Thomas MacMillan Photo
As a Newhallville activist branded them “thieves” trying to set up a “banana republic,” developers convinced the City Plan Commission to advance a $40 million revitalization of a shuttered rifle factory and dormant neighborhood gateway.
The harsh words Wednesday night came from Pastor Scott Marks (pictured above), who heads a church on Dixwell Avenue. He was one of several members of the Dixwell and Newhallville communities who showed up at the monthly meeting of the City Plan Commission at City Hall. He was joined by Rev. Boise Kimber and State Rep. Gary Holder Winfield and others, who decried a lack of community input in a plan to renovate and develop the site of the former Winchester Arms factory at the corner of Winchester Avenue and Munson Street. Among other tenants, the building would house a growing local employer hoping to stay in town, Higher One.
Developer Carter Winstanley was at the meeting to ask for permissions that would allow him to turn the old rifle factory into a mixed-use complex. He’s teaming up on the project with the Science Park Development Corporation and the Forest City Enterprises development company. The first phase of the plan would renovate and connect two existing parts of the factory to create new headquarters for Higher One.
Despite the community opposition that came out at the tense three-hour meeting, the commission voted to recommend the approval of Winstanley’s plan by the Board of Aldermen. The aldermanic Legislation Committee will take up the matter next Thursday, in advance of a vote by the full board.
Not all neighbors opposed the plan. One, Joe Covington, whose family worked in the old rifle plant, said he and his fellow condo owners across the street look forward to new spin-off economic opportunities from a transformation of the building.
Winstanley (pictured) was joined at the meeting by David Silverstone, head of the board at the Science Park Development Corporation, and Abe Naparstek of Forest City Development, which will be working on the residential development at the site.
The developers are asking for an expansion of the Planned Development District (PDD) created in the 1980s that covers the area. They also want a change to the list of permitted uses in the PDD. When it was created, the PDD set local zoning guidelines designed to encourage high-tech, including bio-tech, companies to set up in the area. City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg noted that the developers would like the restrictions changed to allow more uses.
Under the proposed new restrictions, the old factory could be put to a wide variety of uses, from light manufacturing to restaurants to dog washing and barber shops, said Silverstone.
Currently, the developers have one specific use in mind — the new headquarters for New Haven’s new-economy powerhouse Higher One. The company, which recently earned a quick $36 million by going public and joining the New York Stock Exchange, is bursting its seams at its current offices across from the factory, at 25 Science Park. Phase one of the development of the factory would be a $40 million project to create a 150,000 square-foot new home for Higher One by the beginning of 2012.
Creating Higher One’s new home could create “hundreds” of new jobs at the company, Silverstone (pictured) said. But time is of the essence. Higher One is desperate to move and, with $36 million and a non-site-specific product, has the potential to move anywhere it wants to. It doesn’t have many other options for space in the city. If New Haven delays approval of the factory renovation, all those jobs could end up in some other town, Silverstone warned.
The developers’ call for action was met with calls to slow down the process from Pastor Marks and others. They said the local community hasn’t had enough opportunity to look at the plans. They also raised concerns about traffic, tax abatement, and local hiring.
But Marks didn’t speak for everyone. One neighbor said he’s anxious for the project to get going — so he can make money off of it.
After a presentation of the details of the project, City Plan Commission Chair Ed Mattison opened up the floor first to factual questions from the public. He then struggled to maintain control of the meeting, as people took the opportunity to speak out against the plans.
Pastor Marks asked a pointed question. He wanted to know how many people Higher One currently employs. Developers said the current staff in New Haven is 160.
“How many live in Newhallville and Dixwell?” Marks asked. The developers didn’t know.
“Three, I think, is the answer,” Marks said.
Once Higher One moves into its new offices, “how many people will they hire from the community?” Marks asked.
Silverstone said the developers can’t make guarantees like that. Higher One is a private sector company and can’t be required to hire locals, he said.
He began to speak about the need to “establish some pipelines” to direct local workers into local jobs in the area.
“I don’t want to hear jargon,” interrupted Marks.
