Nora Grace-Flood photo
The abandoned middle school at 560 Newhall St.
Hamden’s Legislative Council voted unanimously on Monday to extend a contract with a nonprofit affordable housing developer until April 30 — in order to take more time to decide whether to go through with builder’s proposal for a long blighted property at 560 Newhall St.
This is the third time in the last year that the Council’s postponed voting on whether or not to continue the relationship with nonprofit Mutual Housing Association of South Central Connecticut, the developer that has sought to construct affordable housing on the site of the abandoned Newhall middle school.
In July, the Council pushed the decision of whether or not to renew the soon-to-expire contract out to October, pending a fresh site proposal from the nonprofit after discovering new environmental restrictions on the property. In October, the Council decided to wait until Jan. 18 in order to secure more public input on the nonprofit’s revised plan. And on Jan. 10, a new Council said they needed yet another three months to dive into the issue and choose whether to move forward with Mutual Housing’s idea or to find another developer.
Mutual Housing still has to consent to the Council’s vote to wait until April to determine next steps — because the developer had put in a request to wait until March 31. In other words, the Council responded to Mutual Housing’s most recent ask for more time by giving them even more time than they asked for.
Click here, here, and here to read more about the town’s history with Mutual Housing, Southern Hamden’s hesitancy to invest in more affordable housing in disenfranchised neighborhoods, and the struggle to develop on the toxic soil underlying the Newhall Street site and surrounding land.
Then tune into the full Council’s April meeting to learn the fate of the contract — or, alternatively, to observe a fourth extension.
My child Jonah (now 31 years old) attended the Hamden Middle School at this site. Jonah started having seizures about a month after starting classes at the old Hamden Middle School. Jonah stopped having seizures almost as soon Jonah started classes at Hamden High School.
I also interviewed a young woman who wanted to work for me as a paralegal. She grew up in the neighborhood of the old Hamden Middle School. I told her about Jonah's seizures, and she told me that everyone in her family had health challenges until they moved away from that neighborhood. I am certainly not an expert. However, I don't believe that the property where the old Hamden Middle School was built has undergone sufficient environmental remediation.