Eye'M Sorry to Say...

...that none of the intrepid volunteer reporters for the EYE were available at 7 pm last night as the Board of Ed met at Middletown High, so unfortunately we won't have a full report for you.

I was able to make the "after party" in the parking lot though, as members headed to their cars at 8:30. Board chair Ted Raczka shared that the meeting was one of their shortest ever, and that among the highlights were two big pieces of news:

1. Middletown High graduation has been set for June 21st.

2. The Board confirmed a new principal for Woodrow Wilson Middle School (perhaps someone will give us the name in the comments section!)

Instead of attending the Board of Ed, I went to the Parking Department meeting at 7 pm, where the new Parking Director Tom Hartley filled us in on his proposal to test a new kind of parking meter on Main Street in the coming months. The single-space meters would take credit cards as well as coins, so that downtown shoppers would have more flexibility in paying for parking. Also, the level of data collected by the meters would help us understand the parking patterns on Main Street. Director Hartley has negotiated a 3-month trial of the meters without cost to the city, beyond the new expenses of processing credit card payments. At this point, the plan is to have the temporary meters installed on the East side of Main between Court and Washington from mid-May to mid-August, allowing us to analyze whether they would improve parking collections and satisfaction.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, I was at the Redevelopment Agency meeting, which clocked in at about 10 minutes in length -- we are working on a number of projects, but none required decisions on our part. In brief, we learned that the North End Home Ownership project has a slight change of plans: the historic yellow house on Ferry Street which was to undergo rehab will now quite likely be demolished and replicated, due to rot. The developers of the project, Nehemiah and Broad Park, have been working with the local preservation society on this.

Also at Redevelopment, we got an update on the ongoing assessment of brownfields in the City, with an eye toward identifying properties that would be suitable for redevelopment, if grant funds and private interest allow. The consultants, VHB, will be operating some public sessions in the coming months to get feedback on what sites should receive priority treatment in this effort.

And while we're on the subjects of meetings, consider this our annual pledge drive to recruit new writers for the Middletown Eye. There are lots of meetings that happen in town without any press coverage, or even any members of the public attending, though they are open. If you'd be interested in attending city meetings on topics that interest you, and then writing a summary for the EYE, then consider yourself hired. Just drop us a comment and we'll set you up!

New Chair at Redevelopment

Tuesday night marked the first meeting of the Redevelopment Agency under new chairperson Shannon Brown. At the last meeting, Gerry Daley stepped down as chair after many years.

Tonight's meeting offered news of some progress for the North End Home Ownership project, and a split vote on a proposal for the Miller/Bridge Street neighborhood.

The meeting began with an update from Nehemiah Housing's Michael Taylor and Broad Park Development's David Berto. Their project to provide 17 home-ownership units in the Ferry/Green/Rapallo neighborhood has made slow progress over the past few years, but tonight we learned of a new funding source for the project. Michael and David were joined by Andrea Pereira from the Local Initiatives Support Corp. LISC was an early supporter of the project, with a loan to assist with acquisition and development. Now, as members of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) they have helped secure a $425,000 "forgivable loan" for the project. That means that after five years, the loan is forgiven and essentially becomes a grant.

Nehemiah is still on the waiting list for funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank's Affordable Housing Program, but may be eligible for funding as early as next month. The all-important appraisal of what these homes might sell for is expected by the end of March, which has the potential to unlock both a construction loan from Liberty Bank and millions in HOME funds from the state's Department of Economic Development. If all those pieces fall into place, assembling the approximately $7 million necessary for the project, then Nehemiah could begin abatement and demolition of the properties in question as soon as this May. If that timeline holds, the proposed homes would be sold and occupied by Thanksgiving 2010. For more background on the North End Home Ownership Project, the Planning department has all the drawings on its excellent webpage.

In other business, Redevelopment heard a proposal from Planning Director Bill Warner to purchase and demolish a blighted building on Bridge Street. The proposal generated much debate, including that from yours truly who would rather see Middletown work a little harder to find alternate uses for historic houses -- this one was built in 1865. The proposal did pass, with five commissioners in favor, four against, and two abstensions for unknown reasons. Now the proposal moves to the Common Council for their consideration and funding.

