Allan Appel Photo
They came bearing laptops, photos, maps, and soil erosion projections. Their argument: an apartment complex for people with disabilities should not be built on this pristine site along the water in the Quinnipiac River.
Not least among their concerns: that local families will lose easy access to their riverine beach, and they will see an historic beech tree cut down.
That was the message Chris Ozyck, Ian Christmann, and other neighborhood homeowners brought to a meeting at City Hall Wednesday night of the Historic District Commission (HDC).
Before they could make their case, Gary DeWolf, architect for property owner and developer Continuum of Care withdrew the application.
But only for a technicality
“I’ll be back,” he said. He called the project an improvement over an earlier idea for the property, and one that will increase, not block, public access to the water.
It was the latest skirmish in a five-year-old debate over the use of this half acre between Aner and Oxford Streets on Quinnipiac Avenue.
Back in 2007 DeWolf, then representing a condominium developer of the site for a project called Oyster Shores, presented elevations for condos that were deemed too heavily massed and which alelgedly obstructed the water views of homeowners on the eastern side of the avenue. DeWolf revised the massing in a manner that pleased the HDC.
However that project fell through anyway, and the land was left undeveloped. Neighborhood families now use it as a local beach.
The new owner, Continuum Care, proposes a smaller structure at the south end of the property, two stories that comprise 11 one- and two-bedroom apartments, for a total of 5,500 square feet. DeWolf said the apartments will house people with disabilities acclimating a return to normal living.
By way of example, he suggested returning veterans who will live there under supervision. He said the tenants could be short term or permanent; he was not sure.
City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg said the presentation for a certificate of appropriateness from the HDC was withdrawn Wednesday because the zoning had to be secured first before an HDC certificate of appropriateness.
“494 Quinnipiac is in a BC zone [Commercial Marine]. Residential use requires a special permit through the City Plan Commission — public hearing. Need to do that first and then go to HDC,” she wrote in an email after the meeting.
In material that Ozyck prepared but did not present, he wrote that many in the community feel the structure is too large and institutional to be appropriate to the historic nature of the neighborhood.
DeWolf said the plans, which are in the early stages, call for a structure composed of a series of gabled rectangles. It is half the size of the Oyster Shores offering of five years ago.
Neighbors Chris Ozyck and Ellyn Higgins.
Ozyck’s prepared remarks called the massing “overpowering.” He called for the building to be separated into parts. As is, he said, that it will overpower the 1700s salt box house adjacent to the property.
The plans in his possession,he noted, further show that the ancient beech tree on the south side of the property would be lost.
Fair Haven Alderwoman Maureen O’Sullivan-Best, who huddled with neighbors in the hall after DeWolf’s departure, said the documents she has seen indicate the walkways down to the water’s edge are marked for tenants only.
Before he went off to consult with his client, DeWolf said the access to the beachfront will be for everyone and far more accessible than it is today.
Ozyck said that public access to the water is a right that must be guaranteed in new construction. He said he remains concerned about the erosion, about how the walkway will be secured, and about the high density and size of the structures.
He said he had no issue with the use of a building. “The most important thing is what the building looks like, not what happens inside,” he said.
Another neighbor present, Dan Kops, questioned the wisdom of having a population of people struggling with disabilities living beside a fast- running and potentially dangerous tidal river. He nodded to Ian Christmann, who recently paddled to the rescue of people floundering in the water.
The next step will be a public hearing on the zoning, likely before the Board of Zoning Appeals. Ozyck said he and his neighbors will be there.