Fairfield University plans to build new sophomore dorm

Josh LaBella

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield University wants to build a 165-bed student dormitory on its campus, but some residents are pushing back.

The new sophomore residence hall is planned to be called “Regis West” and would be on the school’s campus at 1073 North Benson Road near Round Hill Road.

The university is seeking site plan approval and a special exception permit for the dorm, John Fallon, Fairfield University’s attorney for the application, said at the recent Town Plan and Zoning Commission meeting. He said the project is part of the school’s master plan, which calls for $225 million in upgrades and renovations.

“Whether it’s been the Egan School of Nursing, the Dolan School of Business and many other renovations, including the now under construction convocation center, we continue to attempt to raise the bar in terms of the overall quality of the student experience and enhance that experience,” he said. “Hopefully, you’ll agree the university is a very vital asset to the community.”

Fallon said the university aims to increase undergraduate enrollment to about 5,000 students, and the proposed dorm would help give it the capacity to do that. He said the dorm would be built in a primary residential area of the university.

Fairfield University initial’s application to the Zoning Board of Appeals called for a five-story, 56-foot tall dorm, but Fallon said the university downsized it to four stories and 46 feet after discussions with the ZBA and nearby residents. The ZBA later approved the application, along with plans to make exterior lighting dimmer, to plant trees every 50 feet on Round Hill Road and to build a eight-foot berm with arborvitae trees on it.

Fallon asked the commission to make those agreements conditions of its approval as well.

“The revised proposal... ensures that this will not have any adverse impact on the neighborhood, will harmonize in an attractive manner with the character of our campus as it currently exists and it’s going to provide us the additional housing consistent with our very carefully planned growth,” he said.

Robert Rogers, a neighbor, said he opposes Regis West because of possible light pollution and the proposed height of the building. He also doubted the proposed berm would address those concerns.

“There will surely be an increase in light pollution onto College Park Drive,” he said, adding he was also worries about how the university’s growth plan will impact traffic and parking.

Jose Hernandez, an architect on the project, described the proposed dorm as a brick,“unremarkable” building. He said that is intentional so it can fit in with the rest of that residential quad.

Hernandez said the building would be nearly 46,200 square feet, and set up like most residence halls. He noted the dorm would be lower than the other dorms around it. He added sophomores are not allowed to have vehicles on campus.

“We see this building as an improvement over what’s there now,” said David Frassinelli, Fairfield University’s vice president for facilities. “An improvement over what you see visually, but also an improvement of general light trespass and night sky illumination.”

Many of the commission’s questions for the applicant revolved around the plan’s impact on neighbors and the proposed measures to block their view of the dorm and light from it.

Commissioner Kathryn Braun questioned the plantings, noting the neighbor’s property trees are lush, natural and wild.

“Honestly, arborvitaes are pretty Disney-esque,” she said. “It doesn’t look the same at all.”

Fallon said the planting plan was created after numerous meetings with neighbors.

“When you look at existing conditions, and what we’re going to have afterwards, I think it’s a major improvement,” he said. “Not only in terms of mitigating any impact relative to Regis West, but in mitigating current views and vistas associated with Jogues and Regis.”

Frassinelli said the berm would limit views of the building, discourage foot traffic, block headlights in the parking lot and improve the streetscape. He said the changes to lighting in the parking lot will be less disruptive to neighbors and the plan reduces the amount of light that will be seen from the building on other properties.

Jeff Cramer, a Round Hill Road resident, said he doesn’t want existing trees removed and contested Fallon’s claim that the neighboring community was involved in the process. He said meetings took place between the university and the two neighbors that would be most severely impacted.

“The rest of the community was not made available to those discussions until very later in the process,” he said. “At which time myself and several other neighbors did protest against the berm. I don’t see the need or the purpose. It’s not necessary.”

Fallon said the existing trees were “mostly dead, scrawny or invasive type species... that do not provide any visual buffer or any aesthetic attractiveness whatsoever.”

South Windsor approves 165 more Evergreen Walk apartments after developer makes change

Don Stacom

South Windsor planners have approved a proposal to build 165 more apartments at Evergreen Walk after the developer slightly increased the number of units to be set aside for affordable housing.

Town officials and business owners at the shopping hub have argued that the new development is essential for nearby retailers and useful for generating more tax revenue.

But those topics didn’t come up Tuesday night in the commission’s discussions, which instead focused on strategies for raising the percentage of affordable housing in new residential projects.

Only 6.8% of South Windsor’s housing qualifies as “affordable” by the state’s definition; towns are under pressure to maintain at least a 10% level.

