Jewish students will have a new meeting place, an abandoned house will be a home again, City Hall will run on green energy, a duck pond will get a new life, and biofuels may start coming out of New Haven Harbor.
That’s all thanks to votes by the City Plan Commission Wednesday night at its regular monthly meeting in City Hall.
Chabad OK’d
Commissioners gave the green light to a plan that will convert a former frat house into the new student center of the Chabad Lubavitch movement for the Yale community.
The approval came one week after members of the Board of Zoning Appeals OK’d the plan.
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a site plan review of the project, with no discussion.
477 Prospect To Rise Again
Commissioners also voted unanimously to approve the sale of a circa-1880s Queen Anne-style house on Prospect Street. After years of abandonment, the building is being sold by the city to Pike International, LLC, which plans to turn it into three rental apartments.
Fuel Cell Powered Up
The City Plan Commission also approved a 10-year agreement between the city and UTC Power Corporation, which will result in the installation of 400 kilowatt fuel cell behind City Hall.
The fuel cell will provide heating and cooling and save the city money while being better for the environment, according to city officials.
Duck Pond To Get New Gates
The duck pond in Edgewood Park will be cleaner after the installation of new tide gates on the West River, city engineer Dick Miller told the City Plan Commission. That was just before the commission voted to green-light the project.
The new gates will provide “better flushing action” for the pond, Miller said. That will improve water quality, and it might mitigate the invasive encroachment of phragmites, he said.
BioFuels Fired Up
Pending final approval by the Board of Zoning Appeals, New Haven Harbor will soon by the site of a new biodiesel fuel facility. The company plans to bring in used vegetable oil by barge and by rail and convert it into fuel. Commissioners approved the plan unanimously.
Yikes - Pike international- aka Apple Management- I fully expect this Queen Ann to be disrobed and violated.