Residents who attended the meeting were very interested in hearing what Ginsburg and West River Crossing LLC (who have a tentative partnership agreement) had to say about his plan for developing a $225 million housing project in West River Crossing. However, the slideshow that Ginsberg had prepared was not seen, as apparently the City Council had previously contacted the presenters, suggesting an appropriate time for a presentation, other than the City Council meeting. It's not clear if that presentation would have been in a public forum.
In fact, it's not clear who said what. The article says that City Council Chairwoman Martha Bell (who apparently ran the public comments portion of the meeting, which Mayor Picard was unable to attend) had "... firmly [warned] Centore that she had notified him beforehand they’d set up an appropriate time for a presentation". According to Centore:
... Centore said he’s tried to secure a presentation with several city officials of whom only Bell responded with a letter inviting the developers to speak at Tuesday’s public session. According to the Sept. 19 letter, Bell didn’t note any limitations.Mayor Picard is apparently "skeptical of the proposed presentation since neither Ginsburg nor West River Crossing was officially invited to give a formal presentation." However, the article states his intention to visit Haverstraw- and that can't be a bad thing.
According to the article:
Consequently, Mayor John M. Picard’s administration has stepped back to reassess and ensure the city’s future site plans revolve around a "smart-growth" project that includes mixed retail, commercial and housing use. Many taxpayers consider this pre-planning plan lost opportunities while the city’s taxes are more than the average homeowner can bear.Even before reading this article and the plans of Mayor Picard's administration, I'm a proponent of the type of 'smart growth' mentioned. I believe that building high end housing won't work if there isn't an infrastruture to support it.
However, I'm concerned that we've already spent a lot of time and money on this project - can't we capitalize on any of the research already conducted?
City Planning and Development Commissioner Eileen Buckheit also indicated that Ginsburg was welcome to look to private property owners for other areas to develop in the city, and stated:
"The administration is going down a different road ... of proper planning and acquiring of parcels (while) working with the state of Connecticut to develop a viable development parcel," she said. "If this were happening next October, we’d have something to talk about."This statement in the article was alarming:
Centore and Pinto, better known as West River Crossing LLC, were previously working with the city to attract United Illuminating Co. to a site along New Haven Harbor when the pre-development agreement expired without tangible progress.The part that concerns me is whether or not the UI deal is contingent upon West River Crossing, LLC. Previous articles didn't mention the connection of the UI deal to Centore and Pinto - as this is a $4 million deal for us, I truly hope that while West River Crossing, LLC was involved in the discussions, that the UI deal is indendent of West River Crossing's involvement, as it is a fantastic opportunity for West Haven.
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8 comments:
West River Crossing by no means would be overnight relief; neither would UI, although I believe that could be accomplished in less time.
Why not send a letter to the Voice or contact the Mayor's office? It will be interesting to watch the Voice in this upcoming week - they've pushed hard for Haverstraw as well as being big supporters of Mayor Picard.
So what was in fac the reason that Ms. Bell denied them the opportunity to give the presentation. Is there an eminent domain issue that exists? It was noted that the "city only owns 5 acres of the 100 acre site". I've got to admit I am disappointed about this news. Has anyone been over to Milford lately? I know we've said that WH will never be Milford. But look at how quickly they get projects approved and completed. The former Wayside Furniture site has been completely leveled and they are putting in new stores as I type. The former Ryder park location (though not the the most honorable example as people had to relocate thier homes) is quickly being built. The former Jai Alai site plans are moving forward quickly as well. Now those are 3 projects I just noted off the top of my head, and we are sitting here struggling with just one... To be constructive perhaps a representative from our city council could go and sit in on one of Milford's meetings to see how their process operates... It's just an opinion based on the news I see and read, but there are way too many politics that go on at City Concil that need to END, poltitcal interests need to be put aside and focus needs to be placed on the needs of the community and the taxpayers best interests. Until this happens i'm afraid we'll be having budget and development issues for a long time to come. If anything I would hope that there are city council memebers who read this blog, it has seen an influx of activity lately, and provides excellent and honest insight to the opinions of residents, our ideas, and news in our town.
In additon to comment on WHTP's note regarding the Voice's response to this. I'll bet my money that they will negatively bash Ms. Bell for her actions i'm sure.... And one will wonder if they reason they provide for her actions is actually the truth or political spin.......
Does anyone know if the tax collector was prsent at this meeting? In the minutes from the 9/26 meeting a letter was going to be sent to him requesting his appearnace to answer questions regarding the undeposited tax payments.....
