Pole Invades Garden; Sorry, Builder Says

A 40-foot utility support pole has arisen on a flowerbed at the corner of Wooster and Olive streets to help make way for a new 299-apartment complex.

Neighbors aren’t pleased.

The brace pole — a 40-foot long cylinder that protrudes diagonally from the garden — is the new support system to ensure that United Illuminating (UI) Pole 6278, which stands beside the garden at the Wooster and Olive streetcorner, remains securely upright.

The pole was formerly supported by a stub pole and guy wire system that reached across the street. (See the image below.) But due to the construction of an apartment-retail development at 87 Union/44 Olive, supports for the pole needed to be moved. Now, a new brace pole protrudes from the bed of flowers and bushes that adorn the street corner.

The move has infuriated some Wooster Square residents.

Several neighbors confronted the developer of 44 Olive — Darren Seid of Epimoni, which is building the complex of 299 market-rate apartments and ground-floor commercial units with the firm Adam America — about the flower bed over Zoom at Tuesday night’s Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team meeting.

The miniature garden — along with a similar corner garden across the street, which sits in front of a bright red ​“Sally’s Pizza” banner — was created by the management team.

Seid said that UI could find no other adequate location for the pole.

“We really want this corner and this neighborhood to be as beautiful as it can be,” he said. ​“We don’t like that this was the solution right now.”

Economic Development Director Mike Piscitelli had pressed UI to find an alternative solution, Seid said. So the utility company proposed a plan to reinsert the pole on the 87 Union lot after construction finished. If this were to occur, the pole would be located in the middle of a pedestrian plaza that Epimoni plans to construct along Olive Street. This would pose a trip hazard to pedestrians, Seid told the management team. So the idea was shelved.

“How do people feel about that alternative?” asked Caroline Smith, chair of the management team.

“We’d like to hear if there are others,” said neighbor Sarah Greenblatt.

In a separate call with the Independent, UI Spokesperson Ed Crowder explained that UI is restricted in its ability to move the pole to a different location based on the national electric safety code and engineering constraints specific to the materials it uses.

“We do have to follow the safety codes,” he said. ​“We have a clear interest in the integrity of our system.”

“We’re continuing to talk with the city and with the developer about alternatives for that site. These discussions are ongoing,” Crowder said.

For some neighbors, concerns about the pole’s location reflected larger tensions between UI and neighborhood residents.

“UI has not historically been a good neighbor to our neighborhood,” said Ian Dunn.

How About A Little Library?

Dunn pivoted to Seid. ​“You’re building a very luxurious-looking development. It’s got a nice pool. It’s market rate.” Putting a big pole in a community space sends a message, Dunn told him. ​“It doesn’t look good. It doesn’t feel good. And as a neighbor, it’s not acceptable.”

Apologetically, Seid offered to beautify the garden further with new plants and flowers, and a possible ​“Little Free Library” installment in which residents can trade books. He flipped through slides depicting possible species that could be added to the garden and noted that the existing Japanese Maple tree on the corner would be preserved.

“We’ve procured [the new plants and materials] already,” he said. ​“We really care about this area.”

As he spoke, neighbor Cordalie Benoit scoffed at this proposal via the Zoom meeting’s chat function.

“Annual plants mostly!” she wrote. ​“Lets put that pole in Darren’s yard. We already have a large free library in our community! Nonsense!”

Throughout the meeting, before Seid’s presentation began, Benoit had pressed Deputy Economic Development Director Steve Fontana on the matter, using the chat. She asked about the process by which UI gained permission to install the brace pole in the flower bed.

“When the pole at Wooster St and Olive St comes up PLEASE ask: What consideration the City received for allowing this extra easement?” she wrote. ​“Did we get an affordable apartment or two or three in that new building? And/or How about putting that extra pole on the inside of the fence on the grass and not in the garden.”

Fontana responded, ​“Cordalie, I don’t believe that the City provided any ​‘extra easement’ … the brace pole is located on private property. Regarding the siting of the pole itself, I think that its location (i.e., inside of the fence on the grass) is a fair one.”

A back and forth ensued as the meeting carried on. The pole is located on property owned by the Housing Authority’s Elm City Communities, Fontana revealed — technically a separate entity from the City of New Haven, yet an organization that receives public funding.

“Not private,” Benoit wrote. Wooster Square neighbor Anstress Farwell agreed.

Fontana pushed back, arguing that the flower bed is not on city property.

Farwell echoed Benoit later during the meeting, saying that the UI pole poses an opportunity for the housing authority to negotiate with Epimoni to provide affordable housing within the complex.

She added that she would like to see more electric wires moved underground throughout the city. ​“They take away from the quality of life,” she said.

Neighbors decided to invite UI to the next management team meeting to discuss the matter further.