A New Haven park plan calls for housing; neighbors fear loss of 'important asset'

Oct. 2--NEW HAVEN -- The testimony was shared on Zoom, through the lap top set up in Kensington Park and illuminated by a street light.

The neighbors drew praise for their organization and passion, as they spoke to the aldermanic committee.

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Impromptu singing after Elm City Vineyard Church service held at Kensington Park Sunday.

Video: Hearst Connecticut Media

Yet, while several of the members struggled with the vote, in the end the Friends of the Kensington Park lost when the Community Development Committee voted to sell the park to The Community Builders for $1 so it could use the site to build 15 units of affordable housing. It now goes to the full Board of Alders for a vote on the sale.

Rosetta Mack, who has lived across from the park for 52 years and wants it to remain.

Photo: Mary O'Leary Hearst Connecticut Media /

On one side were arguments on the environmental need for green space and mature trees that sequester carbon, the need for a nearby park in the Dwight area where neighbors could meet and children play, the high rates of asthma from air pollution, continued segregation and a heat index that will increase when trees are removed.

On the other was $30 million in rehab funds for 96 older units owned by TCB, the main thrust of the federal grant and $100,000 in city Community Development Block Grant funds, that also included the new construction in a city where 10,000 people are on a list for affordable housing.

There was discussion on what constitutes public input and whether it is met by deliberating with a community management team. They broached the need for upgrading city parks and not abandoning them if they've attracted bad behavior, such as drug dealing.

The two-hour discussion came in the same week that another group, Open Communities Alliance, filed a request with the Woodbridge planning committee to modify that town's zoning rules to allow for multifamily construction of more than 2 units to open opportunities for low-income residents.

Woodbridge now has 43 lots out of 3,000 where more than one unit of housing is allowed, 30 of them for senior housing.

Josh Randall, a Ph.D. student in ecology and evolutionary biology who lives in the neighborhood, said the plan keeps the neighborhood segregated. while removing some 25 mature trees will release 40 percent of stored carbon into the atmosphere.

Photo: Mary O'Leary / Hearst Connecticut Media /

Serena Neal-Sanjurjo, director of the Livable City Initiative, said she understands people may use the park now on occasion, but that hasn't been the case for decades. She said she has always worked through management teams as a way to reach out for neighborhood input. She said this project has been mentioned several times over two years at management team meetings.

In addition to the housing, the proposal is to swap 4 parcels in Newhallville to be used as green space instead of Kensington; donation of a building to the Greater Dwight Community Development Corp.; and upgrades of some green space in Dwight.

Chris Ozyck, past president of Elm City Conservancy, said he worried about the precedent of swapping the park for other parcels. He said the goal of the overall project "are admirable," but he was concerned about the needs of the residents of the immediate Kensington area.

Scenes from Kensington Park.

Photo: Mary O'Leary Hearst Connecticut Media

Kensington for years was plagued by gang violence, but that has dropped in recent years and the park more recently is being used, after the district manager for the area gave drug dealers an ultimatum to stop using the park or they would be arrested, according to the testimony of Dwight neighborhood resident Pat Wallace.

"If we took the approach of because there is crime, because there is poor management, because of these things, we should get rid of parks, we will not have parks in underserved communities. We will only have them in the surrounding affluent communities," Ozyck said.

He asked whether there has been any analysis of lead contamination in the parcels in Newhallville and whether there will be active or passive use of the parcels. Looking at the distribution of playgrounds around the city, there is a question of who gets the resources, he said.

"It can make you really upset," Ozcyk said. In the Wooster Square neighborhood, he said, in addition to the large Wooster Square park itself, there is a smaller, well-maintained playground around the size of Kensington Park.

"If those same resources had been put into Kensington Park 20 years ago, this conversation would not be happening," he said. With no director of parks at the moment in New Haven, he wondered whether there is a voice for parks or anyone doing an analysis of the need for parks.

Rosetta Mack, a 52-year resident across the street from the park, said amenities have come and gone there and it has had its bad period. She said it is better again.

The Parks Commission was reluctant to approve the land swap and at first rejected it, before reconsidering it in a follow-up meeting.

The only person who spoke in support of using Kensington Park for housing, in addition to workers associated with TCB, was DeLisa Tolson, owner and operator of Advanced Child Care Center for two decades across from the park. She said she also grew up in the area.

Tolson said in 20 years "we have never ever ever used that park." She said it has never been accessible to children in the community because "it has a lot of goings-on and I feel it is a hazard, it is dangerous. I understand people want to save the grass and save the trees. I'm about saving lives."

"There are no swings of any sort. The homeless sleep there. They do drugs there," she said. Tolson said it is "disgusting, unsafe and unfit." She said she has found "needles and broken glass." She asked, if it were to be upgraded, who would police it and make sure there is proper lighting.

Others did not agree.

Jane Comins said they canvassed the neighborhood and found that many people did not know about the plans to sell the park. She said children use the park year-round and she met a nurse from the nearby hospital who comes there for a moment of respite from the hospital, as well as a mother from the adjacent Antillian Manor who brings her children there.

