Lee Cruz looking for some road safety on Grand Avenue.
LCI’s Arlevia Samuel and Paul Hudson talk Dixwell Avenue.
Bike- and pedestrian-friendly commercial corridors. Reimagined alleys and public space. And maybe even more density. But none of that at the expense of affordability.
City planners heard that vision from 40 people at a two-hour session on how to bring zoning into the modern era on Whalley, Grand, and Dixwell avenues.
The session took place Monday evening at the Ives Library Downtown.
An inventory of properties in the Grand Avenue commercial corridor.
The City Plan Department organized the meeting to get feedback from neighbors about what they’d like to see in three commercial corridors and how overhauling the zoning code might make that happen.
The City Plan Department is studying all three corridors with an eye toward overhauling these business zones to revitalize them. In particular, the city is looking at getting rid of outdated zoning regulations that allowed for the proliferation of long-gone auto dealerships on Whalley Avenue.
City Plan Director Aïcha Woods with Johnny Shively and Kevin McCarthy.
Newly minted City Plan Director Aïcha Woods said the zoning regulations that govern the three corridors were written “with a 1963 mindset that focused on getting as many cars in and out of the city” as possible. That’s not working for a 21st century New Haven that is benefiting from America’s rekindled love affair with denser cities that are less reliant on cars and more open to mixed uses.
Woods said that these commercial gateways serve as neighborhood centers. All three also connect to Downtown. City officials are betting that zoning changes can make these corridors more viable for development while simultaneously improving the quality of life for those who live there by making them more bike and pedestrian friendly and accessible to Downtown.
Milone & MacBroom’s Rebecca Augur.
But before they change one letter of current regulations, they wanted to know what people who use these corridors think. Woods and her staff, along with consultants from Milone & MacBroom, have been making the rounds for a series of listening sessions. So far they have held community meetings in Fair Haven and Dixwell as well as with the Whalley Avenue Special Services District’s redevelopment committee. (Read more about those visits here and here.)
Monday’s meeting drew people from all over the city. They participated in an exercise in which they chose among different streetscape aesthetics like buildings that open directly onto the street versus those that are set back. But participants said they wanted to be sure that they weren’t party to the reengineering of neighborhoods to price out affordable housing.
They also said they wanted to make sure that any zoning changes that might eventually bolster mixed-use developments and increase density in these corridors would be a boon for those who need affordable housing and commercial space, not just for those who can afford market-rate rents.
Kerry Ellington, an affordable housing advocate, pressed City Plan staff to consider protecting access to such housing in any future zoning changes.
Woods said that because the focus has been on the more commercial aspects of the corridor, housing isn’t a specific focus of the study. But she noted that, in fact, the recent redevelopment of the former Farnam Courts public-housing complex on Grand Avenue, now known as Mill River Crossing, is not allowed as of right in any of the corridors as they are currently zoned. That means that developers had to go through a lengthy process to receive special exceptions and variances to get it done. She said changes to the zoning could make it easier to build affordable housing.
One idea of this rezoning process is to make it easier to build such projects without requiring developers to seek exceptions.
“Right now, small-scale developers will find that some of the zoning ordinances can be prohibitive,” she said. “This move could open an entry point for more commercial development with guidance and a process that is clearer.”
Johnny Shively, who works at SeeClickFix, called it “incomplete” to study zoning changes for the corridors without considering specific provisions for affordable housing, given the high number of people who are “house burdened” in New Haven. He said zoning for affordable housing seems more “deeply critical” than deciding where bike racks should go in the corridor.
Urn Pendragon.
Mayoral candidate Urn Pendragon took it a step further, chastising city staff for inaction on a citywide plan for inclusionary zoning that she helped author. Woods said after the meeting that as the zoning changes are being contemplated, the city is being mindful as it thinks through the need for affordable housing and is looking to deploy a citywide and specific strategy.
“I believe in development,” said Jan Simmons, a member of Dixwell Congregational Church and New Haven native. “But I believe in smart development, not just development for development’s sake.”
Lee Cruz looking for some road safety on Grand Avenue.
LCI’s Arlevia Samuel and Paul Hudson talk Dixwell Avenue.
Michael Zupa, Milone & MacBroom’s associate director for planning, said that zoning regulations can provide a framework that would facilitate a variety of land uses including affordable housing.
“It all goes hand in hand,” he said.