Melissa Bailey Photo
The biggest downtown development in a generation was hurtling to approval when this woman stopped it with two words: “notice defect.”
Attorney Marjorie Shansky (pictured) uttered those words at the Aldermanic Chambers of City Hall Thursday evening.
Aldermen were poised to vote on two proposals: A zone change and a development deal — that would enable the city to move forward with the first phase of the Downtown Crossing project. The proposals would pave the way for developer Carter Winstanley’s proposed 100 College Street biomedical building to straddle the filled-in mini-highway-to-nowhere just east of the Air Rights Garage.
In a public hearing of the aldermanic Legislation Committee, Attorney Shansky dropped a bomb: She said the proposed zone change is on faulty footing because the city failed to give proper legal notice of the ramifications of the law. The legal notice was “defective,” she argued.
Shansky spoke in support of the Urban Design League, a watchdog group led by Anstress Farwell that has often taken a critical stance of city development. Because Winstanley’s team felt the revelation posed a potential legal problem, city economic development chief Kelly Murphy suggested aldermen send the zone change back to the City Plan Commission and delay the vote on the development deal to later date.
Aldermen agreed to do that. The development deal was delayed because it’s predicated on the zone change.
Officials said they hadn’t made the notice error. But developer Winstanley was worried that a legal challenge based on the notice could tie him up with banks. So officials agreed to the new delay.
Ten-story 100 College (pictured in above artist’s rendering) and the street changes surrounding it are the first $135 million phase of Downtown Crossing. The larger plan is to fill in the Route 34 Connector mini-highway with streets and new development. Click here and here for past stories on the topic.
Click here for a recent story on the most recent hearing, when City Hall agreed to clarify controversial language in the development deal that appears to give Winstanley veto power over how the city designs nearby streets.
Labor, business and community groups filled the chambers for back-to-back meetings Thursday night: A meeting of the Legislation Committee at 6 p.m. about the zoning map, and a joint Finance-Legislation meeting about Winstanley’s development deal.
In the first hearing, several people raised concerns about increasing traffic and pollution; they questioned whether the estimated 2,000 jobs created by the project would go to New Haveners. In the second, nearly three-hour hearing, most people praised 100 College Street for boosting the tax base, creating jobs, and putting New Haven on the map as a business-friendly town.
Others focused on a community benefit included in the deal: Winstanley promises to contribute $150,000 toward creating an educational and job training program for New Haveners to develop young people for careers in the “Medical Office/Research and Life Sciences Industry.” That’s part of the emerging “jobs pipeline” being pushed by the Board of Aldermen’s pro-labor majority. Opponents of Downtown South have criticized pro-labor aldermen for lining up behind the plan without asking tougher questions — at a time the developer, Winstanley, offered this money to a project they’re supporting.
A live blog of Thursday evening’s hearings follows.
6:11 p.m. East Rock Alderwoman Jessica Holmes, chair of Legislation Committee, opens the meeting. There will be a presentation by the city and developer, as well as some time carved out for Anstress Farwell at the Urban Design League, a critic of the project.
6:14 There’s a pretty good turnout here, in addition to eight aldermen. Some community activists, local businesspeople, and a bunch of city officials. Tonight is the first big aldermanic vote for the plan. It will test how a new supermajority of aldermen, many of them new to the board, handles a major development deal. (Most appear poised for approval.)
6:19 Deputy Zoning Director Tom Talbot outlines the proposed zone change.
The city wants this “submarine-shaped” swath of downtown changed from into a new the Central Business/Mixed Use District/BD‑3 zone at and around 100 College Street.
The BD‑3 zone will allow high-tech and medical businesses. It allows for residential uses, too. It allows for more dense residential buildings, as well as live-work loft space in new buildings. BD‑3 also lowers the parking requirement from 1 to 1/2 of a parking space per “dwelling unit.”
The FAR (floor-area ratio) would be 6.0. That means for every square foot of property, you can build 6 square feet of building.
6:30 Holmes invites Anstress Farwell (pictured) of the Urban Design League up to talk as an expert on the topic. This appears to be a change brought in by the new leadership of the board — letting someone considered an outside critic get a prime-time spot at an official public hearing.
6:36 The presentation has been stalled due to technical problems.
We’re on to the public hearing.
6:38 Realtor/developer John Wareck: This district has been a “road to nowhere for too many years.” It’s very important to the city to create nearly 4,000 jobs and do anything we can to help support the tax base. In this year of property revaluation, dozens of homes are going on the market because people can’t afford a hike in their tax bills. 100 College and the BD‑3 Zone will be a big boost for the tax base.
