Proposed Development Shakes Up Milford Neighborhood

Update: Click here to read about the Nov. 19 public hearing in which Milford State Sen. Gayle Slossberg joined hundreds of residents in opposition to the proposed development on Pond Point Avenue.

Published Nov. 15

Public opposition to a proposed affordable housing complex is building ahead of a public hearing next week.

“The woods are there, the animals, the deer are there,” says Janet Korenchuk, who lives across the street from the proposed site at 86 Pond Point Ave.

“I don’t want to see the little bit of woods destroyed."

Neither do most of her neighbors, apparently.

On Thursday, about 35 signs lined the entirety of Pond Point Avenue, signs that protested “Save the Woods,” “Stop Colberg LLC” and “Speak Up Nov 19.”

The date is when the developer, Colberg LLC, will present before the city’s Planning and Zoning Board. Residents will also have their chance to speak. The public hearing is at Milford City Hall, 110 River St., and begins at 7:30 p.m.

‘A lot of accidents already’

“This is the main artery for all the residents,” says Bijali Maran, another neighbor with a home opposite the proposed development.

Maran says he’s worried about the increase in traffic the 23-unit complex would bring. He says the morning commute is congested as it is and adds that more cars on the road would lead to more problems at the already “very dangerous” intersection with New Haven Avenue, which is nearby.

Korenchuk, who says she’s lived on Pond Point since 1996, echoed those concerns.

“We have a lot of accidents already and when we don’t have accidents people are speeding down the street,” she says. “I don’t want it to be more congested than it is.”

‘Accident experience will not be impacted’

“The accident experience will not be impacted by the proposed development,” states a traffic study prepared for the developer by Windsor-based DLS Traffic Engineering LLC and submitted to the city.

The report, citing “the latest three-year accident history” from the Connecticut Department of Transportation, states that from January 2008 to December 2010 there were four accidents on the roadway between Dawes Street and Pauline Street, within which two curb cuts are being proposed.

The segment is about a 500-foot section of Pond Point Avenue and does not include the intersection with New Haven Avenue.

Of the four accidents, two were rear-end collisions, one was a crash with a fixed object and the last an accident that involved a deer, the study states, concluding that “these accidents indicate a low rate for the subject roadway.”

The proposed plan calls for 70 parking spaces.

City Planner David Sulkis says the Milford Police Commission, which handles traffic matters, did not suggest that the proposed site would create any added problems for motorists.

According to commission meeting minutes from Sept. 16, 2013, a motion carried unanimously to approve traffic division recommendation for the project.

Conservation concerns

In a letter to Tom Collucci of Colberg LLC, Milford Conservation Commission Chairman Bill Poutray and Vice Chair Steven Johnson expressed their shared objection to the proposed development in which about two acres of woods would require clearing.

The letter, dated Nov. 13, followed a site visit by the two men on Sept. 29.

The concluding paragraph reads: “In our opinion, the proposed development, landscape, and lighting plan will substantially adversely affect a local neighborhood quality of life.

“Any protective buffer will almost be completely eliminated. The community character and an estimated 2.4 acre existing wildlife habitat would all be drastically and negatively impacted by the proposed development.”

‘A very high bar to jump over’

With the development being proposed under affordable housing state statute 8-30g, the city is in a position where, if it wants the application to fail, it must prove its concerns outweigh the need for affordable housing in Milford, which is “a very high bar to jump over,” says Sulkis, the city planner.

The state statute allows developers to enter towns and cities with less than 10 percent affordable housing – Sulkis puts Milford between 6 and 7 percent – and not be subject to local zoning laws.

“The ones that are 10 percent and over, this isn’t an issue,” Sulkis says.

The Pond Point Avenue development is proposing 9 one-bedroom units and 13 two-bedroom units with seven of those 22 units designated as affordable.

Four of the seven units will be for families with less than or equal to 60 percent of the local median income and three for families with less than or equal to 80 percent of the local median income.

A balancing act

Additionally, there is a three-bedroom house currently on the property that is included as a unit in the proposed development. Sulkis says this is a potential issue because for each market price unit, under 8-30g, there must be an affordable counterpart.

“We always have concerns when people get upset about a project,” says Sulkis, commenting on the city’s role in a case like this. “We have to balance the rights of the applicant with the concerns of neighbors and ultimately have to follow the laws that govern its approval.”