Newman Architects
Architect’s plan for Strong School renovation.
Saying it has heard complaints that Fair Haveners had been shut out of the process, the Harp administration has slowed down the process of approving the sale of the old Strong School building in order to give neighbors a chance to weigh in.
The administration had originally planned to hold a public hearing Monday night on an offer by a Litchfield developer to pay the city $500,000 for the circa 1915 school at 69 Grand Ave. and spend $16.7 million converting it to 37 one-bedroom apartments (some of them two-story) ranging from 370 to 718 square feet. Then it planned to hold a review committee meeting two nights later to vote on the deal and forward a recommendation to the city’s economic development team. (Click here to read all about the plan.)
Economic Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson Friday said both meetings have been called off.
Instead, his staff and the developer, Ted Lazarus, will hold a community meeting on the proposal instead so neighbors can learn the details and weigh in. The meeting will take place at the Fair Haven School at 164 Grand Ave. on Nov. 14, starting at 5:30 p.m.
Nemerson said the city will also add someone who lives in Fair Haven to the committee that will then decide whether to approve the proposal.
He acted after commenters to this previous Independent article complained about the lack of neighborhood representation on the committee and lack of neighborhood input into the plan.
“We clearly were not on the wavelength,” Nemerson said. “We heard” the community about the need for more public review and neighborhood representation on the committee.
Nemerson’s deputy, Steve Fontana, attended the Fair Haven Community Management Team meeting Thursday night to convey the news about the changes.
Chatham Square organizer Lee Cruz, who helped spearhead opposition to the original process for reviewing Lazarus’s deal, said Friday that he is “glad” that Nemerson “saw the wisdom” of changing the process.
“I’m glad that they have seen the wisdom and the value of having community input and having the community understand the project” before moving forward with approving the project, Cruz said.