Marks next asked about construction jobs during the renovation of the factory.
“We’re going to work really hard to meet local hiring requirements” with regard to locals and minorities, said Forest City Development’s Naparstek (pictured). “We will not and cannot guarantee work for a specific individual.”
Other neighbors asked similar questions about jobs and received similar responses.
“Can this be stopped?” Marks asked. He said he wanted to know if the approval process could be halted to give the community more time to consider the proposal.
“That’s not a factual question,” said Mattison.
“I think this is going too fast,” said Richard Jennings, who said he runs a business at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Henry Street.
“You can’t make a speech,” Mattison said.
Jennings posed his question. “Will you let the community evaluate this plan, and when?”
Naparstak said developers went to both the Newhallville and Dixwell community management team meetings and made presentations about the project.
Jennings said he didn’t remember that.
“You weren’t there,” Naparstak said. “That’s a fact and it happened. This isn’t happening in secret.”
State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield (pictured), who lives a block away on Winchester Avenue, later stepped to the microphone. “If the community doesn’t have the actual plans, what’s the point of testifying?” he asked.
City Plan head Gilvarg said the plans have been and are available for public viewing in the department’s offices in City Hall.
During a break in the meeting, Marks stepped into the hallway and said developers shouldn’t be given a “blank check” to do what they want. The city shouldn’t “let them turn this into a banana republic,” he said. “These guys are coming in as thieves!”
As the meeting continued, neighbors continued to call on the developers for promises of community benefit.
Rev. Kimber (pictured) called for the developers to sit down with locals and address neighborhood concerns.
“A development like this comes with a sense of responsibility to people in the community,” said neighbor Darren Jones.
Pastor Marks appealed to the history of the factory. “Over 20,000 people from down south came north” to work for Winchester, he said. Factory jobs “made a huge difference” to poor families from the south, enabling them to send their kids to college. The developers are concerned with the historic preservation of the buildings, Marks said, but what about the people who worked there?
“I worked inside this building,” said Frank Jackson. With taxes going up and jobs getting scarce, “this project is vital — vital — to the community,” Jackson said. “I plead with you, do what you can for my community.”
Winstanley said the developers have worked hard to reach out to the community. But, he said, he has never received a call asking for him to come to a meeting.
During pre-voting deliberations, commissioners acknowledged neighborhood concerns but said that their role as a recommending body is limited to zoning matters only.
After considering and rejecting a condition of approval that would have required the developers to hold a community meeting, commissioners settled on writing a supplementary letter to aldermen, explaining that neighbors expressed concern about a lack of input in the process.
“We need to recognize that there appears to be a lack of communication,” said commissioner and East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker.
Neighbors need to take some responsibility for that, Chair Mattison said. “The neighborhood, in a sense, has to get its act together,” he said. Neighbors need to make clear and reasonable requests, he said.
The commission voted unanimously to recommend the approval of the Winchester development plan.
“We got sort of sold out here tonight,” said Pastor Marks as he left the meeting. The commission should make decisions based on zoning requirements and not the pressures of businesses wanting to expand, he said.
“Hurry Up”
Unlike some of the other neighbors who spoke at the meeting, Joe Covington (pictured) said he’s anxious for work to begin. He said his condo at 122 Munson Street is just a couple hundred feet from the Winchester factory. Everyone in his condo complex feels the same way, he said.
“We need it to happen,” he said during a break in the meeting. He said he’s ready to face “the full impact” of the construction, because of the benefit of the project. “When Higher One quadruples its employees, that’ll bring business into the community. All you need to do is put in a grocery store.”
That’s just what Covington, an employment specialist at Easter Seals Goodwill Industries, plans to do. He’s going to call his market “Joe’s Farmers Market” and sell organic foods to the new people in the neighborhood.
“I’m very grateful for what you’re doing,” Covington told developers. “Five generations of my family have worked in that building.”
He urged the commission to approve the plan and developers to start work. “Hurry up,” he said “Hurry up.”
“I’ll get a shovel and start digging,” he offered to Naparstek as he returned to his seat.