West Haven library gets special permit approval — but not at city’s preferred site

Attorney Stephanie Cummings represents the Village Improvement Association’s request for a special permit on Orange Avenue/Boston Post Road before the West Haven Planning and Zoning Commission.

Attorney Stephanie Cummings represents the Village Improvement Association’s request for a special permit on Orange Avenue/Boston Post Road before the West Haven Planning and Zoning Commission.

Brian Zahn / Hearst Connecticut Media

WEST HAVEN — The city’s library board has received an approval to move forward with plans to build a new Allingtown branch library, about two years after a City Council vote to sell the former building at Forest Road to a developer.

The special permit approval for the planned two-story, 14,748-square-foot building is for 634 Orange Ave. — even though Mayor Nancy Rossi had attempted to persuade members of the Village Improvement Association, the nonprofit that oversees the West Haven Library, to build the branch library at a vacant, city-owned space behind Carrigan School.

Rossi proposed allocating $1 million of the city’s $29 million share of federal pandemic recovery funding to the construction of an Allingtown branch library with the caveat it be built on a large, vacant plot of land behind Carrigan.

Stephanie Cummings, an attorney for the VIA, said the organization is under contract to purchase the 634 Orange Ave. (Boston Post Road/Route 1) site for $229,000, although the transaction has not happened yet. Officials said the group is waiting for the state to conclude foreclosure proceedings at the site because of unpaid liens.

The parcel, which is overgrown, heavily-sloped and surrounded by roads on three sides, was acknowledged as “challenging” by Cummings. Planning and Zoning Commissioner Gene Sullivan called it “terrible.”

Sullivan, the only commissioner who abstained instead of voting to approve the special permit, asked why the VIA passed on the Carrigan site. Cummings did not answer the question directly, saying the VIA was before the commission to request approvals for the Orange Avene site, but she said it was “disappointing” for the city to offer the Carrigan parcel after the VIA already was under contract for the Orange Avenue site.

VIA President John Galvin said the costs associated with the Carrigan site would be greater — there would be more utility work and road construction required at that site, he said.

About 30 people showed up in support for the special permit request, sitting behind the applicants. Commission Chairwoman Kathy Hendricks confirmed that the members of the public were seated in the City Hall meeting room in support of the permit by requesting a show of hands.

Councilwoman Robbin Watt Hamilton, D-5, whose district includes the site of the proposed library branch site, said Allingtown is “starving for a library,” but she believes that serious flooding issues in the area of the site would not be improved by the addition of a library, whereas the Carrigan site “seems like it would make more sense” because of its proximity to a school, lack of oncoming traffic and the large size of the parcel, allowing for the city to potentially create a campus of community resources.

Land surveyor Joe Codespoti of Codespoti & Associates said the Orange Avenue site would be accessible and walkable to the community. He said that the driveway leading into the parking lot within the site plan would be “rather steep, but not extremely in our professional opinion.”

The applicants also repeatedly emphasized the Orange Avenue site’s proximity to a bus line, making it accessible to people who take public transportation.

Alternate Commissioner Greg Milano asked about the state of the sidewalk along the parcel on Route 1. Codespoti said there are none, and crossing the four lanes of traffic is “not for the faint of heart.” Milano said he wanted the answer on record as the city is participating in an ongoing study of pedestrian and cyclist safety. Milano said the lack of sidewalks are “a huge problem,” and that the state should be made to address it.

Cummings told commissioners that the project would cost an estimated $3 million to $4 million, and they have received $1 million through a state library construction grant so far.

Colleen Bailie, director of the West Haven library system, said the proposed building would expand or improve some of the prior building’s offerings — including a space for teenagers, study rooms and a community room with more than twice the seating capacity.

Hendricks said that, according to the Plan of Conservation and Development, the commission’s charge is to make Orange Avenue more pedestrian-friendly.

“What better way to revitalize our (Boston) Post Road with a stake in the ground than a library on the Post Road to show everybody it is not just a business corridor?” she said.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
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