Thomas MacMIllan Photo
The land drops 30 feet from a Whalley retaining wall to West River.
A builder tried again to get the OK to construct over 100 apartments for the elderly on a strip of land by the curving West River in West Rock’s shadow — only to be shot down out of concerns about flooding.
The builder, Larry Waldorf, wants to construct a 124-unit elderly housing development on the narrow strip of land that falls steeply away from the north side of upper Whalley Avenue at the Hess Station and then falls down towards the West River between and Emerson and East Ramsdell Street.
Preliminary sketches of the proposed buildings.
On Wednesday night, his attorney and engineer tried to make the case that their plan had suitably addressed city concerns related to the siting and safety of a building so close to a river that historically has had flooding problems.
They failed. After a testy exchange that centered in part on whether the application merely recycled a 1999 application or had consistent and updated documentation, the commissioners voted unanimously to deny without prejudice both the site plan review and the required wetland review.
This means that the applicant can come back with a new application and a new approach.
“I respectfully disagree. We designed this plan based on your regulations. Engineering-wise, a new application won’t change. The river isn’t going to change. Hydraulics won’t, change,” said consulting engineer Robert Amantea of the DD Design Development Group, who represented Waldorf.
In 1999 and 2000, a plan was approved and foundations were even laid. However since then, city officials argued that regulations relating to the flood plain had tightened. Setback requirements from wetlands and watercourses are now 50 feet rather than the original 25 feet, according to the City Engineer Dick Miller.
A full house of commissioners remained skeptical.
Cheshire-based architect and planner John Torello, who was involved in the original application, reviewed what he called the extensive environmental, wetland, and structural engineering reviews that the plan reflects. “If you’re saying there’s a buffer area, we disagree. We meet the regulations,” he said Wednesday night. “All that’s changed is the state and city have widened Whalley.”
City planners stuck to their guns in concern about the coursing of the river so close to the proposed foundations. In a report, City Plan staff wrote: “It should be noted that the building clearly is located within the 50-foot buffer or setback area. The City Plan Commission has not previously approved a structure within the buffer. It has approved walkways, an occasional driveway, landscaping within the setback, or buffer. If a building including footings and foundations are placed in the regulated area, the commission cannot legitimately find that the regulated area will continue to absorb runoff or prevent flooding.”
City Plan chief Karyn Gilvarg conceded that “they have a lot of material,” but in her view it lacks a sufficient narrative to stitch it together and to address flood concerns.
She said very much wants new, tax-paying entities. “It’s not an impossible site, but you have to be careful and thorough,” she said.
After the meeting, a clearly disappointed Larry Waldorf said, “We have a complete application,” but did not say whether he will try again for approval.
Thank you Karyn, Dick, and other commissioners that took a correct line on this application. 50 feet is a minimum many cities and towns have much larger buffers. This sites hydrology will change with the removal of the Pond Lily damn upstream.