Paul Bass Photos
Neighbors forced Randy Salvatore to change the six-story building he’s putting up at Chapel and Howe Street — making the project better, in his view.
At least that’s what Salvatore (pictured at right) told a room full of lawyers and activists assembled to figure out how developers can work with, rather than against, neighborhoods in New Haven.
The lunch gathering took place Tuesday at the Graduate Club. Sponsored by the New Haven County Bar Association, it featured a top elected official, a top preservationist, a neighborhood-management team leader … and Salvatore, a Stamford builder in the process of transforming a one-time red-light district, the corner of Chapel and Howe.
Salvatore’s 53,000-square-foot project (pictured at the top of the story) — called the Novella — consists of apartments atop storefronts. The building’s going up fast; he said he expects it to open in June.
The road was bumpier at first, when he sought public approvals. Neighbors organized against it. Months of negotiation followed. In the end Salvatore agreed to move a century-old home 20 feet down the block rather than demolish it. He changed the facade of his plan to include more glass and emphasize retail. He added a storefront at the corner.
“It’s a lot better of a project” now, he said. The changes increased his costs, but it was worth it, he said.
Moderator Logue, Perez, and Wooster Square Management Team chair Kevin Coughlin.
That was one of several success stories cited by name at the panel. Board of Alders President Jorge Perez repeatedly spoke of the success of “Max”—developer Max Riem, who’s building a $500 million new urbanist mini-city atop the grave of the old Coliseum. Reim met for more than a year with alders and neighborhood management teams. He incorporated their wishes into his final design. The project sailed to approval, with an unusual lack of community dissent.
Therein lies a lesson for developers, Perez said: “You should not decide who the neighborhood’s leaders are. The neighborhood decides who the neighborhood’s leaders are. You’ve got to win them over.”
Anstress Farwell of the Urban Design League (pictured with Salvatore), a prominent voice at development hearings, cited another success story: The expansion of a power plant on the East Shore. She spoke of how, armed with a state law requiring community input, environmental-justice advocates negotiated concessions — like the retrofitting of diesel trucks — that enabled the plant to avoid increasing pollution in the area.
Land-use attorney Marjorie Shansky helped organize the event.
Of course, not all is always sweet and light between developers and neighbors, especially in New Haven. Farwell brought up the Continuum of Care/Route 34 West project, which some neighbors criticized as too car-centric and for allegedly ignoring certain groups in the planning process.
That prompted other speakers to ask how a builder can decide who is the true representative of a neighborhood, or how to react when, in the middle of a process, new voices demand changes.
“This is all touch-feely about cooperation,” remarked attorney James Segaloff, who represents developers before city agencies. “I agree with it. But neighborhoods should understand developers. Developers are putting their money into this community.
“I have a problem with some people who aren’t even from the neighborhood and show up at every meeting and have a problem with every project. You know who you are.”
Segaloff (pictured at left) advised the unnamed alleged naysayers (whose identities were clear to at least some in the room) to “just lighten up a bit rather than immediately going after ‘parking in my back yard.’”
Moderator William Logue, an attorney who specializes in mediation in development cases, disagreed with the “touch-feely” characterization of meeting early and often with neighbors. “Breaking bread” makes it easier to strike a deal, he said. “Respect is like air: When you have plenty of it, you rarely think about.” But if you don’t have it, “That’s all you think about.”