Paul Bass Photos
No sign of "religious" activity: Assessor Pullen (left); portions of the blighted Scientology building.
Scientologists will have to pay taxes after sitting on plans to resurrect Ron Hubbard’s spirit inside the deteriorating doors of a former furniture store — now that the city revoked the church’s tax-exempt status.
Acting City Tax Assessor Alex Pullen informed the Church of Scientology of Connecticut, Inc. in a notice dated Feb. 2 that the organization must pay taxes this coming July on the property at 949 Whalley Ave., which has remained largely tax-exempt for two decades.
That’s because, Pullen said, “the property is not being used for a tax-exempt purpose.”
Built as a Masonic lodge in 1930, the property last served as the home of a Hallock’s furniture store. The Connecticut chapter of the Church of Scientology purchased 949 Whalley Ave. back in 2003 for $1.5 million.
The plan was to make the property a New Haven home base for the church and a classroom space for subscribers to study the principles of the religious movement, invented by science fiction writer Ron Hubbard in 1953.
The church has instead rented a property across the road at 980 Whalley Ave. while promising for more than two decades to fix-up the blighted site. 949 Whalley has stood empty and deteriorating while the church has avoided paying property taxes due to the property’s ostensible standing as a place of worship.
Westville neighbors have advocated for alternative uses of the property, saying the building should stimulate their neighborhood’s economy rather than bringing more blight. Read more about that history here.
Pullen wrote in his notice to the church that because there is “no construction under progress” at 949 Whalley to convert the property into a religious space, the building can no longer receive consideration as a place of worship that could merit tax exemption.
The latest estimated assessment of the property is $2,071,230. Under the current mill rate of 37.2, the church would owe $77,050 to the city for 2023. The exact property taxes owed will be determined once a new mill rate is set, and the corporation will be billed come July.
The assessor sent the letter following a separate notice from the city government’s Livable City Initiative, which found the church in violation of the Anti-Blight and Property Maintenance Ordinance.
A Jan. 30 inspection found that the building’s exterior is dilapidated and “showing decay from lack of upkeep”; “deterioration and staining” can be observed on the building’s exterior walls, doors and windows; and residents of the area have complained about blight and neglect serving as a “hindrance to enjoyment of adjacent properties.”
The church was given a ten-day deadline to correct or abate those violations. Otherwise, LCI’s Frank D’Amore threatened a civil citation, which could result in fines of up to $100 per day that each violation continues (which would translate to a fine of $300 per day).
Those fees have not yet been levied, according to D’Amore, because of ostensible work underway by property ownership to gain code compliance.
Graffiti has been removed from the building’s exterior, D’Amore stated. And the church has proposed yet another timeline to LCI to remedy outstanding structural woes.
The church promised LCI that “contractor mobilization” will begin by June 24. The church claimed to be soliciting bids from potential contractors.
D’Amore said that that if that timeline is not followed — though no date was relayed as to when actual work on the building could be completed — fines will be issued retroactively back to Feb. 1.
Representatives of the church did not respond to numerous requests for comment for this story.
The most recent plan to develop the site put forward by the church and approved by the city theoretically expired back on Nov. 14, 2023. However, City Plan Director Laura Brown told the Independent that the application is actually protected through 2032 by a provision within Chapter 124 of the Connecticut General Statutes. Sec. 8 – 3k states that any city zoning approvals which took place after July 2011 but before July 2021 will not expire less than 14 years after the date of approval.
A spokesperson for the church told this reporter last year that a “top-to-bottom” renovation of the building would be necessary to restore the site. Roof repairs, fresh foundations, and a whole new electrical system are just a few changes the church previously promised to execute.