The discussion on Miller and Bridge street made it clear that Middletown is no closer to solving the terrible access problem for this neighborhood. The City cannot afford to purchase and demolish all the homes, nor can it afford to connect the neighborhood with a new road to North Main Street. A bill has been proposed to the state by our legislators for $3 million to solve this problem. The much less costly and much quicker option of negotiating the opening of the Portland Street railroad crossing is apparently off the table. And so the residents of Miller and Bridge are not likely to see changes any time soon, except perhaps the removal of one vacant, historic house.

Redevelopment

The Redevelopment Agency met on Tuesday for an hour or so at City Hall.

Nehemiah's Michael Taylor spoke about the progress of the North End Homeownership project. At this point, Nehemiah and Broad Park are still trying to assemble the funding to build 15 home-ownership units on Ferry, Green & Rapallo (another 2 will be built by Habitat for Humanity). They have pursued a number of funding possibilities, which I have detailed ad nauseum in other EYE posts, here and here, which are contingent on receiving a construction loan from Liberty Bank. In October, Nehemiah notified us that Liberty will not loan the money for the construction unless they believe that there is still a market for these homes, so they are requiring an "after-rehab" appraisal, and a study to estimate how long it will take the homes to sell (we all know how much that ballgame has changed since this project began a few years ago, when real estate was selling like hotcakes.)

Astute readers of the EYE will notice that this is exactly where we stood a few months ago. Unfortunately, the appraisal has not begun because of some sort of internal snafu (it's not entirely clear where) that will require Nehemiah to pony up $4,000 before the appraisal will be done. Hopefully by this writing, Nehemiah has mustered up the funds to take this next step. It is, after all, an expected cost that a developer will face, and one which could be covered by the CDBG* funds that the City has already allocated for this project. But, as I believe is common with CDBG funding, the developer is expected to pay the cost up front and then get reimbursed after the paperwork is all signed, sealed and delivered.

Speaking of cash flow, David Bauer raised the question of how much it is costing Nehemiah for each month that the project delays. Although Michael will bring firmer figures to our next meeting, he estimated that it takes $5,000 to $6,000 monthly to keep this project on hold, including interest payments on the properties they bought, and utilities. He reassured the agency that these costs and his administrative time do not add to the cost of the project -- they are covered through the "Developer's Fee", which is recouped at the end of the project, when the properties are sold and the loan is paid off.

Other Redevelopment Agency members pushed for more of a timeline from Nehemiah. After the appraisal, it looks like the next hurdle is February, by which time they should learn whether they will be moved up from the waitlist for the Federal Home Loan Bank funds or whether they should make a March application for a June award from those same funds. Nehemiah has named next June as a critical juncture -- if funding is not in place by then, they will look at phasing the project, although that would create a large amount of extra paperwork with DECD.

Hopefully, they will receive good news over this winter. Also, Michiel Wackers dangled the hope that this project might be eligible in case the new administration in Washington, DC releases any "New Deal" type grants for local projects. This one is all approved and "shovel-ready" as they say.

But there's no question that the Redevelopment Agency is getting antsy as the months go by.

* CDBG is short for "Community Development Block Grant" funds, which is federal money from HUD (Housing and Urban Development) which goes to cities and towns with "urban" problems. Middletown gets a pot around a half-a-million each year, some of which goes to the operating budget of social service programs in town, and most of which helps with various bricks and mortar projects. Decisions about where to spend CDBG funds are made at the local level by the CAC (Citizen's Advisory Council) and the Common Council. Put that in your alphabet soup!

Redevelopment Re-Run

If you were at tonight's Redeveloment Agency meeting, you would be forgiven for thinking you've already seen this movie.

The same two issues were on the agenda:

-Miller & Bridge Street: Nothing new to report.

-Home Ownership in the North End: Not too much change here either.

As he did at last month's meeting, Michael Taylor from Nehemiah gave us an update on the $7 million plan to build 15 units of home-ownership (plus 2 to be developed by Habitat for Humanity) on Ferry/Green/Rapallo. As we know, 10% of the funding for this $7 million project has been secured (that's the City's contribution to the project). The remaining 90% is pending, with much hanging on the upcoming appraisal by Liberty Bank of the after-rehab value of the units. With a favorable appraisal, Michael says they are on target to unlock about $3 million in a DECD HOME grant, and another $2.5 million construction loan from Liberty Bank. There were two new pieces of information about the project funding. We learned of the "wait-list" status of Nehemiah's application for about $400,000 with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston. Also, Nehemiah has learned of a potential new source for about $425,000, which might replace their plans to apply for $500,000 in State Tax Credits next August (they were denied for those funds in the August 2008 cycle). Michael confirmed that they will wait to sign the construction contract with the contractor until "all the funding is in place", though they may start sooner with a smaller portion of the work, to get the environmental and demolition work going. At the request of Joe Tine (and pending adequate funding), Nehemiah offered a best-case construction schedule that might begin around April and end about a year later.

