Yale Pulls Yacht Club Expansion Plan

After Short Beach residents and their attorneys described a long and difficult relationship with the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club (YCYC), Yale’s attorneys shifted course in their expansion plans, withdrawing their application to build a massive boat storage building in the heart of a small seaside residential community.

Joseph L. Hammer, one of Yale’s attorneys, told a crowded, standing-room-only audience Monday at the Branford Fire Headquarters that Yale has ​“heard your concerns. We still think the property does present an opportunity to improve the yacht club without expanding the programs and without expanding the number of boats.” He said Yale will improve the plan. ​“It will be resubmitted.” 

A group of Short Beach residents burst into smiles. They had spent the last month engaged in a major organizational effort to stop Yale’s plans. Their campaign drew on the expertise of residents and centered on issues of parking, car and boat traffic, public safety, and flood zones. There was discussion of changes in the character and culture of the neighborhood, the possibility of declining property values, and aesthetic inconsistencies.

Neighbors’ overall message was that for decades Yale has been an indifferent neighbor.

Tom Beckett, Yale’s director of athletics, listened to the community’s arguments over a nearly 3‑hour-long meeting Monday night. He moved to the podium to speak, standing behind Hammer. But after Hammer withdrew the Yale application, he did not call on Beckett to speak. Then the public hearing ended.

In an interview with the Eagle in the hallway afterwards, Beckett told the Eagle: ​“We certainly heard heartfelt and passionate comments from what is a very close-knit community,” he said. ​“We understood it. We want to be a good neighbor.” The sailing center, he said, provides programs for families, kids, college and high-school students and special Olympians. He observed, however, that Yale needed to hear the community ​“as we continue to analyze and review our options going forward.”

Overall, the major legal issue Yale faced centered on zoning. The University needs a special permit to build a 76-foot long storage facility and a new house on a residential corner at Clark and Highland Avenues near YCYC. Yale sought approval from the Civic Association of Short Beach (CASB) to move their prior zoning approvals from their current YCYC facility into the corner residential zone, a move, attorneys said, was barred by law and by Short Beach zoning regulations.

The boat storage facility is considered an accessory use to the current YCYC property (pictured). The zoning rules state that an accessory dwelling must be on the same lot as the building for which it is acting as an accessory.

The Monday meeting was a continuation of the initial public hearing on July 7 that was unexpectedly cut short when a fire marshal ordered an evacuation of an Orchard House room due to over capacity. Last night’s board meeting was moved to the town’s fire headquarters to accommodate a larger crowd.

At the first meeting, Yale presented its proposal and several members of the CASB asked Yale’s attorneys questions about the application. On Monday, it was standing room only again as the board continued its questions, asking that Yale conduct further studies in a variety of areas. 

“You can’t solve a problem you don’t understand,” board member Doug Hanlon observed. 

Following the board’s inquiries, CASB Chairman Barry Beletsky opened the hearing room for public comment. Before he did that, he told the audience and the Yale attorneys that accessory use buildings are required to be on the same property, a statement clearly indicating how the board might vote. 

Comments From Neighbors

First up was Attorney Keith R. Ainsworth who said he represented the ​“People of Short Beach Against YCYC Expansion” (PSBAYE). This was a group, he said, who were opposed to granting a special permit ​“to store boats and provide parking for a commercial yacht club, which already is out of keeping with the neighborhood.”

He said opponents were against placing a large boathouse facility in the heart of a quiet residential neighborhood. Then residents distributed a binder to CASB members that contained his brief and support documents. The 10-page brief asks the board to deny Yale’s application.

Hammer was also given a binder. He is seen here reading it.

At one point in Ainsworth’s brief he wrote: ​“Yale is a name recognized the world over for second-to-none education, but in this context Yale is simply an obnoxious neighbor who hogs shared resources for its own exclusive purposes.”
 
He noted that 249 residents had signed petitions to encourage the board to deny the special permit. Residents had gone door-to door in recent weeks seeking to stop the Yale expansion. ​“No Yale Expansion” signs popped up all over the main roads surrounding the Short Beach community. 

The most poignant statements focused on Yale’s alleged track record as a bad neighbor.