"The children have nowhere else to play. This park is an important asset. We need to keep it. The people in the neighborhood use it for potluck dinners, for barbecues, for exercising," she said.

The Elm City Vineyard Church, which normally meets at the United Methodist Church on Elm Street, has been holding services in the park every Sunday since houses of worship were closed in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This past Sunday, dozens of members ate lunch there after services, while children had a pickup soccer game and members of the Friends of Kensington Park had a meeting.

Olivia Martson said the developer plans to amend the Chapel-Day Park, a block away, which is a plus, but it is not a net gain, while the group also questioned the use of green space on Chapel between two TCB properties, and on Garden Street, which is a strip between a driveway and a parking lot, both of which will remain in private hands. Martson said she had a list of 10 possible sites for the housing construction.

Alder Jill Marks, D-28, asked where the "people of color" were who objected to the sale of the park, after which seven people stepped up to testify.

Nia Campinha-Bacote, a Dwight resident and Yale Divinity School student, said Community Builders in its proposal has acknowledged it has struggled with community relations, which improved after phase one of its renovation plan. She said in the current phase 2, it "seems to have neglected any sincere development of community partnership with the residents here."

When TCB says it wants to help the community with broader goals, Campinha-Bacote said what the residents of Edgewood Avenue, Day Street, Garden Street and Kensington Street want is revitalization of the park, which the city has neglected for years. She said she believes that the residents' goals and TCB's goals of removing blight intersect, but they disagree on this decision.

LaQruishia Gill, a resident of Kensingon Street, questioned the specific plans for the alternative parks and whether they would come to fruition. She said Kensington Street has struggled over the years with a negative reputation and it needs a "dedicated space" and not more housing packed into the area, which already is surrounded by low-income housing.

Gill said "building more affordable housing in an already inundated neighborhood does nothing to combat issues of segregation in our city."

"Why can't this same development be built elsewhere in the city?" she asked. Gill said she attends many management meetings and asked why she only found out about the plan two months ago. She asked whether TCB went door to door with its plans before last week.

Philip Bruton said the park is part of the beauty of the neighborhood. "I, who believe in the preservation of Black communities, this park is part of that. If you look around the country, there is no happiness around. This park is happiness to me."

Philip Burton, a resident who characterized the park as a place of happiness.

Photo: Mary O'Leary Hearst Connecticut Media /

Josh Randall, a Yale Ph.D. student in ecology and evolutionary biology, who lives in the area, said eliminating the estimated 25 mature trees would release 40 percent of the carbon stored in them back into the atmosphere, while the replacement trees will take decades to offer that level of protection and the new trees will only absorb one-tenth of the pollution.

In terms of a heat index, there is a 3.5-degree difference between the most affluent areas of New Haven and the poorest, such as Dwight, and losing the tree canopy makes it worse, adding to asthma cases, he said.

A resident of Chapel Street said it was not fair that her daughter has to go across town to enjoy a a nice water park, or slides and swings. Right now, Kensington Park has only a broken splash pad.

Anstress Farwell, head of the New Haven Urban Design League, said if alders are trading green spaces, the substitute location should be within a quarter-mile. "You should be able to walk over to it," Farwell said. She said it does not make any sense to send these residents to Wooster Square or Newhallville.

In this file photo, Anstress Farwell of New Haven Urban Design League.

Photo: Peter Hvizdak / Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

Farwell said she sees no reason why the city can't go ahead with the substitute parks, but also keep the Kensington Park. She said fixing the Day Street Park is important, but it doesn't substitute for Kensington, which is on a quiet side-street that is good for young children. In another comparison with Wooster Square, she said it has five green spaces compared to the two in Dwight, which needs more green space, not less.

Carmen Pajarillo, a student at the Yale Medical School, said her concern is the Black and brown lives in terms of the benefits of green spaces in New Haven. She said more minorities are likely to be hospitalized for asthma-related issues than white people, while they have higher rates of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, all of which can be mitigated with green spaces that help tamp down air pollution and provide places to exercise.

Pajarillo said as far as giving up on parks where there have been problems, she said Lenzi Park in Wooster Square was one of them, but now has been turned around with some investment.

Attorney Keith Ainsworth, who represented the park proponents, questioned the legality of the Parks Commission's decision to allow the sale to go through. He said the deal with TCB underestimates the amount of park being taken and the replacement is not of equal value. The attorney said the commission should hold a public hearing and put off action for 90 days.

Laura Cahn, who heads the the New Haven Environmental Advisory Council, said the 25 mature trees on the property provide 75 percent of Dwight's shaded park plans. "I understand not everyone likes it in its current iteration and yes we have improvements to make. ... This is a hidden gem and I really hope you will keep it."

Alders Frank Douglass, D-2, and Marks said they were torn on how to vote on this, listening to the passion of the speakers, but in the end they felt the need for affordable housing won out. The vote was unanimous.

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