There’s a stretch of hillside and wetlands running down from Whalley Avenue into the West River in the shadow of West Rock, roughly between Emerson and Dayton streets.
You drive by it quickly because it’s on a curve right by the Hess gas station, and a stout knee-high wall keeps the occasional pedestrian passerby from toppling over and tumbling down the wooded incline into the river
You’d be forgiven quite easily for not knowing that someone’s been trying to build on that hard-to-build steeply sloping lot for going on 20 years.
At Wednesday night’s regular Zoom meeting of the City Plan Commission, West Rock Views, LLC, the owners of that property, which is technically 1155 Whalley Ave., won the right to take five more years to find a builder with a city-approved plan intact.
Joseph Williams of the Shipman & Goodman law firm was on hand to request the City Plan commissioners for the five-year extension on the site plan and inland wetlands approval that was granted back in April 2016. (Click here for a recent story on that request.)
They granted it quickly in a unanimous vote, but not before Williams reprised a quick history: Namely that the original application, dating back to 1999, foundered during many appearances before City Plan and had to go to Superior Court before approval was gained.
Back in 2013 the owner appeared requesting the site for a 124-unit complex for elderly housing. Commissioners were skeptical the site, with its closeness to the river and steep grades would be right for that use.
All kinds of questions percolated: Wouldn’t flooding occur if the West River swelled? And how could emergency vehicles get down there quickly enough? Seniors are in need of a place that is secure, safe, and easily accessible.
When commissioners balked time and again, the owner or then owner took the only recourse available to an applicant when the CPC definitely rejects a proposal. They went to Superior Court, and they won.
Coming back three years later, in 2016, the commissioners finally approved, but with 26 conditions to be met first before a shovel could go into the ground or a nail hammered.
“The number of conditions made it uncertain to attract a buyer,” Williams said at the end of his brief presentation. “To rectify that my client has been working hard to satisfy the conditions,” and all but two have been met.
Williams didn’t clarify which two, but with the removal of all the conditions, without the press of a deadline, the owners will be able to move ahead to find a builder, or a buyer.
Williams said the site conditions have not changed, that the owners continue to check the site and walk the property. And as long as nothing has materially changed there, legally everything has been met to receive an extension.
Commission Chair Ed Mattison, who, unlike many of the other commissioners, had been around long enough to be part of 1155 Whalley’s history, still had a question: “The federal government has been in the process of changing flood levels. Should they choose to change the flood plain level, you would have to meet that? Wouldn’t you agree our agreement is subject to that?
“Of course,” replied Williams. “One of the conditions of approval was to obtain a letter from FEMA that the property is out of the flood plain, and we did.If it changes, of course.”
The vote was unanimous, and previously Williams had sent in to the commission a check for $150, the fee for a five-year extension.
Flooding issues per FEMA and US Army Corp Of Engineers will increase with global warming changes in storm patterns.
Removal of trees and brush that provides habitats for wildlife, provides oxygen and removes co2 and pollution from the air, and helps soak up flood waters.
Whalley Ave vehicles versus pedestrians accidents are common with deaths occurring in that particular stretch. It's dangerous for elderly to cross that street in any area along its stretch.
This site is not optimal for all of the above reasons.