NORWALK, Conn. – A preliminary step to create another route of travel for cars through a Norwalk neighborhood was approved Tuesday night by the Common Council, creating an expected expenditure of $200,000 in next year’s capital budget.
It looked like the study of the proposed extension of Academy Street, which is favored by developers of the Waypointe project under construction on West Avenue, would be approved by the council without any discussion. In fact, Mayor Richard Moccia called the vote and got a loud “aye,” until Matt Miklave (D-District D) pointed out that there was a procedural mistake, as the agenda had not been followed. Miklave then voiced his concerns about the city’s budget, and a debate ensued.
“We’re not even talking about the emails we get from residents that live in one of the 21 neighborhoods that live in our community that face constant flooding,” Miklave said. “Some of these neighborhoods flood with raw sewage in heavy rains. We can’t afford to spend $3 million to subsidize a developer. … We never have a discussion about priorities before this council. We just spend money like it’s going out of style and we don’t make hard choices because when you get a room full of people saying ‘We want this, we want this, we want this,’ the politically popular thing to do is to say yes.”
That nerve struck, discussion ensued.
Bruce Kimmel (D-District D), who is running as a Republican-endorsed candidate for council At-Large, said council members did not know yet how much the project would cost or what the developer would kick in.
Paxtol Kinol of Bellpointe Capital, funder of the Waypointe project, told the council that his company would be willing to help fund the extension.
Kimmel said initiating the process would make the city more attractive to developers in the future and would allow for negotiating better deals. About those financial investments, Kimmel said, “We should remember we do not have communities flooded on a weekly basis, we have one street, one house, where there’s a problem that’s being addressed … We’ve spent this year $2.5 million for flood mitigation.”
Kimmel went on to talk about the amount of money the city has spent under Moccia for road paving.
Doug Hempstead (R-At Large), who is running for re-election, said every year there are more requests for capital expenditures than the council has money to spend. Flooding issues had been worked on, he said. Twenty-five years ago people said don’t spend money on the Maritime Aquarium, he said.
“I think it’s important to send a message forward that we’re trying to look a little bit forward, down the lane when development comes … I think it’s important that we’re supporting a vision of what can be versus what can’t be,” he said.
Michael Geake (D-District B), who is running for re-election, said the expenditure was laying ground work.
“If we don’t need it, we don’t need it,” he said. “But to not be prepared in case, with all of this development going on, we find that we just plain need more capacity on our streets…”
Nick Kydes (R-District C), a lame duck, spoke of the transparency of his Planning Committee before getting to the meat of the issue.
“We have been very very frugal with the city’s funds,” Kydes said. “… The adoption of the Academy Street extension is not giving any developer a free ride, as has been implied.”
Miklave and Anna Duleep (D-At-Large), who is running for city sheriff, were the only ones to vote no. All members were present.
Duleep said she was not comfortable with subsidizing of private developers.
“It depends on the project,” she said. “Sometimes it’s worth it, sometimes it’s not.”
The proposed Academy Street extension would allow pedestrians and cyclists to get from the Lockwood Mathews Mansion area to Wall Street without using a West Avenue that is just going to get busier, Kinol said at last week’s Planning Committee meeting.
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