After carving out a village oasis from scratch amid the Oxford woods, a developer is moving ahead with its next project alongside a historic ice pond outside New Haven — in the heart of an industrial district today, where it hopes to create a similar haven for people live and visit for shopping, dining and other leisure activities. Haynes Group is seeking a zoning change for a 30-acre property it owns at 300 Elm St. in North Haven, which under the town’s current IL-80 industrial zone designation does not qualify currently for housing. Haynes Group aims to change that as an initial step to moving ahead toward additional approvals it would need from zoning and wetlands boards before construction could begin on as many as 400 apartments and 150,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. On the residential front alone, that would rank the project among the 20 largest residential developments in Connecticut tracked currently by CT Insider. At a meeting this week, the North Haven Planning & Zoning Commission tabled further consideration of the proposal to its next session in early July. In an April presentation to the P&Z Commission, Haynes Group compared its goals for the site to Quarry Walk in Oxford, where it built a modern village including apartments, retailers, restaurants and commercial space filled both by chains and independent shops, including a Market 32 grocery store. As the case at Quarry Walk, the North Haven development would include a child daycare center. Haynes Group also plans to build a walking trail at the site and a “community green” for concerts and other activities during the warmer months, with a bandstand backed by the vista of Bruces Ice Pond according to firm principal Patrick Haynes, who led the P&Z Commission presentation in April.
Quarry Walk developer looks to build village oasis in New Haven area with 400 units, shops, dining
