Emily Hays Photo
Kensington Park, pre-bulldozer.
QA+M Architecture
Site plan for the proposed development.
In an emotional three-to-three vote, city parks commissioners deadlocked on whether to OK a land swap turning over Kensington Park for 15 affordable housing units, or to preserve an under-used small oasis with 100-year-old trees.
Help meet the desperate need for affordable housing? Or preserve green space? That dilemma was at the heart of the issue during an hour-long discussion at Wednesday evening’s monthly Parks Commission meeting.
The gathering, via the Zoom teleconferencing app, attracted 16 participants and was hosted by commission Chair David Belowsky.
At issue was whether to permit The Community Builders, a Boston-based nonprofit housing builder with offices on Orchard Street, to construct 15 affordable units on a 0.67-acre site at 17 – 35 Kensington.
Last fall the City Plan Commission approved the site plan for the project. But the actual swap of Kensington Park land for a collection of other small park parcels and improvements on others had not yet been approved.
City government’s Livable City Initiative, which was negotiating with the parks department on behalf of the Community Builders, made the case that financing for the affordable housing units fits in with a broader affordable housing effort by TCB in the Dwight area. And it depends on the land swap.
Commissioners were sympathetic to the need. But half of them said they were reluctant to set a precedent in the giving up of city greenspace.
Community Builders representative Kristin Anderson and LCI Executive Director Serena Neal-Sanjuro said the swap, worked out with former parks director Becky Bombero, involves significant upgrades to nearby Day Street Park and other modest community greenspaces.
“I’ve been here 50 years, and we have never traded any land. Is this legal!?” said Commissioner Hector Torres. “And what do we do with the land you’re giving us?
“It’s perfectly legal,” replied Neal-Sanjuro, “but we are in a new time [exploring] how we do affordable development in a dense city.”
There followed a lengthy discussion about whether affordable units can be placed elsewhere in the city, like at a future Church Street South redevelopment.
Neal-Sanjuro consistently made her case — it was LCI’s and TCB’s fourth appearance before the Parks Commission — that the city “begs” market-rate developers to include affordable units, because the city owns too few empty spaces on which to build them. New Haven needs at least 10,000 more affordable units, she said.
“So my question is: Are you going to cut down those trees?” Belowsky asked.
“The answer is yes,” said Anderson.
Commissioner Carl Babb said he recently drove by the site: “It hurts. I looked at the trees. I have a farm. I’m really wrestling” with this decision.
“Without this land swap does the project moved forward?” queried Commissioner Ernie Santiago, who is also a Fair Haven alder.
“The project has been funded to include the park,” replied Sanjuro. “If it doesn’t go through, we’re in danger of losing the funding.”
QA+M Architecture
Design rendering for 17-35 Kensington St.
Anderson reprised for the commissioners examples of community support for the project. She noted that the public uses the nearby Day Street Park far more than Kensington’s mini-park.
Belowsky and the commissioners questioned whether Kensington Park might be better utilized as is. Belowsky noted that many families move in and out of the surrounding blocks. Does the plan deny those families a park? And what about staff at nearby Yale New Haven Hospital’s St. Raphael’s campus coming over more frequently to enjoy lunch on the park’s grass and beneath its trees?
Longtime parks advocate Roxanne Condon offered a caution that the swap might set a precedent.
Neal-Sanjuro said conceded that it is unusual for the city to ask to build on park land. She called the Kensington case unique. “Under normal circumstances, we’d never ask for this,” she said, “but as a city we have a housing crisis. We are looking at an under-used park in your portfolio. This is very important. We are trying to make up for a great need.”
Condon warned Belowsky at meeting’s end, “I think the Parks Commission is going to get more and more pressure for development.”
Santiago summed up the conflict: “I’ve got a parks and rec hat and that is against the swap. But as an alder with the need for affordable housing, that need is a lot greater.”
In the end, commissioners Kevin Walton, Ernie Santiago, and Georgia Miller voted yes. Torres, Babb, and Belowsky voted not to approve the swap.
“Our job is to preserve and maintain parks,” Belowsky said. “We’re at a standstill. It’s a tie. We’ll have to get back to you.”
Even after the vote, the wrestling with the question continued.
“How high will the units be?” asked Torres.
The answer was three stories, with handicapped units on the first floor.
“When do you need this [decision] by?” asked Commissioner Babb.
“If you need more time, whatever we need to do to satisfy your questions,” replied Neal-Sanjuro
“I apologize,” said Belowky.
“Don’t be sorry,” answered Neal-Sanjuro. “We’re getting closer. We’ll get you whatever additional information.”