Fair Haven Health Parking Plan Advances

A health center’s plan to rezone a Fair Haven block to allow for more parking, and eventually a larger medical campus, moved ahead — despite city staff’s initial recommendation of denial.

Local land-use commissioners took that vote Wednesday during the latest regular monthly meeting of the City Plan Commission, which was held online via Zoom. 

The commissioners voted in support of Fair Haven Community Health Care’s application to the Board of Alders to rezone 81, 83, 85, and 87 Woolsey Street from an RM‑2 zone (indicating a high-middle density residential area) to a BA‑1 zone (indicating a mixed-use business area). 

The zone change, if approved by the full Board of Alders, would connect a piece of the residential Woolsey Street block to the BA‑1 zone on Grand Avenue, where the community health center’s headquarters currently sit. That’s also where Fair Haven Community Health Care plans to build a new three-story medical and community building between James and Lloyd Street. The requested zoning change would allow the clinic to build 57 parking spaces for patients at the new medical building.

Ahead of Wednesday’s commission meeting, the City Plan Department drafted a staff report that recommended that the local land-use body issue an unfavorable recommendation regarding the zone change. 

In that report, city staff expressed concern over the potential for the lot to be changed to commercial businesses in the future. The report warns that ​“rezoning four parcels in the middle of a medium-density residential street could create significant disruption and nuisance for the neighborhood in the future, should the use as surface parking lot be changed.”

The clinic’s attorney, Meaghan Miles, noted during Wednesday’s meeting that during the process of obtaining federal funding for the project, Fair Haven Community Health Care signed a land covenant that would require the rezoned area to be used as a parking lot. That would hold true even if the parcels are sold. 

In order to remove that requirement, Miles said, the federal government would need to sign off. ​“The clinic has been at this site for over 50 years,” Miles said. 

Fair Haven Community Health Care CEO Suzanne Lagarde told the commission that the clinic treats 32,000 patients each year ​“regardless of a person’s ability to pay,” including many neighborhood residents, uninsured patients, and undocumented patients. ​“We currently work out of buildings built in the mid-1800s. For the first time… we are hoping, we are dreaming to build a state of the art healthcare facility which this community needs, and I would argue, deserves,” said Lagarde. 

A handful of New Haveners testified before the commission in support of the zone change. Many attested to a need for more parking in the area. One person, meanwhile, testified against the change.

Denise Delgado, a 30-year Fair Haven resident who lives on Woolsey Street across from the clinic’s proposed parking lot, said she has family members who obtain medical care from the clinic, and ​“they always say parking has been a concern to them.” 

“I see people who work at the clinic walking down the street at night. It’s dark outside, and it’s a concern to them also,” Delgado said. ​“I think making the changes will be good for the community.”

Urban design activist Anstress Farwell asked whether the clinic had attempted ​“parking demand management” strategies like offering bus passes to staff. ​“There’s real jeopardy in expanding the BA zone… What’s to prevent other businesses along Grand Avenue to say that they have a special case?” she asked.

Local restaurateur Miguel Pittman Sr. echoed a version of this question. ​“I do support it. I think Fair Haven Health is doing an excellent job and they offer services that’s needed in the community,” he said. ​“But would it set a precedent for other not-so-engaging businesses to change zoning? Does this fall under the umbrella of ​‘spot zoning’?”

Miles answered that changing the zone for the four Woolsey Street parcels would be a ​“standalone map change” and would not set a precedent for the rest of the block. ​“The clinic does implement parking demand management strategies” such as work-from-home policies for staff, she said, and the health center partners with other parking lots in the area to provide spaces for employees; the new parking spaces would be primarily for patients of the clinic, she said.

“This is not a 24 hour clinic. It has regular business hours,” Miles added. ​“After hours, this parking lot can be utilized by the neighbors.” Commissioner Edwin Martinez gave her a thumbs up from within his Zoom square.

Miles explained that city staff had initially recommended that the clinic pursue a zone map change before the City Plan Commission rather than ask for an exception from the Board of Zoning Appeals to allow for front-yard parking, which the city said would likely not pan out in the clinic’s favor. She argued that a map change was warranted to reflect the presence of a centralized health care campus on that Fair Haven block.

Ultimately, the commissioners voted unanimously to recommend that alders approve the zone change, while noting hesitations about the potential long-term ramifications of the decision.

City Plan Commissioner and Westville Alder Adam Marchand said that given the land covenant requirement that the lots be used as parking, ​“I’m not terribly worried” about alternate future uses of the land.

“I have reservations about this,” said Commissioner Carl Goldfield, ​“because you are taking over a residential area and turning it into parking and we’re doing that on a spotty basis. … I think Fair Haven Health does a great job, so I’m hesitant to deny what they’re trying to do here, but I’m worrying about the future. I’m struggling with this.”

Chair Leslie Radcliffe echoed this concern, but said she ultimately supported the zone change. ​“The expansion of this medical campus is a great thing and it’s greatly needed. It allows residents to access medical care,” she said, adding that ​“something that could be very contentious has been very well received” by the neighborhood.