mayor DeStefano had a vision for developing the city, was willing to be flexible as things didn't pan out, and accommodated changes to his overall vision for the city based on who was willing to invest in the developments and what made sense at the time. The current boom in development and investment in biotech and real estate in the city and its resurgence can be directly related to his efforts, and you can also look back at the development of the stretch of Chapel St that Joel Schiavone had a vision for and revitalized what hadn't been updated in decades. As more people want to invest in the city, the city doesn't have to finance the majority of it. Investors, developers, entrepreneurs just need the city's help with zoning and infrastructure to facilitate their developments. The city should seek out the people who could invest in these projects and profit from the projects.

Heather, I largely agree with you. But as you note, the development process is wicked complicated. There is a demand for marinas, but the regulatory process makes them virtually impossible to build or expand. In addition, as you have discussed, the city's zoning ordinance is badly outdated.

BTW, I have suggested something like your food hall idea for the new commercial space at Mill River Crossing on Grand Avenue. So far, no response from the Housing Authority or City Hall. To be fair, these folks have a lot on their plate.