Leng: Make Zoning Regs Business Friendly

Hamden Mayor Curt Leng stood in a ​“T‑5” zone Thursday evening while piping-hot trays of pasta and mussels streamed past him to the buffet table and cars streamed past outside on Dixwell Avenue.

It’s the busy roads like Dixwell, he observed, where zoning regulations need to change.

He discussed his zoning plans while meeting the crowd at a campaign fundraiser at Mickey’s Bar and Grill.

Democrat Leng is seeking a third term as Hamden’s mayor in the Nov. 5 municipal election against Republican Jay Kaye. Thursday evening’s fundraiser, he said, was his third at Mickey’s this campaign cycle. The restaurant in the center of town, so it’s convenient, he said. Plus, it’s one of only two restaurants that his father-in-law actually likes.

Leng told the Independent that many parts of his platform have not changed since the primary. He said he wants to lower taxes and make Hamden financially sustainable. He said he wants to continue improving public safety, and bring a greater police presence to neighborhoods. Both of those changes, he said, are what voters have told him they want to see.

But since the primary, Leng added revamping Hamden’s zoning ordinances along Dixwell Avenue and State Street to his list of agenda items if reelected. He said he wants to make those regulations more business friendly.

“I don’t want to see businesses not come to Hamden or have to fight their way into Hamden,” he said. National chains have made inquiries about opening locations in Hamden and then backed out after seeing the zoning regulations, he said.

One of the major problems, Leng explained, is that Hamden’s zoning regulations along Dixwell Avenue and State Street require businesses to be close to the road. The town adopted those ordinances in order to make its streets more pedestrian friendly.

However, state highways like Dixwell, which in places has five or even six lanes, he said, will never really be pedestrian friendly. Besides, the structure of Dixwell’s developments predate the current zoning regulations. It discourages businesses from moving in, he said, when they have to build so close to the road when the rest of the businesses in the area are set further back.

On Whitney Avenue, the pedestrian-friendly zoning regulations work because many of the businesses were built close to the street, he argued. On Dixwell and State, which tend to be home to more box stores, not so much.

The business corridors in Hamden along Dixwell, State, and Whitney are mostly in T‑4 or T‑5 zones. These are the most urban zoning levels in the town’s ​“T,” or transect, zoning system.

Traditional zoning separates zones by function. ​“R” zones are for residential areas, and ​“M” zones are for manufacturing, for example. Transect zoning separate zones not by use but rather by form. That is, it regulates how the buildings and streets are built and how they look, rather than segregating uses to difference areas. It uses a gradient from most rural (T‑1) to most urban (T‑5).

In Hamden, buildings in T‑4 and T‑5 zones must sit no further than 20 feet from the road. For some businesses that might otherwise thrive in Hamden, said Leng, that doesn’t work.

Leng also said he wants to focus on prevention in his next term. That includes suicide prevention and violence prevention. ​“When it comes down to it, they’re all prevention,” he said.

“He Has Your Back”

Guests trickled in throughout the evening on Thursday, taking plates of pasta or pizza and sitting down to talk in small groups in the booths that line the restaurant’s windowed Dixwell-facing façade. It wasn’t just local politicos who showed up.

Near the beginning of the evening, Lieutenant Gov. Susan Bysiewicz stopped by to voice her and Gov. Ned Lamont’s support for Leng. Leng said he has known Bysiewicz since she first ran for secretary of state in 1998.

“It’s not every mayor in the state that gets to have the lieutenant governor on speed dial,” Leng said.

While waiters tried to squeeze by with hot trays of food, Bysiewicz made a short speech.

“Hamden is so important to Gov. Lamont and me because literally we would not be in office had it not been for the strong support that we received from Hamden Democrats,” she said.

Leng, she said, has shown himself to be a strong leader. ​“You know that he has your back — that his vision is laser-focused on supporting education and supporting economic development and bringing good-paying jobs to Hamden, and making sure that Hamden is making good environmental decisions for the future of this beautiful place,” she said.

Leng’s treasurer, Dave Huston, and Democratic Town Committee Secretary Kyle Blake ran the donation table. The suggested donation was $100. Huston declined to share with the Independent how many people donated and how much money the campaign raised on Thursday.

By Sept. 30, the Leng campaign had raised $39,263. Kaye’s campaign had raised $10,960.

At this point in the campaign, said Blake, mailers become one of the major expenses. You don’t want to spread them out too much, she explained. It’s best to send them out closer to the election. She said the campaign only recently got its first shipment.

Thursday evening featured an array of current and former town politicians and employees, business leaders, and residents.

Working with Leng, said former Chief of Police Thomas Wydra (pictured above), was ​“pretty easy. We’re both like-minded. We share many similar ideologies and approaches to delivering government service.”

Near the end of the evening, New Haven State Sen. Martin Looney (pictured) stopped in.

Joanna and Pat Marchitto (pictured above, with Leng) made a $400 donation to the campaign. They live in Guilford, but both work for Franklin Communities, which owns a number of apartment buildings in Hamden. They were there representing their employer. Leng, said Joanna Marchitto, is ​“the backbone of Hamden.”

Leng said he’s been out canvassing all over town, this time knocking on the doors of Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters. He will face opponent Kaye in a debate Monday evening in Thornton Wilder Hall at 7 p.m.