“We are talking about a new relationship with a new neighbor when it is an old neighbor,” said Chris Collins (pictured), who with her husband Chris Peterson organized the community response to the expansion site at the corner of Clark and Highland Avenues. She spoke on the topic of Yale as a ​“poor neighbor” who has ​“broken promises” over the years.

Only one of many letters submitted to the board was read aloud at the public meeting. Collins chose the one from Drs. Yin Ho and Henry Hsia, abutters to the current YCYC property who also live across the way from the site Yale has purchased. Both are Yale graduates.

“Yale has shown itself to be a poor neighbor; oblivious to the negative impact it has already created, and callous to the concepts of community and neighborhood. We find it rather lacking in courtesy and respect that YCYC never bothered to inform us about their expansion plans or consult us about their impact on us as a neighbor.

“It is considered a common courtesy to solicit your nearest neighbors whenever there is any kind of expansion or change in status for a property within a neighborhood. The fact that YCYC did not do so for even one of their closest neighbors speaks volumes about how YCYC regards our Short Beach neighborhood – as simply a piece of real estate and place to do business and not as a community of families and neighbors,” the letter said. 

They were not the only Yale affiliates who spoke out against the plan.

Agnes Vignery, whose house abuts the property Yale wants to develop, described the general frustration of those who abut YCYC, that their private property often becomes a parking lot for Yalies out for the day on the sea. Like many opposing the expansion, she works at Yale.

Clarice Begemann, a nurse, who is a Yale graduate, repeated a recurring theme, that Yale ignores the Short Beach community, that it has not found a way to be inclusive. ​“If Yale has outgrown their facilities, then I say they have outgrown our neighborhood,” she said, adding ​“Don’t let anybody turn paradise into a parking lot.”

Short Beach resident and architect Joseph Schiffer submitted drawings and a letter. He concluded that the 34 homes near the contested property are on average half as wide as Yale’s proposed storage unit, suggesting the 76-long structure is not in keeping with the local aesthetics. 

Curt Johnson, an environmental attorney who lives in Short Beach, said Yale’s proposed development ​“takes up 80 percent of a flood zone.” He cited recent hurricanes.

“It never floods,” shouted Elizabeth Bailey who lives in one of the two houses on the land Yale wants to buy. The land and houses, which Yale wants to combine, are part of her mother’s estate. Johnson said Yale needed to study the flooding issue. Your key need is to protect the neighbors.”

Bailey was among the last residents to speak. ​“It comes down to a question of why you are even bothering,” she said. ​“It is our property. We can sell it and we can do what we want with it.”

Property Values

Before the evening ended, Attorney John R. Lambert, a land and regulation expert, rose to speak on behalf of Joe and Patti Brill-Piscitelli, who live in Short Beach. Piscitelli, a well-known shoreline realtor, was asked to submit a letter concerning property values. His letter says that in his professional opinion houses within 250 feet of the proposed Yale property could see a devaluation ​“of their properties from 22 to 27 percent, with the greatest decline to abutting property owners.”

Lambert criticized Yale for not dealing head on with property values and traffic issues. Then he said: ​“You cannot add land to a non-conforming use at any time or place in Connecticut. They are adding a half-acre.” He cited a Connecticut case involving a car dealership, a case not mentioned before.

The Yale attorneys took notes.

Other residents, including Greg Carpenter, who with his wife Peggy live across the street from YCYC, suggested Yale find other places to store their boats in winter or during storms. He cited other locations.

However, residents and board members did not express opposition to a house on the property Yale wants to buy. According to Yale’s plans, if approved, the University would use the bottom part of the property for storage and the top part for a newly designed main residence for the sailing director, Zach Leonard, and his family. Currently a house exists at the top of the property. Beletsky said publicly that a house on the property is acceptable. 

Representatives from Yale remained quiet for much of the meeting, preferring not to respond to questions or observations. After the public presentation concluded, Beletsky called a recess. When the meeting resumed, Beletsky suggested that Yale might want to submit its own brief since Ainsworth had submitted one. 

At this point, Hammer went to the podium where he announced that Yale would withdraw its application. He thanked the board for its time and consideration, saying, ​“It has been beneficial to hear your comments.” He said Yale would re-submit its application. He did not specify by what date.

The initial closing date was supposed to be Oct. 1.

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