New Haven Zoners Approve 60-Unit Apartment Project in Fair Haven

New Haven’s Board of Zoning Appeals gave unanimous approval Tuesday to a 60-unit apartment project in Fair Haven Heights, overruling a bloc of neighbors who showed up to demand single-family homes instead.

The green light goes to Novel Developments LLC, a Shelton-based company controlled by developer Sachi Anand. The project calls for two separate buildings at 97 and 101 Essex St. Novel Developments isn’t starting from scratch here. The company had already won zoning approval in 2023, followed by site plan approval in 2024. Attorney Ben Trachten came back before the board Tuesday to renew the variance, not because the law required it, but because there was ambiguity about how long the original zoning relief stayed valid. A City Plan Department staff report made clear the company didn’t technically need to do this at all, and said as much in the report’s own language: the renewal was sought “for the sake of clarity.”

The variance allows one unit per 1,428 square feet of lot area. Without that relief, city rules would require at least 2,100 square feet per unit. But the City Plan Department’s current reading of New Haven’s Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance actually cuts the required minimum to 600 square feet per unit, since Novel Developments opted into the IZ program by designating three of its 60 units at below-market rents. Under that reading, the developer didn’t need a variance at all.

The board’s legal clarity didn’t do much to cool the room.

Gerald Hampton, who has lived on Quinnipiac Avenue for years, told the board the neighborhood can’t absorb more apartments. The new units would increase traffic and “degrade property values,” he said. Hampton also took aim at the City Plan Commission’s 2024 review process, saying he got notice of the meeting only days before it happened. “How do you have time in four days to rebut this whole project?” he said.

Michael Brown, who owns a home on Essex Street, made the same point harder. According to New Haven Independent coverage of Tuesday’s hearing, Brown said: “I’m the little guy. We don’t have the resources to fight back.” That’s not a fringe sentiment in Fair Haven Heights. Residents who’ve held property through tough years often feel city approvals arrive as a fait accompli, with meaningful input available only to those who can hire lawyers and track commission calendars.

Chris Stewart, who grew up on Quinnipiac Avenue, warned the project would “strain and drain…the fabric of the neighborhood.” Tarey Hampton, another Quinnipiac Avenue homeowner, said the buildings would be monstrous and strip away what she called the serenity of her home. Santos Guzman, speaking through a translator at Tuesday’s hearing, said he’s reconsidering a planned move to Essex Street entirely because of the development.

None of the opponents said they want those lots left vacant. They want houses, not apartments. That distinction matters. Their objection isn’t to growth. It’s to the form growth takes and who it benefits.

That tension runs deep in New Haven’s working-class neighborhoods. The regional housing market is brutally tight, and city planners argue density is the only realistic path toward affordability. But longtime owners in places like Fair Haven Heights built wealth slowly, house by house, and they’re watching a developer from Shelton arrive with lawyers and blueprints while they get four days’ notice. It’s a structural mismatch, and Tuesday’s vote won’t resolve it.

Novel Developments now has a fresh approval heading into 2026 with every layer of city review behind it. Whether construction actually moves forward on Essex St. is another question. The 60 units, including the three IZ-designated affordable units, still have to get built.