Aliyya Swaby Photo
Zucker: 280 construction jobs unnecessarily delayed.
A regulatory denial Thursday night means Yale must start all over with the process of getting zoning approval to construct a new bio lab — and first obtain an OK for a science district parking plan.
The City Plan Commission Thursday night denied without prejudice the university site plan for a 280,000 square-foot science building at Whitney, Prospect and Sachem Streets in the Science Hill area.
The commissioners acted against the recommendation of City Plan staff’s advisory report. Yale has until the end of Friday to submit new documentation to be considered at next month’s City Plan meeting, or risk missing out on construction season before the next winter freeze.
The commissioners sided instead with an argument of Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker and city’s corporation counsel: That the commissioners had no legal authority to OK a Yale building plan until a joint committee of alders has reviewed and voted on Yale’s Overall Parking Plan (OPP) for central and science campus.
Newly amended Section 65 of the city’s zoning ordinance gives alders more direct oversight over the parking plans of big developers. This project was the first test of that new oversight, which was pushed by alders supported by Yale’s UNITE HERE union Locals 34 and 35, part of a conflict between both sides over parking availability on campus and broader labor-management and town-gown concerns.
Lauren Zucker, associate vice president for New Haven affairs, blasted Thursday night’s vote as an unnecessary delay that impacts not just the university’s expansion plans, but the hiring of construction workers. The plan does not call for any new parking.
Zucker said she has gotten the runaround from the Board of Alders as to when a vote will take place on its overall parking plan. She said the project was being put at risk because alders were unsure how to move forward with the procedure.
The proposal calls for demolishing the existing Gibbs Laboratory and constructing a new six-story biology lab facility in its place to serve students, faculty and staff. The new building would be constructed at 180, 256 and 260 Whitney Ave., 223 Prospect St. and 21 Sachem St. It is to contain a 500-seat lecture hall, underground labs, a roof greenhouse and a shared commons area.
Commissioners Marchand, Audrey Tyson, DiAdamo.
Westville Alder Adam Marchand, acting chair of the City Plan Commission, co-wrote the zoning amendment with President Walker — and urged his peers Thursday night to deny Yale’s project without prejudice, meaning they would be able to apply again.
“We do not have the authority to approve this. I think we should obey the ordinance,” he said.
City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg recommended commissioners approve the proposal but allow that any permits be contingent on alders’ approval of this year’s parking plan. “From the point of view of the site plan, it’s good to go,” she said. City Plan approval this month would “give the applicant some ability to move forward quickly should the board approve the plan.”
The proposed science building would not affect Yale’s parking plan, she said. None of the parties were quite sure how the site plan review got to City Plan Commission in the first place.
Walker demanded the commission follow the procedure laid out in the ordinance. She also promised Zucker to give a date that a joint alder committee would review the parking plan.
She referred to a letter from city Corporation Counsel John Rose saying commissioners were not allowed to take action until the alders had voted on the parking plan. Almost all of the alders had agreed to the new ordinance, she said, and both developers and commissioners should “respect” that fact.
City Plan Commissioner Kevin DiAdamo voted against the motion to deny Yale’s science building project, arguing it would set a precedent for a slower development process. Whether or not City Plan approves the site plan first, the public will get a chance to weigh in on the project during the parking plan review. He suggested they table the proposal instead and bring it back next month.
Instead, the three other commissioners voted to deny without prejudice.
Walker (right): Yale needs to follow the new rules.
Later, Zucker argued Marchand should have recused himself with a conflict of interest, since he had drafted the parking-review ordinance amendment. She said 280 construction jobs will now be delayed, if the project happens this year or at all.
She said she has asked repeatedly for a date for the joint committee meeting but never got one.
The parking plan itself came up later Thursday night for review — which stumped most of the commissioners, who did not know exactly what they were expected to say. City Plan staff had forgotten to get them Yale’s parking plan proposal, and at least two commissioners said they didn’t know what a parking plan is.
“What is it I’m voting on?” commissioner Leslie Radcliffe asked. “What in the plan are we supposed to be looking at?”
“Does it exist?” DiAdamo asked.
Marchand responded that the basic question commissioners were supposed to answer: “Is the overall parking plan for the science campus robust enough and include the right features that will make sure people who visit Yale have places to park?” The Board of Alders will form its own conclusions, but alders want advice from commissioners.
Gilvarg promised to get them copies of the plan and contextual information for the next meeting. Commissioners voted to table the vote until the next month.
GLAD....less noise and dust.....The city should say no to everything Yale wants until they have hired over a thousand folks from Dixwell and Newhallville and then some....until they pay for city services and infrastructure upkeep....until they start sharing that 26+ BBBBIllion with NH!!!!!!!