Updated - thetruth - Thank you for your clarification, and i'll agree with you on the Jai Alai timing. However, the main point I was trying to get across in my comment was that the majority of reports I read regarding City Council meetings contain a lot of talk about political bickering and upset residents. So much time has been spent on this project by the city and the residents have a right to know what the administration has up thier sleeves, it is our tax money that they are spending, isn't it?
To be honest I think the Wal-Mart (I've got my own opinions on this company and what it does to communities) and hotel going up over on Allings Crossing are not the best decisions. But hopefully they will help ease the taxes. I'd like to focus not so much on development but "redevelopment". Ever go to the shopping center next to Kohl's where Blockbuster video is. It's poorly lit at night the storefronts are horrendous and it's a gigantic parking lot that is empty 100% of the time, that's a wasted resource to me. I know a new Stop & Shop has opened (Thank GOD) but the one across the street from Kohl's look deplorable - clean it & the parking lot up. The other thing that steams me is the PRIME real estate on the Post Road. When your in West Haven headed twoards New Haven on Rte. 1 once you past Bull Hill Ln. there is nothing appealing storewise..... There is nothing but "affordable housing" brand new raised ranches that are being built north of UNH and Orange Ave. that hurt the values of existing homes. And let's not kid ourselves, when people get off 95 at the Saw Mill Rd. exit or the Campbell Ave. exit does our city look that appealing? The area around the VA / RR Salvage / Shop Rite needs to be gutted, and hopefully once the development at Saw Mill Rd. is completed it will look much better. Campbell Ave. needs to be ovehauled somwhat too. Storefronts need to be cleaned up, there are some wonderful exisiting resturants on the street, but the majority of the bars really need to go. The savin rock shopping center (Adam's ect.) needs to be revamped desperately as well. As West Haven Taxpayer noted in an ealier blog they need to make this area more of a gateway to the beach somehow. Though with the existing apartement building this may be difficult. Refurbish the Savin Rock conference center, create a new and improved Savin Rock museum, stick a over there too.... Grobve St. park is a great place to go but install more picnic tables, some covered pavillions ect... I even noticed a small playground out on the beach, how about sticking a really nice one over in the park? There is much more potential for this area... Start making non-residents who visit our beaches pay like Milford does. I know that visitors who park at Bradely Point must pay. But what about 20 cars that are parked at the end of my street and then cross ocean ave. to go to the beach. They aren't paying, but I'm paying to clean up the trash they leave behind on the beach that I pay premium taxes to live by. Isn't there any way to enforce this??? Milford has parking for all of it's beaches (This really isn't feasible for West Haven) and an attendent checking stickers at each one. Does West Haven have beach stickers for residents? I never got one sent to me... And yes, this city absolutely needs a RR station I'd like to see a more detailed plan however on how this will fit into the Armstrong site.. Would the $$$ from parking fees go directly to the city? If so build a parking garage over their to handle overflow from Milford, Orange and New Haven. Capitalize on Milford's downtown parking nightmare they are currently facing. They've built up thier downtown so fast and furiously, they've forgot about parking..... Everyone talks about building high cost housing with this project. Myself not included, the last time I check there are quite a few "pricey houses" over in West Shore, maybe not so more with the increased taxes and amoutn of properties up for sale. But how many of these residents spend thier $$ in West Haven?? I'm sure the new Stop & Shop sees a lot of west Shore residents as I was afraid to go tot eh one on Alling Crossing and went to the one in Milford by the mall until it opened. I'd like to know how many West Shore residents venture down past Campbell Ave. on a weely basis, I know I only head down that way maybe once a week, or if i'm picking up a pizza or italian desserts.... I enjoy riding my bike to Savin Rock but once I arrive there is not much to do except ride my bike some more (granted you can watch dancing, horseshoes or bocce but it does get old after a while & doesn't appeal to kids very much). But if it's after 4pm I can only ride along the water so far (can't ride a bike through West Walk after this time) and have to go up to ocean ave. to get to the other side.
I'm done ranting for now.......
The city council needs to act on this beach sticker idea now before next summer.... It will take them taht long to get to a conclusion the way they move. Is thier any way to escalate this to the city. It would bring it good amounts of revenue. All summer ther are numerous out-of-towners who visit the WH beaches....
Ideas like these are one the city council and the mayor should be looking at before going and rasisng taxes again.......
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