Aliyya Swaby Photo
McDonald (at right): “Leave it.”
A scheduled kiss-and-make-up meeting between Dwight neighbors and the proposed builder of a new six-story 115-room Marriott Residence Inn turned into a mass denunciation of the plan — when the developer failed to show.
Developer Douglas Cohen of Newport Hotel Group had promised to meet with the Dwight Central Management Team Tuesday night after members convinced city zoners to put on hold approval of the planned extended-stay inn planned for Elm and Howe streets. The hotel group made two requests to bypass zoning codes — to install 215 instead of 267 parking spaces and to build a larger structure than permitted — which were the subject of three previous city zoning meetings. The Residence Inn, connected to the Courtyard Marriott Hotel on the Whalley side of the block, would target visitors planning on extended stays and include a mix of studio-style and one-bedroom suites with kitchenettes.
A rendition of the planned Residence Inn.
Dwight community members packed a Sept. 10 Board of Zoning Appeals meeting to speak out against the hotel, mainly because they said they had not been informed of the plan. The City Plan Commission voted on Sept. 18 to recommend against allowing the company to proceed with the project, in part because of the perceived lack of community involvement.
The developer’s lawyer had said a misunderstanding had prevented the developer from meeting with the Dwight group before the matter went to the zoning board and City Plan. So he agreed to show up Tuesday night at the regular monthly management team meeting at Amistad School on Edgewood Avenue to discuss the plan.
Then, earlier on Tuesday, Courtyard Marriott representatives instead sent an email to the team pushing their presentation to the next month’s meeting.
Community members at the meeting said this action was the latest dismissal in a series of actions snubbing Dwight input on the proposal, and they strategized their next steps in the process.
Curlena McDonald, co-chair of the management team, read aloud from the email sent by the developer’s attorney, Jim Perito. The email stated that the hotel group did not want to present to the team until it had incorporated all recent “suggestions” into the proposal.
“We would rather come to the management meeting with a plan that reflects those changes instead of an incomplete plan,” Perito wrote. (He could not be reached by the Independent Tuesday for further comment.)
In response to the email, Dwight neighbors expressed concern that the developer seemed to be prioritizing other individuals’ opinions over theirs. Almost 40 people attended Tuesday night’s meeting.
It seems like “they have made coming to the management team secondary,” said Dorthula Green (pictured), a member of the team. She said although outsiders might see Dwight opposition to the project as “a political move” or “bullying,” she believes “the level of disrespect [Newport Hotel Group] is showing to our community is a major concern.”
Most of the specific criticisms of the project revolve around worries that transit to the new residence inn would spike traffic jams and parking crunches in the area.
Yale student Alex Lew, who had introduced the question at an earlier zoning meeting, said Tuesday night he had not been satisfied with the response. “There’s no opportunity to ask them questions. …I wanted to ask, ‘What’s your basis?’”
Sheila Masterson, executive director of the Whalley Avenue Special Services District, who has in the past spoken in favor of the hotel plan, offered a hesitant warning that too much pushback could lose the community a lucrative tax-generating project.
“We need to be cognizant of the fact that Newport … could just as easily build in North Haven or West Haven or East Haven,” she said.
“That might be the best place for them if they can’t respect [us],” West River Alder Tyisha Walker said.
Others agreed with Walker that the development group should try harder to work with the Dwight community or just leave the neighborhood.
“I personally feel like, if they can’t respect the process, then shut it down and let them start from the beginning,” said Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton. McDonald went further, explaining that if the group’s attitude was “take it or leave it,” the community should just “leave it.”
The Board of Zoning Appeals meets again Oct. 14 to further discuss the proposal and zoning requests.
West River activist Stacy Spell stood up to urge people to stop ranting and start strategizing. “How are we going to handle this? What are we going to do to ensure that we have a line of communication?” he asked.
Linda Townsend Maier, who heads the Greater Dwight Development Corporation, suggested that the alders schedule a time to speak with the developers and pass along the community’s desire for the group to start the process from the beginning — this time with improved communication.
In the future, the alders should be more “proactive at getting in front of these things,” she said.
“Right. That’s why we’re here,” Dwight Alder Frank Douglass responded.
Florita Gillespie, chairwoman of the management team, called on everyone at Tuesday’s meeting to be present to speak out at the Oct. 14 zoning meeting. “Show up and speak up,” she said.
More tax dollars. More jobs for the community. More people buying things from businesses.
But all of that is on hold because some people have nothing better to do than complain?
Respect is a two-way street.