City of New Haven
The city plans to ditch the small triangle at bottom right to make the whole red triangle possible.
The triangle of land is only 0.06 square miles. Yet without it, plans for an entire 70-unit apartment building near the Mill River might fall through.
The Board of Alders Community Development Committee decided on Wednesday that it is worth ceding control over a property that was doing so little for them now.
The committee voted unanimously to recommend that the full board give the Mill River parcel to the state. The state will then sell it to the company planning to develop the apartment complex, Fairfield-based developer Post Road Residential.
The matter now advances to the full Board of Alders for a final vote.
Post Road Residential has pitched a “Corsair II” as an extension of the apartment complex across the street at 1050 State Street.
The new complex would be at a lower price point than the existing apartments, with four “deeply affordable” units at 30 percent of the area median income (AMI) and 50 percent AMI. A family of four making 50 percent AMI would earn $51,450 a year.
“I walked an area about the size of a study. It was tiny and filled with trash. There is no productive use for it right now. That’s crystal clear to me,” said East Rock/Upper State Street Alder Charles Decker.
Decker is not a member of the Community Development Committee. However, those on the committee said they were convinced after hearing his testimony as the alder for the area.
The city can’t sell the 0.06 square mile parcel directly to the developer because of restrictions the state tied to that land in 1977. The state cleared the triangle as part of the I‑91 highway project. When the state did not need the land, the state sold it to the city for $100, as long as the city used it “for highway purposes only.”
When committee member and Dwight Alder Frank Douglass asked whether the state would let the city sell the triangle directly, city Economic Development Officer Carlos Eyzaguirre said state policy prevents that option. The state charges fair market value — in this case, around $10,000 — to remove restrictions on this kind of property.
The triangle is crucial to the future apartment’s parking lot.
Douglass asked a follow-up question: What difference would it make to New Haven tax rolls not to hand this property over?
“The short answer is it won’t happen without this land. We need a certain amount of parking for a potential project,” said Post Road developer and Goatville neighbor John McFadyen.
Much of the parking lot and a small corner of the apartment building would be cut off without the triangle. Adequate parking is already a concern of East Rock neighbors.
The other two parcels that would join with the triangle for the apartment project contribute about $25,000 to New Haven’s tax rolls. Fadyen estimates that the completed building will contribute about ten times that.
This is a no brainer for the city. The beat use of this land is as part of the housing complex in the area. Especially because it contributes lower rate housing to the city.