SC Connecticut News

NEW HAVEN, CT – On June 15, the City of New Haven filed a motion to dismiss the Friends of Kensington Playground et al v. City of New Haven lawsuit, where plaintiffs sought to stop the development by The Community Builders of 15 affordable housing units by repurposing Kensington Playground, a small 0.67-acre site located on Kensington Street between Edgewood Avenue and Chapel Street. The proposed development was approved by the City in 2019.

The Community Builders (TCB) initially informed the City of New Haven on April 16th that it no longer planned to move forward with the 15 units of this project at the Kensington Playground site. The details were resolved and finalized on June 7th and, as a result, the City subsequently moved to dismiss the lawsuit as moot.

TCB has initiated construction on a 96-unit, $28 million affordable housing redevelopment project of rental properties on parcels adjacent to the Kensington Playground site as a separate part of the overall project.

The accompanying Memorandum In Support of the Motion to Dismiss can be found here.

Upon the City filing the motion to dismiss, Mayor Justin Elicker released the following statement:

“This has been a challenging issue and some in the community have felt passionately on both sides in balancing the need for more affordable housing units with the need for green space in the City. In light of the developer’s decision not to proceed with the housing development, I have directed the City’s corporation counsel to dismiss the case. It is time to move forward -- and, while not everyone may agree with the result, this decision settles the issue and this bit of the Dwight neighborhood will remain a green space for the community moving forward.” 

PRESS CONTACT:

Lenny H. Speiller; (203) 725-4249; Lspeiller@newhavenct.gov

Original source can be found here.