Dems eyeing Norwalk Redevelopment Agency in unhappiness over ‘slum/blight’ designations

NORWALK, Conn. — Some local Democrats continue to fume over the designation of South Norwalk as slum/blight; to that end, the Redevelopment Agency deserves some scrutiny, some say.

“The Redevelopment Agency sometimes operates as one of those bad charities,” Common Councilman David Watts (D-District A) said at a recent Democratic Town Committee meeting. “What I mean by that is a lot of money they collect is top heavy as far as their administrative costs for CDBG (Community Development Block Grant). When they classify South Norwalk as a slum basically what they are doing is devaluing people’s homes, I believe, because nobody wants to move into a neighborhood classified as a slum.”

The Common Council recently affirmed that South Norwalk fits the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) slum/blight designation, a specific designation under the regulations which opens the door for federal funding. Although there has been much consternation, this is a mandatory 10-year renewal of a designation that was already in existence, Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Tim Sheehan said.

“HUD is saying that if you are going to employ that designation you need to make sure the designation is current with the Common Council,” Sheehan said. “…I haven’t gone back to look to see if they took an action 10 years ago, but the requirement is if we are going to use the designation, and we would intend to utilize the resources, so therefore we have to have the designation.”

The topic took much time at the May 17 DTC meeting. It was also discussed last week at the Democrats’ District A meeting.

“I think we as a city should take a look at Redevelopment practices so they can serve South Norwalk better,” Councilwoman Phaedrel “Faye” Bowman (D-District B) said at the DTC meeting. “I mean, from what I hear we were considered a slum 10 years ago so if we are still considered a slum 10 years ago what are they doing?”

“It’s proof positive, they’re like a bad charity where most of the money goes to administrative costs,” Watts said, referring to CDBG. “The city itself should be looking to fund their salaries so the grant money doesn’t necessarily have to go to administrative costs.”

Mayor Harry Rilling said he agreed with everything that had been said, reaffirming that he didn’t like the slum/blight classification either.

“To use that label is really offensive,” Rilling said. “Unfortunately, it’s what the state of Connecticut and HUD requires in order to get those monies in.”

Classifying South Norwalk as slum/blight came on the heels of the same designation being reaffirmed for the Wall Street area. But West Avenue is also classified as slum blight, Third Taxing District Commissioner Debora Goldstein said.

RDA Senior Project Manager Susan Sweitzer confirmed the designation, which dates to 2006.

“We have a vast area in this city that is designated as blight/slum,” Goldstein said, calling the funding the carrot on the stick, but saying the resultant ability to use eminent domain is a problem.

“The fight over Washington Village was about not siting the thing elsewhere, ignoring the fact that HUD requires infill development to try to build up developments,” Goldstein said. “Now we have added another area of Norwalk, where we are potentially going to be hustling people out, and we are ignoring the things that will make those areas vital without declaring them blight, which is infill development. That all falls on Redevelopment.”

Rilling said that it’s very important to him that the overhaul of Zoning regulations for the Transit Oriented District that is now under way does not result in people being hustled out of their homes.

Sheehan said recently his agency does not have the power to do eminent domain takings without the Council’s approval.

Mike Mushak said the history of Redevelopment is adding to the anxiety over the slum/blight designation. People were removed from what was admittedly a rundown neighborhood when the land at the intersection of Interstate 95 and West Avenue was cleared, he said, but the federal government will no longer allow something like that to happen.

Mushak pointed out that Stamford Mayor David Martin has said that Stamford’s version of the Redevelopment Agency is no longer needed.  “I am just throwing that out there,” Mushak said, with a laugh. “Like I said, I support a lot of what they do… they do a lot of good things, but it is the process that is broken.”

The blight designation took everyone by surprise, “the way it just appeared on the agenda,” Mushak said.

“It’s just not the right way to do it and so people become suspicious,” Mushak said. “… The South Norwalk community is a very strong community, and gentrification is a fear, and it’s a valid fear. When you have a Redevelopment Agency that is working almost in secret and coming up with these things – I happen to like the Redevelopment Agency and support most of what they do; I do not like how they do it. It’s the process. That’s the problem: When you don’t engage the community, of course people are going to get scared and fearful.”

The people in South Norwalk are “really angry, and I believe rightfully so,” Mushak said.

Nicole Ayers expressed some of that reaction at last week’s District A meeting.

“It has a far-reaching situation. When you classify an area as a slum – slum is different than blight, that’s two different things,” she said.

Property values drop and there is less tax revenue for the city, which affects the schools, she said.

She, too, referred to CDBG funds. “My issue is what are they going to do with that money, because as someone who has applied … it’s not evenly disbursed,” she said.

Last year, Councilman Doug Hempstead (R-At Large) rebutted the idea that South Norwalk does not get its share of CDBG funding. Over the years, District B has gotten plenty of money, through Norwalk Economic Opportunity Now (NEON) and other programs, that even if a program is not run in South Norwalk, it may be serving people in South Norwalk, Hempstead said.

A local real estate expert, who has investments in the Wall Street area, agreed with the Democrats that property values are affected by the slum/blight designation.

Mike McGuire of the Austin McGuire Company, who has more than 20 years’ experience in real estate, said his response should not be construed as supporting one party or the other. He had this to say in an email:

“Defining an area as a slum will lower values for certain properties at certain times. Take someone interested in buying a condo or a single family home in SoNo.  If they are not from the area I believe that defining the area as slum, or blighted will color that prospective buyers opinion.  Likewise for a prospective office or retail tenant or buyer.

“Tangibly, nothing has changed in the physical condition of the area simply by calling it a slum, or blighted. However, the intangible effect can be significant, all the while being hard to measure except after a significant period of time.

“However, if defining the area as a slum accelerates the prospect of positive change, than by all means call it a slum. Better to quickly move away from the specter of being a slum than linger on the periphery of being designated as a slum.

“The concept of value, and what creates/diminishes value, is elusive except for the blatantly obvious.  It also reflects the value of a given property at a single point in time.  Take Norwalk’s Wall Street – how that got mismanaged into its current sad state is not for this article. However, now as the ‘cheapest’ property in SW Fairfield County, look at all that is suddenly happening.   It won’t ever be the same run-down neighborhood allowed by the city for the past four decades.”