Rendering of city’s “100-year” plan for Union Station
New Haven won’t take over ownership of Union Station, but it will gain more control of its destiny and gain millions of new dollars for bike lanes and pedestrian access, under a deal with the state announced Wednesday.
That’s the upshot of an 11th-hour deal struck between officials during the last 48 hours of the legislative session after New Haven appealed to the state lawmakers to put control of the asset managed by the city for 35 years in the hands of the Elm City.
The deal strikes a truce, at least for now, in a public battle waged the past few months over the train station’s future direction. The two sides struck the deal just as a bill to force a sale of the station to the city was primed to come up for a vote in the final day of the state legislative session.
“I’m pleased with the result,” state budget director Ben Barnes told the Independent Wednesday. “We don’t have to worry about having to transfer ownership of the station to the city. And I think we have a set of agreements that can be the basis for a more collaborative relationship between the parties on operating the station. I feel very good about it.”
City Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson credited State Rep. Juan Candelaria and other New Haven legislators with helping put the pressure on the state with the land-transfer bill. “Sometimes you have to demand things from your partner and be treated as an equal,” Nemerson said.
“With the framework built into these action steps, and a renewed partnership on other important investments, I’m confident the city and state will continue working together to knit Union Station into an accessible, seamless transportation network for residents and visitors, with improved amenities to complement the broader goals of transit-oriented development and economic growth in the Hill to Downtown corridor,” a press release quoting Mayor Toni Harp as saying.
State’s proposed design for second Union Station garage.
The Harp administration had succeeded in getting a bill proposed in the state legislature to force the state — against its wishes — to hand over ownership of the station to the city, after the two sides reached an impasse. They disagreed over the state’s decision to pursue new management and over the design of a new parking garage and broader “transit-oriented development.”
The terms of Wednesday’s deal include:
• The state will renew the city parking authority’s lease to manage the station from three to five years. The state had signaled an intention to put management out to bid. (The state did offer two one-year extensions; now it’s committing formally to the full five years.)
• The state will accede to the city’s wishes to put retail on the first floor of the existing parking garage and will reconvene with the city to revisit the design of a planned second garage. A review process was already underway; Barnes said the state is committing to make walkability improvements and to find a way to keep the Vision Trail open after all. (Click here to read about that.) Nemerson said the plan is to relocate the path to Water and Hamilton Streets under the current spot under the highway near Water Street and Union Avenue by the railroad tracks.
• The state will fund construction two projects worth $2.5 million: a bike lane from the East Shore into New Haven and pedestrian improvements on Long Wharf.
• The state will drop an effort to collect $3.7 million from Union Station’s capital reserve account — money the city felt should go back into supporting the station rather than meeting unrelated state debts elsewhere.
• The state agreed to provide job and wage protection for any successor to the parking authority if the state picks a new operator after five years.
• The state agreed to evaluate the possibility of adding limited-stop express trains from New Haven to Grand Central Station as part of a broader ongoing Metro North study.
Markeshia Ricks Photo
New Haveners testifying in Hartford in March in favor of turning station over to the city.
The city meanwhile is requesting in the land-transfer bill before the legislature that 15 vacant parcels of state-owned land be turned over to the city — one of which would be for fair market value, while the other 14 would be for $1. Barnes said Wednesday that the state has decided it is comfortable with turning over “some” of them.
The deal also comes in the wake of the city unveiling its 100-year plan for the station and its development.
City and state Department of Transportation officials had taken public their dispute over Union Station, including at this fiery hearing at the Capitol. The dispute reflected contrasting visions of how to develop that stretch of New Haven.
“Innovation” Grant Secured
Markeshia Ricks Photo
CT Next board members on their New Haven tour.
Also this week, New Haven won a competition to obtain an “innovation place” grant to find ways to attract more tech businesses. The board of the quasi-public CT Next organization announced it will grant the city government-led “Elm City Innovation Collaborative” “up to $2 million” for that effort. The group competed with six other groups seeking pieces of a $5.5 million pot. Click here for a story about a tour it gave two weeks ago to visiting CT Next board members.