Macdowall Envisions Northern Hamden ​“Town Center”

Brad Macdowall watched Hamden’s town-gown relations fall apart, from two vantage points. Now he feels he can help bring both sides together to help Quinnipiac University and Hamden prosper together.

Macdowall was both a QU student and a town government intern in 2015 when the bottom fell out. QU’s then-president publicly sided with off-campus students who were trashing the neighborhood with drunken late-night parties; he redirected buses to take students shopping in North Haven rather than at the Magic Mile. The town’s then-council president dug in, as well, in blocking any QU efforts to expand, Macdowall recalled.

Now Macdowall, a 26-year-old third-generation Hamden resident (his grandfather was a deputy fire chief), sits on the Legislative Council, which he believes can help broker a ​“refreshed, renewed relationship” now that all sides have new leadership.

“Things are getting better,” Macdowall said during an appearance on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline Hamden” program.

QU has made more of an effort to press landlords to keep student renters in check and be better neighbors, Macdowall said. Now he’d like to see university administrators step in and personally have ​“conversations” with students who cause problems off campus. ​“Partying is one thing,” Macdowall said. ​“Trashing your neighbor’s lawn is another.”

Longer term, he’d like to see QU and the town work together to develop underused land along Whitney Avenue in the northern end of town to develop a mixed-use ​“town center.” That goal has emerged in the current deliberations over a new 10-year Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD).

“I envision five years down the road … sort of a downtown area. Restaurants. Bars. Shops. Apartments buildings above the shops,” Macdowall said.

“It grows our grand list. It gives people a place to stop in Hamden; we’re not giving people a reason to stop in Hamden. And it eases the student housing crisis.”

He cautioned that the university needs to expand ​“responsibly” and work with the town.

“I don’t want to see trees knocked down. But they certainly have a lot of property along Whitney Avenue that is being held as greenspace. To have greenspace along the main corridor … that everyone uses to get to Cheshire and Southington [and I‑91] … it handicaps the town. We need that property developed,” Macdowall said.

“If they develop it, they need to involve the town in that process. It needs to be done in a responsible way. I’m afraid a lot of the stuff they’ve done has not been responsible development. It can be done. “

Click on the video below for the full episode of WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline Hamden” with Council member Brad Macdowall, which includes discussion of pensions, the town budget, and the schools.