In other news, we had a visit from Michael Arafeh, who owns the Coffehouse Recording Studio, which is located at 510 Main Street behind La Boca. Michael and I are both part of the Chamber of Commerce "Creative Juice" council for arts/creative businesses. {Before the meeting, Michael mentioned to me that he's been working with a group of kids from Harford for a hospital holiday album -- sounds like a great project, and I think we are lucky to have this resource in our downtown.}

So what brought Michael Arafeh to Redevelopment? The same thing that brought him to countless downtown meetings over the last several years of North End redevelopment -- concern that construction noise would interfere with his sound-sensitive business. He made the reasonable request that he be notified of certain kinds of construction activities (like jack-hammering) so that he could re-arrange his recording schedule. During the construction of the Wharfside Commons project (by the Richman Group), Michael says that about 60 sessions were impacted by construction noise, which could have been avoided with better communication. I hope that Nehemiah can keep him in the loop on their construction!

Perhaps the liveliest part of the meeting came when David Bauer questioned whether Redevelopment should continue to use its meetings to review the North End Home-Ownership project, since the City has already committed funding for its 10% of the project -- and without many contractual benchmarks or timelines that the City could enforce -- and so it could be argued that we no longer have a dog in this race. This question prompted more discussion than any other issue, as several members voiced their various opinions about the oversight of this project, and the future of redevelopment in general. And if you, dear reader, have an opinion on this subject, I invite you to add a comment on this post!

I haven't got much objectivity on this issue -- I hope that we continue to monitor every step of the project, since we have invested $720,000 of city CDBG funds, and should be the first to know if the project hits any new delays or roadblocks. Also, though it's not perfect, we provide a forum where citizens can learn about the project and register any complaints. But I'd also love to see a higher standard of accountability in the Memorandums of Understanding that our City signs.

And now, a note to any followers of the Redevelopment Agency: in the future, we will meet at 5 pm, not 5:30. Still the Third Tuesday of the Month -- see you then.

A new direction for Miller & Bridge?

Last night was the gathering of the Redevelopment Agency and the Public Safety Commission on the topic of Miller & Bridge.  It should be noted that this was not an official meeting -- it was sort of a workshop, since addressing the topic separately led to a stalemate.  

First some facts, which were prepared by Michiel Wackers.  Since the 1999 adoption of the Redevelopment Plan, there have been 12 acquisitions by the City in this neighborhood, and those properties have been demolished.  There are 16 pieces of private property remaining, which include about 27 housing units and there are 40 cars registered at those addresses.  The only business -- Alfredo's Riverside -- is closed but could potentially be re-opened.  To finish the plan, it is projected that it would cost just under $3 million buy those properties, relocate the people, and demolish the buildings.

We also discussed the option of connecting Miller Street to North Main Street, and then closing off the Route 9 entrance and leaving Portland Street alone.  The challenge here is the cost -- which was estimated by the State DOT as just under $3 million (coincidentally the same cost as demolishing the whole place!)   Of course, that's just a first estimate and there was lots of debate on how adding 300 ft. of road could cost that much...but it does mean acquiring an easement from Providence and Worcester Rail, and getting state legislature approval for at-grade crossings on the tracks.

And finally, we discussed the option of opening Portland Street -- the police did a count and gave an estimate of 100 trips a day, primarily between 5 and 8 pm, but personally, I am entirely unclear about what that means -- whether that is one car making two trips (which could easily be residents) or whether there are a lot of people turning in there when traffic is bad, and then making a u-turn.  Also, the narrowness of Portland Street, the need to eliminate some of their on-street parking, and the potential disruption to their neighborhood were issues -- and eventually, that option took last place, only to be pursued if the other two options fail.

So, I believe the next step is to have a full, public review of this at both the Redevelopment and Public Safety meetings.  Each group will be considering whether they can endorse the following request to our state legislators:  For approximately $3 million in funding to pursue either option one (demolish the neighborhood) or option two (connect it to North Main).   Any members of the public who care about this issue will have their chance to speak at both of those meetings.

