The battle over a luxury apartment complex in Hamden is officially over.
The project would have brought nearly three hundred luxury apartment units to an 18-acre site off Rocky Top Road, adjacent to the Quinnipiac University York Hill campus. The new developments are a victory for nearby residents who have opposed the project from for nearly a year.
"It's just a big sigh of relief," resident Tim Mack said
Mack moved to his Hamden neighborhood years ago because of the serenity of his backyard, which is adjacent to an to the wooded ridge area just off the narrow Rocky Top Road.
"It's just a beautiful retreat to go into these woods and walk around," Mack said.
The future of that retreat was put in jeopardy nearly a year ago when a developer announced plans to construct 288 luxury apartments in the hilly terrain between Sherman Avenue and Shepard Avenue.
Residents immediately began showing their opposition, attending town hall meetings with signs and a message that Rocky Top ridge was no place for such a large-scale development.
Then, in the last hours of 2017, there was a major move by the developer Gary Richetelli of Mountain View Estates, who decided to pull the plug on the project and instead donate all the land to the Hamden Land Conservation Trust.
"They saw a need to protect this property so we are honored to be able to – and proud to - protect it," Jim Sirch, president of the Hamden Land Conservation Trust, said.
With the transfer of the deed, it became official and permanent, said Sirch.
"After careful thoughtful review and analysis of the Mountain View Estates project, I determined that it would not be an ideal development for the neighborhood and better served elsewhere at this juncture," Richetelli told NBC Connecticut. “This seemed like the best solution for the project, all factors considered including the neighbors and other parties as well, and in everyone's best interest," Sirch added.