After initially proposing that 10% of its new housing would qualify, Evergreen Walk LLC recently told the commission that it would increase that to 12.5% by pricing four additional apartments at that level.

In exchange, it sought to build more of the project as two-bedroom apartments — instead of one-bedroom units — to generate more income. It also sought permission to use vinyl siding, a building material not allowed in that zone.

Commission Chairman Bart Pacekonis balked, saying the town was giving the developers too much in exchange for too little.

“They’re worried about it being financially feasible — there are other options they can explore to make it financially feasible,” he said. “Our job is to put in some good affordable-housing numbers that are going to get us to our goal that’s been mandated by the state.”

Commissioner Robert Vetere disagreed.

“They are giving us four additional affordable units,” Vetere said. “So it’s not like we’re giving them these extra two-bedrooms for nothing. I don’t understand where this is a total loss for us.”

Pacekonis countered that if the town held out for 15%, the project would have to designate another four to five apartments as affordable.

“They said that at 15, the project is a no-go,” Vetere relied. “We get nothing then. If that would be the killer to the project, it’s still better to get four more units of affordable housing. We’re looking to get affordable housing anywhere we can.”

Commission Alan Cavagnaro agreed: “I know its not a perfect situation. I would rather have this than nothing. They’ve analyzed this for probably more than a year now and tried to put in as many affordable units as possible.”

Cavagnaro also defended the change to vinyl siding.

“It’s not chicken wire, it’s going to be strong, viable material — not top of the line best, but it would most likely lead to somewhat cheaper rents than if we regulate more hefty, stronger material.”

By a 6-1 vote, the planning and zoning commission amended the zoning rules for the Buckland Gateway zone and also modified the general development plan for Evergreen Walk. Pacekonis cast the only “no” vote on the first, and Commissioner Michael LeBlanc “no” on the second.

Developers will still need approval for a detailed site plan later, but on Tuesday night won two crucial votes that will let them move forward. The new units will be in addition to the 200 apartments currently on the site.

In letters last month, top town officials along with business owners in and near the plaza pressed commissioners to approve the proposal as a way to shore up local retailers, whose customer base has been eroded by the pandemic as well as the shift to online shopping.

A Costco recently opened nearby, and Shake Shack and Whole Foods are opening locations at Evergreen Walk later this year. The plaza had lost several tenants in recent years, and more than a dozen of its retail tenants called on commissioners to approve the apartments.

In a 31-page report commissioned by Evergreen Walk, consultant Goman+York called the apartments a way to “better adapt the Evergreen site to the ever-changing and challenging retail landscape, to create diversity in use, and to build resiliency.”

43-unit, mixed-use apartment development to help stitch a void north of Hartford’s downtown

Michael Puffer

For decades, the area north of Hartford’s downtown was a sea of vacant and surface parking lots dividing the city center from neighborhoods to the north.

“It sat there like a wound in the city for decades,” Mayor Luke Bronin said Wednesday, during a press conference celebrating a $6.3 million state grant for a project closing a portion of that wound.

Bronin, Gov. Ned Lamont and other dignitaries gathered in the rear lot of a long-shuttered brick building off the northern tip of Ann Uccello Street to celebrate the grant. It will help pay for a $17.5 million project adding 43 apartments and near 8,000 square feet of retail space in three buildings, helping to reforge a connection of the downtown to the Clay Arsenal Neighborhood, North Main Street and Albany Avenue.

Bronin said the first stage to closing the void came about seven years ago with the launch of construction of what is now Dunkin’ Donuts Park. That has spurred development interest, evident in developer Randy Salvatore’s nearly complete 270-unit apartment building a short distance away.  Salvatore has already completed a 330-space parking garage along with the apartment building, all part of the broader “North Crossing” effort to add about 1,000 new apartments in buildings erected on vacant lots around the ballpark.

The nonprofit San Juan Center and Carabetta Development LLC are partnered in the development at the northern tip of Ann Uccello.

The $6.5 million state grant was first announced earlier this year, part of a $45 million in allocation to projects in various communities through the new CT Communities Grant. State officials expect to spend up to $100 million over five years through the program, helping realize projects that increase the vibrancy of neighborhoods, especially in urban centers. The next application round opens in August.

The San Juan-Carabetta project has received approval for a $3.8 million loan from the Capital Region Development Authority. The city also plans to commit $1.1 million from its U.S. Housing and Urban Development allotment, according to the grant application. Another $2.3 million is expected from historic tax credits. The development team plans to use $3.3 million from a traditional lender.

