QA+M Architecture
Design rendering for 17-35 Kensington St.
A regional affordable housing developer plans to build a new three-story, 15-unit apartment building atop a current city park on Kensington Street, pending the city’s disposition of the land and the availability of state and federal subsidies.
At Wednesday night’s regular monthly meeting of the City Plan Commission on the second floor of City Hall, commissioners unanimously signed off on the site plan for the proposed new affordable housing development slated for 17 – 35 Kensington St.
Wednesday night’s City Plan Commission meeting.
The applicant is the Boston-based company The Community Builders, which has its local offices on Orchard Street.
Q+A Architecture Principal Tom Arcari, II and To Design Landscape Architect Emily Weckman pitched the plans to the commission, explaining that the new proposed building would include three three-bedroom apartments, five two-bedroom apartments, five one-bedroom apartments, and two studio apartments.
Community Builders Development Project Manager Kristin Anderson said all of the units will be deed-restricted for tenants earning 60 percent or less of the area median income, which is $55,680 for a family of four.
QA+M Architecture Principal Tom Arcari, II.
“The community management team has seen this and finds it desirable,” Arcari said. And, regarding the planned “passive” environmentally sustainable design of the project, he said, “It will stand as a beacon, so to speak, for other properties as they’re redeveloped in that neighborhood to follow.”
Arcari said that the project is contingent upon two key, pending matters.
First, The Community Builders is applying to the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) for federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) in order to subsidize the deed-restricted affordability. That application should be submitted in November, he said, and the developer should find out if their application has been accepted by next spring.
QA+M Architecture
Site plan for the proposed development.
Second, he said, the developer still needs to acquire the land from the city. He said they’re in conversation with the Parks Department and the Livable City Initiative (LCI) now. That very same night, he said, the Parks Commission was reviewing the proposed land swap.
The 0.67-acre site currently consists of five different city-owned parcels and houses a neighborhood park and splash pad. The proposed development would include a new three-story, 15-unit residential building and 15 parking spaces.
Westville Alder and City Plan Commissioner Adam Marchand.
Is it typical for the City Plan Commission to approve a site plan before the developer even owns the property? asked commissioner and Westville Alder Adam Marchand. Isn’t that out of sequence?
A bit, city Acting Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli replied. But considering that the project might be better positioned to win necessary funding if the detailed site plan is in place, the city is comfortable with moving ahead with the site plan approval process while simultaneous conversations with the Parks Commission and LCI are also going on.
“It is unusual for this particular sequence,” Marchand admitted. But there are a number of future regulatory hurdles at LCI, Parks, and the Building Department that the developers have to clear in order to make this project a reality, and so there are more opportunities for future public scrutiny in case the funding falls through.
“It’s worth noting,” he said, “that creating more affordable units is a priority in the City of New Haven. And more units overall is something this commission has been very supportive of.”