Melissa Bailey Photo
A State Street developer said he plans to catch rainwater to nourish the shrubbery around the reborn Lovell School, though he’s not sure if it will be enough to earn a “green” certification.
Bob Frew (pictured with his wife and co-developer Susan Frew) gave that report Wednesday night to the City Plan Commission, which approved a site plan for his project to turn the former Lovell School into 18 apartments. The city-owned school at 45 Nash St. was left vacant last summer when the city shut down the CT Scholars program.
Bob Frew, an architect, former alderman and prominent State Street developer, beat out three other bidders as the preferred developer for the site; he said he expects to buy the property Monday for $450,000. As part of the land deal, he was required to come before the City Plan Commission for a site plan review, where each shrub and each light fixture is examined by city staff and board members.
The thorough review examined the greenness of his winning proposal. Being green was one of Frew’s selling points: He was selected to develop the site based partly on a pledge to build an environmentally friendly building — as well as his experience in and his commitment to the area, according to Alderman Matt Smith, who headed a neighborhood panel that chose Frew as the preferred developer.
Bob Frew Architect
An image from Frew’s winning proposal.
In the application process, Frew said he aimed to earn a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, an internationally recognized green stamp of approval.
After meeting Wednesday with consultants, he told the board he would “not necessarily” seek the LEED badge. The certification is not required in private development, nor as a condition for this project. Frew said he learned Wednesday that while government entities may have the money to earn the certification, “for private developers, it becomes very expensive and cumbersome.” He said the process requires lots of documentation.
Frew said he’s leaning toward applying, because he’d earn a leg up in the process by reusing an urban building, but “at this point we don’t know whether we’ll be LEED certified or not.”
“We can make the building a green building with out necessarily becoming LEED certified,” Frew said. He showed some of those “green” features in an application to the board.
How Much Rain?
As part of the extensive review, Frew was asked to show how he’d deal with the rush of rainwater that would come in a “10-year storm” — that is, a storm with a volume of rainfall that would only take place once every 10 years.
Frew said Wednesday that he aims to build a system of rain barrels to catch water from the sky and the roof. When those overflow, they’d feed into six drywells, subterranean concrete bunkers, 8 feet deep, and 6 feet in diameter. After the water collects in the drywells, it seeps into the soil, feeding trees and shrubs.
The method rescues some rainwater from running over asphalt and carrying pollution into the city’s stormwater system.
How much will it rescue? Frew submitted a consultant’s calculation to answer that question. It showed a 10-year storm would send 6 inches of rain pouring over the property. At the existing Lovell School site, half of which is covered in asphalt, that would send 11,617 cubic feet of water gushing into the storm drain.
Frew proposes to tear up asphalt, reducing the impervious surface from 50 percent to 10 percent of the site. In this scenario, that would reduce the volume of floodwater by a third. The drywells would hold an extra 678 cubic feet of water.
In all, the new system would save at least 4,524 cubic feet of water from pouring into the storm drain, according to Frew’s calculation.
Before the meeting, Frew asked city engineer Dick Miller if that’s enough. Miller replied that as long as Frew improves stormwater retention on the site, the city will be happy.
East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker (pictured), the aldermanic representative on the City Plan Commission, applauded the Frews for making progress on an issue he’s been pushing for — reducing stormwater runoff around town. Elicker supported a plan, which died after much controversy, to make property owners pay for the amount of stormwater they send into city drains. One of the goals of the proposal — besides making not-for-profits like Yale pay for services the city provides — was to encourage developers to use less impervious materials like asphalt in new construction. When water runs through parking lots and onto streets, it gets saturated with engine oil and salt. The city then has to clean it up before it gets flushed into the Long Island Sound and other waterways.
Elicker, who works on environmental issues in Yale’s Office of Sustainability, said the Frews will provide a good example for the rest of the city.
“The property currently is totally paved in asphalt,” he said after the meeting. The gravel driveway the Frews plan to install will be “great for stormwater,” he said, and “their efforts with rain barrels are something I haven’t seen with commercial buildings in New Haven.”
“It will be good to have demonstration sites in the city where we can educate people” on methods they can use to reduce runoff, Elicker added.
During the meeting, Elicker asked Bob Frew about another environmental concern: Would he be providing bicycle storage to encourage renters to commute without a car?
Frew said yes.
After the meeting, Frew ticked off a few other ways he’s trying to make the building “green.” He said he plans to install a new roof, which will be insulated to keep the heat inside in the winter, and white on top to reflect the summer heat away. New energy-efficient windows will keep heat inside, and reflect sun rays as well. He also aims to remove the grass and plant native shrubs and trees around the property, such as red chokeberry and juniper.
Frew said he had originally sought to insulate the outside walls of the school, but historic preservationists told him that would destroy the historic character, and another consultant said condensation would rot the brick, so he backtracked on that idea.
The Frews are seeking tax credits from the state for historic rehabilitation. They expect approval within the next month.
Approval of their site plan Wednesday came after some discussion about three areas of concern: lights, fencing and shrubbery.
The Frews produced a detailed list of all the types of shrubs they plan to plant, including Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel) and Myrica pensylvanica (the northern bayberry). Their plan showed where shrubs and trees would sit. City Plan staff said that’s not enough — before getting a building permit, they need to name which shrub will go in which location.
Staff also asked for a more detailed lighting plan. Bob Frew sought to delay producing those details, saying he preferred to hire a lighting consultant after moving ahead with other parts of the plan. City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg told him she couldn’t cut him any special slack. The board voted 3 – 0 to approve the site plan, with the condition that the Frews need to come up with detailed lighting, shrubbery and fencing plans before getting a building permit.
After the vote, the Frews celebrated with a kiss in the hallway. Bob Frew said they aim to start work on the $1.5 million project as soon as the historic tax credits are granted. Construction should take about a year, he said.