The project centers on the four-story, century-old brick “Arrowhead Building” at 1355 Main St., named for the former Arrowhead Café. The building is owned by the city and is in process of being turned over to a business entity controlled by the San Juan Center and Carabetta.

San Juan Center Executive Director Fernando Betancourt said his partnership has purchase agreements in place with the owners of the vacant and boarded “Flat Iron” building at 529 Ann Uccello St. and a three-story brick co-op housing building at 520 Ann Uccello St. Betancourt said both will be remodeled with apartments. The Arrowhead Building will be remodeled and receive a large addition, he said.

The city also plans to cede a short stretch of roadway at the tip of Ann Uccello Street, which will be transformed into a pedestrian parklet, with trees and seating for the public.

Eric Polinsky, assistant development director for Carabetta, said the redevelopment of the empty Flat Iron and Arrowhead buildings will complement existing Carabetta investments in the neighborhood, as well as planned future developments.

Betancourt hopes to break ground in October and finish about 18 months later.

“I think it will be transformative,” Betancourt said. “If you see the development in this area, including North Crossing, the completion of this section and the connection with downtown, this will possibly be one of the most desirable neighborhoods in the city.” 

Waterbury encourages redevelopment of Grand Street with grant money

LANCE REYNOLDS

WATERBURY — Lynn Ward, president and CEO of Waterbury Regional Chamber, and Joseph Violette, chamber director of public policy and economic development, walked past several vacant storefronts on Grand Street Wednesday, hoping a proposed program will soon rejuvenate the area.

Ward and Violette are behind a proposed central business district investment program that looks to help property owners fill vacant ground-floor storefronts within much of the city’s downtown. The program would administer grants of $50 per square foot, with a maximum grant of $100,000 to eligible property owners who are looking to develop or restore new or existing ground-floor retail space.

The Board of Aldermen on Monday will consider approving the program. If approved, the program would receive $1.5 million from the city’s federal $74 million American Rescue Plan allocation.

Awarded grants would require a 100% match from either the property owner, current or future tenants, or a combination. Chamber officials said property owners must be in good standing with the city, prove how the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected them and not be delinquent on property taxes.

Streets in the central business district include Bank, South Main, East Main, Grand, West Main, Meadow, Freight, State, Church, Leavenworth, Center and Brook. Roughly 35 of the more than 100 storefronts in the area are vacant, an increase of an unknown number of vacancies pre-COVID, Violette said.

Special consideration would be given to property owners that have restaurant spaces, vacant properties adjacent to other vacant properties and those who are leading space to minority- and women-owned businesses.

Ward said she sees the program leading to a resurgence in the central business district by small business owners and property owners working together to improve their properties, driving and attracting more business.

Ward and Violette on their walk Wednesday passed by John Bale Book Company, at 158 Grand St., one of the many storefronts in the central business district affected during the pandemic. The antiquarian bookstore closed its physical space in the pandemic’s early stages in 2020 and shifted its focus to online sales.

“We are hoping now with this investment and the promotion that we’re going to be doing – sometimes people have an idea of starting a business but they just need that push, they need that little bit of incentive,” Ward said. “We are hoping that this is what will attract people.”

Businesses outside of the central business district looking to move to a storefront in the area would be funded up to $10,000 for relocation expenses through the program.

If approved next week, the program would be up and running in August, Ward said. Throughout the duration of the program, chamber officials would highlight vacant properties through open houses, social media campaigns and business development workshops for new businesses.

Applications are expected to close June 30, 2023

The program would be a partnership between the Waterbury Regional Chamber of Commerce Foundation and city officials. A nine-member oversight and approval committee would be set up and be responsible for processing and vetting applications and disbursing funds.

New tenants would be required to sign a 2-year lease on their storefronts, Ward said, while existing tenants would also sign a 2-year lease to guarantee it doesn’t expire within two years of the completed build out or upgrades.

“This is perfect timing for this,” said local developer John Lombard, a senior partner of Lombard Group. “This is a shot-in-the-arm that downtown needs right now. Explained properly and put the opportunity out there, tenants are going to start to have an interest in coming down.”

Getting people back to work following the pandemic has been a priority for city officials, Mayor Neil M. O’Leary said. The mayor said he believes the program would go a long way in accomplishing that and could lead to other programs being created to support downtown properties.

“We are putting in millions of dollars into the central business district,” he said. “We are trying to protect it. We are trying to put the right businesses in there. We are trying to move Waterbury in the right direction.”