People who live or work along Whalley Avenue want the city’s most heavily-traveled corridor to have more character than “Route 1 in Orange.” So do city officials like Kelly Murphy (at right in photo), who unveiled new marketing efforts Friday to attract new business along the least attractive stretch of Whalley, where a new zoning “overlay” aims to make new construction more “appealing” and pedestrian friendly.
Neighbors, business owners and city planners have been at work for at least four years to transform the character of the middle stretch of Whalley Ave running from the Ella Grasso Boulevard to Sherman Avenue. They want to exclude fast food joints, drive-thru windows, auto body shops and “drug paraphernalia centers” — basically, the type of businesses already set up along the city thoroughfare.
In June, the Board of Aldermen approved new zonings restrictions that will do just that — regulate what type of business, and building, will be allowed along Whalley. New zoning rules aim to transform the car-dominated area into a walkable city streetscape. They’ll make storefronts more continuous and appealing, with aesthetic regulations like this: Require only “bar grates,” not solid garage-door style grates, over store windows, to let light through and make after-hours stores look less bleak.
The new zoning tool hasn’t made an impact yet — it won’t affect current stores, only new construction — but city officials like Development Administrator Kelly Murphy are making a point to market the corridor for future development. They’ve printed new brochures promoting the traffic-rich strip, where about $5 million has been invested over the past five years.
At a press conference at Edge of the Woods Friday, Murphy pushed two existing programs — a facade improvement grant program and a small business initiative — that have already transformed other city streets like Grand Avenue and lower Chapel Street. The facade improvement grant gives up to $1,500 in design services, up to $10,000 in improvement funds, and up to $10,000 in dollar-to-dollar matching funds for additional facade improvements (call 946‑7859). The small business initiative loan program gives direct loans of up to $50,000 for nascent businesses (call 946‑7093).
One spot the city’s trying to fill with new life is the corner of Winthrop and Whalley, which was demolished due to a gas leak and has been vacant for several years. Developers tried, but failed to put a Wendy’s there late last year. An intern from the Yale Urban Design Workshop presented a concept modeling what the city’d like to see there: A mixed-use complex with storefronts, community space and two residential stories on top.
It’s just an idea. But City Plan chief Karyn Gilvarg wants developers to think big, to steer away from “formulaic” chain store construction, towards more attractive, unique, mixed-use spaces. She sees Edge of the Woods, the health food market and neighborhood hub that moved to Whalley Avenue 18 years ago, as a prime example of the type of “unique” small business that could reuse a building (a former theater, in this case).
Sheila Masterson (at left in top photo), who directs the Whalley Avenue Special Services District, has worked hard with neighbors and police in crafting the new zoning laws. “We don’t want Whalley Avenue to look like Route 1 in Orange. We don’t want it to look like anywhere, USA.” She wants to see it become “vibrant and vital to New Haven.”
Nan Bartow and the Whalley/ Edgewood/ Beaver Hill Management Team have already had success getting a new Walgreen’s to change site plans to better fit the greater vision for the Whalley Avenue corridor. Though the building isn’t inside the new zoning overlay, neighbors have negotiated, successfully, for a more pedestrian-friendly building facing the street.
Bartow applauded the new zoning rules. “That’s what we all want — people coming to the stores, buying goods, going home and speaking proudly of the area.”