6:40 James Alexander, of Edgehill Road: BD‑3 is just the sort of legislative initiative that would be business-friendly, high-tech friendly, the sort of direction the city should be moving in. I hope the board scrutinizes “what the executive branch gives you” in terms of land use deals. The board should be involve in creating these regulations. They do seem to represent significant benefit to developers.
Alexander: Let’s make sure the businesses in the BD‑3 zone are on the taxable portion of the grand list. New Haven won’t benefit unless the buildings are not in the grand list (the list of taxable property).
“We need investment that will be taxable,” Alexander says.
6:44 Bill Placke, of City Point, president of START Bank: “This is critically important for the city.” I believe that the engines of growth for this city are in the knowledge industry. We should not fail to attract entities who will make that industry even stronger. “I believe this project might help our fledgling bank become stronger.”
6:49 Ohan Karagozian, co-chair of Democratic ward committee in Hill North: We’re not seeing this as clearly as everyone else is. I don’t want to be committed either way until I know a little bit more.
6:51: Lynne Fusco, of Guilford, president of Fusco Corporation: Fusco owns Temple Medical Center, which would be part of BD‑3, too. Temple employs about 700 people, including researchers, and sees over 500 visitors per day. The new zone would help businesses grow.
6:54: A tenant at Temple Medical Center backs up Fusco’s remarks. The company does research in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, has grown a lot in that building, and welcomes the zone change.
6:56: More folks are filing into the room, including construction workers recruited by Nichole Jefferson at the city’s Commission on Equal Opportunities.
6:57: Frank Panzarella of West River: “Why are we giving away land in a city where we have such tremendous costs?”
Holmes notes that he’s off-topic. This meeting is about zoning. Those remarks should be reserved for the second meeting.
Panzarella: I can’t wait that long. I’ll try a synopsis. Asthma is a serious problem. The new zoning might bring in more jobs, but not jobs for New Haveners — instead, commuters from the suburbs bringing in exhaust and traffic.
“This is not what we call creating a livable city.” He’d rather spend money on creating lasting jobs for New Haveners.
7:02: Paula Panzarella (married to Frank), also of West River: The “trenches” of the Frontage roads divide neighborhoods, create turf wars. However, the new plans don’t knit together neighborhoods. We do need more medical businesses — to deal with all the pollution that these plans are going to cost.
7:05: Developer Winstanley, economic development chief Kelly Murphy and other city staff are huddling in the other room while the public hearing takes place.
7:09: Gene Festa: “Aldermen would be abdicating their fiscal responsibility” if they allow the land to go towards tax-free entities.
7:13: City Hall staffer Matt Smith just pulled City Plan Chief Gilvarg aside. I’m not sure what’s going on.
Lots of business folks mulling around the doorway now.
7:15: Judy Sparer, of Brownell St, works at 135 College, adjacent to where this will take place. Building occupies corner between George and the Route 34 connector. Someone was killed (med student Mila Rainof) not far away. There’s a lot of foot traffic in that area already. I would like to see anything that’s developed there have the type of businesses that people who work there could take advantage of. Where we could get lunch without having to cross major highways. I would like to see better foot access to the train station. My primary concern is the safety of putting more traffic on those arterial roads.
7:20: Andrew Esposito, president of New Haven Building Trades, and Frank J. Halloran, secretary-treasurer, stand 100 percent behind the zoning change so they can put their people to work. Halloran: We have hundreds of members in New Haven in the 15 trades that we represent.
7:27: Attorney Marjorie Shansky sits down at the table. She says zoning doesn’t create jobs — development does. The zoning should be done in a way that seeks to create pedestrian-friendly development. The hard product on the plan doesn’t achieve that goal. There’s a “notice defect” in the zoning proposal: While it has the zoning district, it also refers to related amendments — changes in other business districts, in residential districts.
Shansky just dropped a bomb. She’s arguing that the city’s legal notice was defective because it purported to concern only the BD‑3 zone — the citywide implications weren’t made clear. If the notice is flawed, the action is voidable.
“Substantively, we could do better, and procedurally, we must,” Shansky says.
7:37:Economic development chief Kelly Murphy: We request the item be sent back to City Plan Commission and have a public hearing there.
Perez: How did this happen in the 11th hour?
John Ward, special counsel in the economic development administration: We believe the legal notice was proper.
Murphy: The city is comfortable with the procedure, but Winstanley’s team said a legal challenge to the zone change could hurt his ability to get a loan from the bank. So the city deferred to his wishes — it’s better to be safe than sorry.
East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker: At the City Plan Commission, we discussed the other ramifications of the zone change. It wasn’t a secret.
Gilvarg: That’s true. But “in an abundance of caution,” we’re willing to take the item back to City Plan.
7:43: Aldermen vote to move the zone change bill back to City Plan. First meeting adjourned.
