Thomas Breen photo
Now (above). Later? (Below.)
Svigals + Partners image
A decades-old eyesore may be reborn as the new eastern gateway to Westville, according to promoters of a a planned 245-apartment complex and public West River walkway that won City Plan Commission approval Wednesday night.
The project, which would combine new buildings to be erected over razed ones at 781 Whalley Ave. and 50 Fitch St., would feature a commercial plaza at the main intersection of Fitch and Whalley and a rooftop viewing platform high above.
Three critical evaluations for the project – an inland wetlands review, coastal site plan review, and the review of the overall site plan – each sailed through with unanimous, and often enthusiastic, approval from the City Plan commissioners at their Zoom-assisted monthly meeting Wednesday night.
Click here for (count ‘em) 694 pages of the application, complete with traffic study, stormwater management plan, a list of Japanese knotweed and other invasive species to be removed on the river banks and natives to be added, and many other docs on the City Plan website.
And click here for a previous story with more detail on the the project. It is being built by a company headed by local investors Mendy Paris and Sim Levenhartz, but whose spokesperson is Hugh Scott. Scott, along with Attorney Carolyn Kone, choreographed the lengthy presentation before the commissioners Wednesday evening.
Developer Hugh Scott and architect Chris Bockstael at Tuesday's virtual meeting.
They said the mixed use complex’s main features include:
• four-story wood construction atop a concrete base.
• 245 units ranging from studio to townhouse.
• massing and architectural materials and features to make the long building that winds from the main Fitch-Whalley intersection down to Fitch appear to be more than one structure.
• a fitness center, rooftop terrace overlooking the river, courtyard, and swimming pool in the center of the building.
• 5 percent “affordable” apartments per the city’s new inclusionary zoning ordinance.
The building will be “pulled back” from the street and sidewalk, allowing for the retail plaza at the Fitch-Whalley intersection and much improved traffic sight lines. Townhouses on Fitch will be pulled back, along with the sidewalk, so that Fitch, a state road, will continue to have its four-foot shoulder usable for transit by bicyclists.
The main pedestrian entrance would be on Fitch, with the vehicular entrance further north on Fitch, where a ramp leads down to underground parking for 203 cars. An auxiliary lot with 16 more spots will be available via a driveway easement beside the Citgo gas station further north on Fitch. A total of 74 bike parking spots would also to be provided inside a storeroom and outside at the retail plaza and walkway entrance.
The 700-foot long and six-foot wide, wheelchair accessible meandering riverine walkway, with shade trees and benches, would be accessed from the northern end of the property on Fitch and open to the public during daylight hours. A cleaned-up West River bank would be stabilized with new plantings while preserving as many of the existing trees and other features of what one of the experts called the area’s “vegetative community.”
The proposed riverfront walkway.
The first hour of the three-hour and 20-minute meeting was dedicated to whether the project meets the requirements of an unusual “Class C Inland Wetlands Review.” The process is more demanding than most other inland wetland reviews, said City Plan staffer Anne Hartjen. That’s because of the project’s unique location atop the West River to the west and Wintergreen Brook to the north, and the potential major effects on both those troubled waterways.
“The current stormwater receives virtually no treatment,” said Bob Russo, a soil scientist with the Norwich-based CLA Engineers, and a member of the developers’ presentation team.
“A lot of the current wetland vegetation also will be retained to stabilize the banks,” he said, describing the plans and the coordination with the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. “We found that herring may still be making a run in the river, and they suggested we plant shade trees along the river. While the ecosystem will be rearranged, it still has important systems that we are maintaining and enhancing.”
The plans offered should result, he and other presenters concluded, in an 85 to 95 percent reduction of pollutants coming off the site.
Commissioners concluded the developers met the requirements showing that there was no preferable other location on the parcel to build and that “the public benefit justifies any possible degradation of the regulated area.”
As to the building itself, architect Chris Bockstael emphasized that the reimagined Fitch-Whalley corner, with its recessed commercial plaza, could potentially “act as a gateway to Westville. Think of this as the front door of your house.”
A half dozen members of the public, many of whom had also testified at the June meeting, spoke at the hearing in enthusiastic support.
Abraham Meer, a local developer himself, called the project “transformative not only for Westville but for neighboring Beaver Hill. A beautiful design, elegant, thoughtful in terms of the foot traffic. Sounds like a win win, including the storm(water) concern. Compared to what’s there now, this will be a tremendous improvement.”
Rendering of the planned new West River viewing platform.
Questions came from Thea Buxbaum, of 425 West Rock, whose property fronts the project. She (along with her mom) and Alders Adam Marchand (also a City Plan commissioner) and Richard Furlow pressed developers whether their stormwater plans will help residents deal with the chronic and serious flash flooding in the area.
While Buxbaum commended the presenters for a thoughtful building, she specifically asked to learn more about the flood control plans for the sliver parcel of auxiliary parking along Fitch, which she says floods dangerously. Without plans, which she said she had not seen addressed in the documents, “it will be like floating cars.”
Joe Canas, the team’s floodwater and hydrology consultant from Massachusetts-based Tighe & Bond, confirmed that the problem derives from a lousy filtration system on Whalley (a state corridor, over whose infrastructure the city has only limited powers), where water pours out during surges and heavy rains.
“We are proposing two new catch basins in the parking area, an infiltration system designed for eight inches of rain in a 24-hour period,” he said. “The parking lot is also being regraded toward the catch basins, and we are also cutting down the amount of pervious paving. We can’t say we will solve the drainage area forever, but this will certainly be an improvement.”
The only truly disappointed personage at the gathering was former Board of Alders President and current City Plan commissioner Carl Goldfield. He spoke about the “the dangerous and crazy people tending to accelerate to beat the light” at the Fitch and Whalley intersection. He asked if any part of the proposal would address that.
“We aren’t proposing any changes except the timing of the light,” replied Craig Yannas, one of the traffic consultants. “We don’t make anything worse. There’s not much else we can do.”
“I think the response is unfortunate. There’s an opportunity to improve and contribute to the well-being of the people living there, but I’ll leave it there,” said Goldfield.
The Fitch-Whalley project, if all goes according to plan, would have a ribbon cutting in about two years.