Run, Pray, Transmit

In West Hills, Hindus will pray. In Newhallville, children will play. In Fair Haven, wireless data will fly.

That’s thanks to actions taken by the City Plan Commission at its monthly meeting Wednesday night.

The commission approved the conversion of a banquet hall into a new Hindu temple on Lily Pond Avenue, the transformation of a parking lot into a playing field on Elizabeth Street, and the installation of new cellular antennae on top of the Erector Square building on Peck Street.

The temple and the playing field passed unanimously. The antennae prompted a solitary dissenting vote, from East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker. He called the antennae unsightly and should not be encouraged, not when there are ways to disguise them.

The playing field item awaits final approval by the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Pray On

Hasu Patel (at left in photo) is a representative of the Gujarati Samaj, the organization which owns the Belvedere banquet hall on Pond Lily Avenue. He said the banquet hall was not making any money in the recession. The new temple — one of only five in Connecticut — is to be funded by donations from a local congregation of 100 to 150 people, he said. The group also has a sister temple in New Jersey, which is providing financial support, he said.

Prayer services will be offered three times a day, seven days a week, Patel said. A Hindu priest has arrived from India to oversee the temple, he said.

The conversion will take place without altering the building’s floor plan, explained City Plan staffer Joy Ford on Wednesday night.

Commissioners had some pointed questions about the number of people who will be using the space. Patel acknowledged that a celebration of the ​“Indian New Year” three weeks ago brought 400 people to the Belvedere. The fire department crashed the party when it realized how many people were there. Patel said there was a misunderstanding with permitting.

“What about the next Indian New Year?” Ford asked.

“That may be something that has to be cut down,” responded Murray Trachten (at right in photo), attorney for Gujarati Samaj.

Patel said a celebration is planned for this weekend. It will have a maximum of 100 people, he promised.

Karyn Gilvarg, head of the City Plan Department, said the city building inspector told her there would be only 50 people this weekend. ​“We need to say what we mean and mean what we say,” she said.

Patel said the building is currently being rented by a Hindu arts and culture organization from New Jersey. A visit to the building on Thursday found a couple of men, one of whom said, ​“This is a Hindu temple.”

Game On

The City Plan Commission also approved a proposal by Achievement First, which would allow fewer parking spaces than are required at the not-for-profit’s Dixwell Avenue charter high school, Elm City College Prep. The plan calls for the organization to buy two adjoining properties, convert them to parking lots, and transform it’s existing parking lot into a playing field.

It’s a plan that was met with some consternation by neighbors at last week’s Board of Zoning Appeals meeting. Locals expressed their displeasure with current conditions during dismissal, when, they said, buses block their one way street.

But that’s neither here nor there, when it comes to the parking lot plan, since the bus situation will not be affected by the parking lot swap, City Plan Commissioners decided.

“Did they solve the bus-loading problem?” asked City Plan Commission Chair Ed Mattison, on Wednesday.

“No,” replied Tom Talbot, Deputy Director of Zoning. ​“This project has no impact on the bus-loading situation.”

The school is working with neighbors on a solution to the bus blockage, Gilvarg said.

The item passed unanimously with no further discussion. The Board of Zoning Appeals will make a final decision on the matter next month.

Ugly, But Legal

Jennifer Herz (pictured), lawyer for a company trying to put new antennae atop Erector Square, was back for the third time before the City Plan Commission on Wednesday. It proved to be the charm.

Her Hartford firm’s client, Clear Wireless LLC, seeks to a install three antennae, two dishes, and a GPS antenna on the building. The new devices will be attached to an existing rooftop lattice, as part of Sprint’s new 4G wireless network.

The first time Herz appeared before the commission, in September, the board asked her to ​“screen” the new antennae, to try to make it more visually appealing.

The second time, in October. she came back with plans for a 73-foot-high enclosure for the lattice. Commissioners didn’t like it.

On Wednesday, her third time, she simply argued that the Erector Square location was chosen so as to adhere to the city’s own regulations about antennae placement. Namely, that they should be co-located with others when possible, and should ​“minimize visual effect through proper design,” Herz wrote in a letter to the commission. The lattice already exists at Erector Square, it’s an industrial building, and the railroad tracks are right there, thus the visual effect is minimal, she argued.

Alderman Elicker, a commissioner, said that he has been duly impressed with how stealthily Clear Wireless has been able to conceal other antennae in East Rock, by putting them in church steeples, or low and out of sight on rooftops. Since the company can install them in such discreet ways, they should do so in this case, rather than add to an unappealing antenna cluster on Erector Square, he said.

“If something exists that’s not attractive, we shouldn’t be approving something that’s going to make it worse,” he said. ​“I plan to vote no.”

Herz responded that Clear Wireless is following the city’s own regulations. The company is also limited by the fact that it will be leasing space from Erector Square and can’t therefore build something new.

“The change you’re proposing is a trivial thing,” Mattison said to her. It would be nice if the commission could go back and and prevent the big lattice from being installed to begin with, he said. ​“I just don’t think this is the appropriate forum to do that.”

Elicker said approval would perpetuate the problem of unsightly antenna.

“I hear your point,” said Herz. ​“It puts us in a very difficult position.” Clear Wireless has complied with city regulations, she said. ​“I don’t think that’s something we should be penalized for.”

The commission voted three to one to approve the antenna installation, with Elicker the lone dissenting vote.