In a recess, the room is abuzz with talk about what just happened.
Winstanley shakes hands of folks in the construction trades and chats with other movers and shakers.
Anstress Farwell tells Murphy that it’s better to deal with the legal problem now instead of later.
“You got what you wanted,” says Alderman Elicker to an opponent of the plan.
8:00: Hill Alderwoman Andrea Jackson-Brooks opens the second meeting, of the joint Finance-Legislation Committee. She says there will be no vote tonight. Members of the public are welcome to speak, but they’ll get another chance later, when the matter is taken up again, she says.
8:09: A group from the Career Development School, run by the city’s Commission on Equal Opportunities, pleads for the development deal in order for more jobs for New Haveners.
8:13: Schools superintendent Reggie Mayo (pictured) stands in support. It will bring jobs for the people of this city.
Rich Therrien, schools science supervisor, points to a part of the development deal to train students in science in math careers.
Winstanley promises to contribute $150,000 toward the establishment of an educational and job training program for New Haveners to “foster the skill necessary to secure positions in” the “Medical Office/Research and Life Sciences Industry.” The program would be created by the city, the Board of Ed, the Workforce Alliance, Gateway Community College, and the Economic Development Corporation.
8:18: Gateway prez Dorsey Kendrick takes the podium, with Gateway students in tow.
Student Tyler Harris (pictured) applauds the chance for more job opportunities.
Michael Buccilli, director of career services for Gateway: Gateway already created a pipeline of jobs for the nursing field. “I see 100 College St. as our next opportunity. We can’t pass this up.”
8:30: Shafiq Abdussabur, city cop and youth worker who also runs a construction company that did work on Winstanley’s project at 25 Science Park, says the project will present good opportunities for jobs.
8:40 Barbara Campbell of Yale’s Office of New Haven and State Affairs reads a letter of support.
Karen DuBois-Walton, head of city housing authority: Work-eligible families in public housing can take advantage of the jobs provided by 100 College St. Some residents (like Yul Watley) have their own businesses. “They stand ready for other jobs beyond the housing authority jobs.”
Anne Worcester, head of Market New Haven and the New Haven Open at Yale tennis tourney: This project says New Haven is a forward-thinking city. A project like this says “New Haven is on the move, New Haven is open for business.” That will attract more economic activity.
8:46: Matthew Nemerson, chairman of the New Haven Parking Authority, and president/CEO of Connecticut Technology Council: “We have to remember how fortunate we are” to have a development tied to a major university. A lot of other cities would like that.
8:57: Daniel DelPrete, who manages two bars, Wicked Wolf and Black Bear on Temple Street: Wicked Wolf had to close for lunch because there wasn’t enough business. He and his wife live in New Haven. They hope the project will bring more customers to support their business — and help them support their four kids.
Will Ginsberg, head of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, speaks in a personal capacity: From 1984 to ‘88, he served as development administrator for the City of New Haven. Went on to work for Science Park and the Clinton Administration. “We cannot achieve any of our objectives as a community without continuing to focus on economic growth.” New Haven has come so far in the last generation. “100 College St. is indispensable to continuing our momentum.” Our decision about it will define our arc — up or down — of our economic future. The decision you face is critical. Strongly urge the project to proceed.
Representatives from the Omni and CA White add their support.
9:10: Anne Haynes, head of the Economic Development Corporation: The joint training effort with Gateway and the Board of Ed is one of the most important parts of the development deal. It will develop “future job-holders.” She brings letters of support from 12 companies and not-for-profits.
9:15: Cafe owner Paula Konareski talks about how Winstanley persuaded her to move her business to his building at 300 George St. She started Cafe George By Paula 10 years ago. As promised, he filled the building. When the number of tenants dipped, “Carter lowered my rent.” “He works with his tenants. He comes through on every promise he makes.” After being very skeptical, “I trust him now.”
Win Davis of the Town Green Special Services District, Tony Rescigno of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, and another tenant at 300 George come forward in support.
9:20: Your blogger is taking a break.
10:04:Comments have been mostly supportive. Many emphasize jobs. Some personal stories from Yul Watley and George Cunningham, both of whom lead homegrown construction companies and are hoping for work on 100 College. The NAACP stands in support, too.
10:14: One alder is rubbing her eyes. Another is fading — “All I had was a Nutrigrain bar.”
10:19: Meeting adjourned. The public hearing will be continued at a later date.
Better safe than sorry; I guess there was no choice but to send it back to the Planning Commission. It is shocking that the City administration managed to make this type of mistake on a project that has been in the works so long.
I do think the project, though not perfect, deserves the support of the Aldermen. It will help with our taxes - and we need that.