Allan Appel Photo
Officials cut a ribbon but failed to cut through a fence in order to complete the city’s latest affordable housing initiative in West Rock.
Those two facts were on display Wednesday at 6bShirley Way in the new Rockview public-housing development as the foot of West Rock. City and Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH) leaders conducted a ribbon-cutting ceremony there attended by two dozen people, including builders and former and future residents, like Shirley Banks (pictured with the Mayor John DeStefano).
They were celebrating the completion of the $33 million Rockview Phase I development of 77 affordable homes. They includes 37 two-bedroom, 36 three-bedroom and four four-bedroom homes.
This new community replaces the crime and neglect-plagued Rockview that the housing authority torn down in 2003. It’s a follow-up to the new community built on the site of the demolished old Brookside homes nearby. The first ten families will move into Rockview within a few weeks, to the shining new units with a range five building designs that looks similar to the now fully occupied Brookside.
The construction is the next step in the $200 million West Rock Revitalization Project, which aims to replace Rockview and Brookside with less dense, mixed-income developments.
The contentious fence borders Rockview and Woodin Street in Hamden.
Both developments still face challenges that plagued their demolished predecesors: isolation in a far corner of New Haven with few stores and a long fence, sometimes called a “Berlin Wall,” that separates both developments from access to Hamden’s streets and businesses.
That was the elephant in the new development Wednesday.
Officials would have also liked to say that, like the red ribbon, the high green fence will soon cut down to make way for connecting roads as well as driveways from the future homes onto Hamden’s Woodin Street in the next Rockview phase. That next face the building of eight home ownership units on property (pictured) facing the avenue through the fence.
But officials never managed to convince Hamden to remove the fences. The moral indignation that flared in August last year at a raucous community meeting about the fence, seems to be simmering again.
That meeting produced a committee representing the two towns. It met monthly for a year to evolve shared community events, a shared police plan.
Rockview Developer Goldman and HANH’s DuBois-Walton.
The didn’t do the trick. When HANH applied for driveway permits for the first eight home ownership units, for driveways “through” the fence onto Woodin Street, they were denied, reported HANH Executive Director Karen DuBois-Walton.
“We have done a lot of research and consider the fence is on our property. We consider it illegal construction. We’ve written to the town of Hamden [two months ago]. We requested, ‘Please remove it,’” she said before the ceremonies began.
“[There was] no response. We weren’t allowed to get driveway permits. We designed it [the homes facing Woodin Street] for the comfort of Hamden residents in mind. We’re thinking our next step is legal, to file a law suit.”
Mayor DeStefano, who backed off pushing Hamden to take the fence down a year ago for the committee-study option, also opined about the results. The meetings “didn’t change people’s attitude in a meaningful way,” he said.
Rockview looks similar to the completed Brookside, but the hillier terrain made ramping the handicapped units more challenging, said architect Ken Boroson.
“The fence is illegal. It’s on our property and Hamden has to remove it. Where else in Hamden do you have property where you can’t put in a driveway? Unheard of. That’s ridiculous. There’s no legal basis. It’s unfortunate it’s come to this,” he added.
Reached by phone after the ceremony, Hamden Mayor Scott Jackson said he has attended (and been invited) to every Brookside or Rockview ribbon-cutting event. A senior citizen event prevented him from being at the Rockview ribbon-cutting.
As to the dispute: “I’ve put it [the fence] in the hands of our capable attorney on this. We have engaged the firm of Howd and Ludorf. I’ll talk about process. The fence is an asset. The disposition of a publicly owned property has to go through a process. I have no interest in fighting Karen, Mayor DeStefano, or the city of New Haven, but there are processes. I can guarantee access to process. I will not guarantee outcome.”
In the meantime, land was being cleared for construction near the new the Rockview homes.
The first eight to ten families will move in in staggered fashion over the next weeks. All remaining 67 or future residents have been identified and are in the process of being processed, said HANH Project Director Shenai Draughn.
The $33 million is being paid through 9 percent low-income housing tax credits from the state; a $2.3 million loan from the state; a $5.9 million grant from HANH; and $15.9 million in equity from TD Bank