Developer Building & Land Technology Corp. has submitted a revised application to rezone its 205 McGee Ave. property as a boatyard after reaching a new land-swap agreement with Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia.
The revised plan, which calls for a 6-acre boatyard at 205 McGee Ave. to replace the former 14-acre South End boatyard, will allow the city to move forward in its review of the proposed 850,000-square-foot future headquarters of hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates, Pavia said.
“I believe I have negotiated a deal which brings tremendous value to our city,” Pavia said. “With the soon-to-be filed applications, the city”™s review process ”¦ can now commence.”
Under the agreement, the city would grant Harbor Point developer BLT the license to 2.4 acres of city-owned land adjacent to 205 McGee Ave. and a 4,000-square-foot strip of land that separates the property from the water, in exchange for commitments by BLT to invest $5 million in an expanded city animal shelter and in improvements to Stamford”™s Czescik and Cummings marinas.
If approved by the requisite city boards, the plan would allow for the construction of a 6-acre boatyard that could provide winter storage for more than 480 boats of all sizes. That in turn would allow for the construction of Bridgewater”™s $750 million future headquarters on the site of the former South End boatyard, known as Brewer”™s Yacht Haven, which has been dismantled by BLT.
“There has been a great deal of discussion and deliberation about the boatyard, or should I say, the absence of the boatyard,” Pavia said. “I”™m pleased to announce that we now have a plan to re-establish a working boatyard in Stamford.”
Pavia and BLT went back to the drawing board after an independent review commissioned by the city deemed a December plan for a 3.6-acre boatyard at 205 McGee Ave. as insufficient due to lack of winter boat storage space and a lack of available storage for boats longer than 30 feet.
BLT last week submitted a revised application to the Stamford Zoning Board to classify its 205 McGee Ave. property, including the 2.4 acres of city land, for use as a boatyard.
“To satisfy our consultants”™ request for additional space, I have negotiated a license agreement with BLT,” Pavia said. The report was drafted by Bermello Ajamil & Partners Inc., based in Miami.
The licensing agreement will be presented to the city”™s Planning Board, Board of Finance and Board of Representatives for approval, said Laure Aubuchon, Stamford”™s director of economic development.
A cease and desist order brought by the Stamford Zoning Board against BLT for its premature dismantling of the South End boatyard remains in effect.
Norman F. Cole, the city”™s Land Use bureau chief, said the order was issued because BLT “had demolished the former boatyard and had not submitted a plan to re-create it on the original site or somewhere else.”
Whether the new plan resolves the need for the cease and desist order “will be part and parcel of (the zoning board”™s) review of this 205 McGee application,” Cole said, adding that the board likely wouldn”™t act the application on until at least its April 22 meeting.
In response to concerns over BLT”™s dismantling of the former South End boatyard prior to a replacement being designated, Aubuchon said “We are working on the best way to assure that this remains a working boatyard.” She said the licensing agreement did not constitute a land grant; rather, that it would have an initial term and subsequent renewal periods.
The Mayor does not have the authority nor the jurisdiction to swap the transfer of property anywhere in the City of STamford according to the city’s charter, land use regulations and state statuetes. BLT is doing nothing more than tryingt spin a situation they can’t win, check the zoning regulations.