The feeling is that giving them both options makes it easier for the legislators to find a way to get this funding.  But of course, they may be unsuccessful.  I should note that both Representative Serra and Senator Doyle did meet with Redevelopment last year, and they agreed to champion this cause at the legislature last year, whether for approval to open Portland St. or funding for some other plan, but that first we needed to agree on what we wanted (including approval from the Council).

So now we have a long-term plan on the table, but no short-term relief for the people on Miller & Bridge.  If we can actually get funding within the next year, then this is a positive step.  If not, we have to go back to the Portland Street option.

The one thing everyone agreed on -- there are no easy solutions for this situation.

What to do about Miller & Bridge?

What to do for the neighborhood known as "Miller & Bridge"? That's the tiny section of town that has it's own entrance from Route 9, just north of Exit 16, where the former Alfredo's Riverside Restaurant did business until earlier this year.

View Larger Map

As a Redevelopment commissioner, I was part of the process in the late 1990's that designated this area as a "Redevelopment Zone", including a plan to purchase and demolish all the structures in the area, by eminent domain if necessary. At the time, I spoke against the plan to demolish and I remember Catherine Johnson speaking eloquently about the importance of the area as an "architectural billboard" for our town, as the historic, wood-frame, working class houses are the first glimpse of Middletown as you arrive from the North -- she felt they could be restored and the highway access might be a positive instead of a negative, if the right owners and uses could be found. But there was an assumption that as the state looked at eliminating Exit 16 and connecting directly to the Arrigoni Bridge to Portland (that should be the subject for another post), there would likely be a buy-out of this neighborhood by the State D.O.T. And we all agreed that the status-quo was not good -- because of the isolation of the neighborhood, it had become a source of blight and the easy highway access provided a sort of "drive-thru" for drug dealers from outside the neighborhood, making life miserable for residents. In addition to other problems, unprotected train tracks run right through the neighborhood and lead paint falling from the bridge had contaminated a number of properties. And so it became the official policy of the City to eliminate the neighborhood through Redevelopment.

Whether for good or for worse, the State D.O.T. never came up with money to purchase Miller & Bridge. Meanwhile, the City spent hundreds of thousands of federal grant dollars buying certain properties and demolishing them, before they ran out of money and decided instead to focus the City's resources to demolishing historic houses on Ferry Street to create the Richman/Wharfside Commons apartments.

So, it's 10 years later and the Miller & Bridge neighborhood is in limbo, as the Redevelopment plan is still in effect, yet action on that plan has ceased and there is no intention to move forward with funding it. Some properties were purchased and demolished, and the quality of life did improve somewhat, but the remaining residents continue to feel that they do not receive the same level of city services, and property values must be affected by the fact that -- officially -- the neighborhood has no future. The people who live there would like to see us either lift the Redevelopment designation, or find the funding to finish the job. Either way, they would like immediate improvements to the traffic safety problem (one resident suggested to the Police that they should be exempt from tickets when they are involved in accidents on Route 9, since they frequently have to take risks just to get in or out of their neighborhood.)

The North End Action Team (NEAT) and Lydia Brewster raised this issue in the first place and have kept it on the Redevelopment agenda all these years, with repeated meetings to try to push it forward. This year, a compromise solution was approved at Redevelopment: ask the State to open the rail crossing at Portland Street for a few years, and to close the Route 9 entrance. In the meantime, perhaps try to find State funding to build a proper connection for the neighborhood from Miller Street to North Main, across the land controlled by the Providence and Worcester Railroad.

This temporary solution of opening Portland Street is understood to be a complicated proposal for two reasons -- first, it requires a special act of the state legislature, since opening Portland Street will require Miller & Bridge residents to cross the railroad tracks (which of course they already do within their own neighborhood -- and without any safety signals.) And second, St. John's Church and Portland Street residents are concerned about the social and traffic problems which might result from connecting to Miller & Bridge.

When this motion from Redevelopment made the necessary stop at the Public Safety Commission before going on to the Common Council, it was denied -- Public Safety doesn't want to open Portland Street. And Miller & Bridge remains in limbo.

And so I come to the reason for today's post on this topic: Tomorrow (June 24th) at 5:30 pm in Room 208 at City Hall, there will be a joint meeting of the Redevelopment Agency and the Public Safety Commission. I don't actually know if there will be a public session, but it should be interesting to see if we can't find a solution that brings some justice to the people in this neighborhood -- and if we can't, why not?