Community input needed at New Haven City Plan Commission meeting on Thursday, May 19

[Dana J. Landry, Ph.D.]

Neighbors,

River Front Development, LLC has applied to use their property for the storage of boats, RVs, containers, etc. This property in the past has been cited for unsightly collections of decaying boats, vehicles and other eyesores. Of most importance is the fact that the property is suffering from significant erosion which is approaching crisis levels to adjoining property. This erosion, if not addressed,  may be made worse from all the activity, extra weight and other actions to store heavy and often unsightly items. The neighborhood could have a crisis with the next big storm. Further erosion can lead to forced abandonment of property, even higher flood insurance premiums and significant problems with competing government agencies making further useful and desired development almost impossible. The property already has environmental concerns and the addition of leaky boats with fuel and oil, as well as storage containers with no control over contents, may well add to this problem and to the harm of the river itself.

The neighborhood currently has more than sufficient storage for boats with the two marinas. Any further storage, especially boat storage with no water access, only serves to move the neighborhood back to the times when it was mostly an auto salvage area.

We need all concerned citizens to come to the meeting to be held in  meeting room 1, 2nd floor Atrium at 165 Church St, New Haven, on May 19 at 7PM, to voice their opposition to the unnecessary and neighborhood degrading property use. The only process that really works is large numbers of people expressing a common concern.

At the very least we should all demand that River Front Development, LLC take the following steps:

1. Take immediate action to repair/replace degraded sea walls and bulkheads to prevent further erosion.

2. Repair current erosion to bring their property back to a safe and sustainable condition.

3. Maintain the property in a condition that does not detract from the beauty and value of the river front area.

4. No use for the storage of boats, RVs, containers or any other use inconsistent with current zoning ordinances.

Remember, it is much easier to stop this before we have an unsightly condition. Once in place, removal of old, decaying, abandoned items is far more difficult.

[Nathalie Bonafe]

Thank you, Dana, for your thorough blog, I am seconding you in a second blog, and asking CSNA to circulate the information.