Steve Fontana saw how downtown New Haven transformed — and sees how similar changes could come to the center of Hamden. As Hamden’s newish economic development chief, he’s in a position to help make that happen. He saw how public art, walkability, and town-gown cooperation transformed o ther parts of New Haven. He sees how similar approaches could transform Hamden’s neighborhoods on the other side of the New Haven’s border. The town has embarked on “bottom-up, community-based approach” to get there. Fontana offered an energetic update on the town’s development trajectory during a conversation on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” on Thursday. He started the Hamden gig six months ago. He brought with him to the job, and to the “Dateline” conversation, a quarter century of experience working on nuts-and-bolts economic development: first as a North Haven state representative, then as a deputy economic development administrator for the City of New Haven during the go-go aughts, then as West Haven’s economic development administrator … and now as first-term Hamden Mayor Adam Sendroff’s director of economic and community development. In those roles, Fontana, who’s 63, said he has learned to approach development the way Wayne Gretzky approached pro hockey: “You skate to where the puck’s going, not to where it is or where it’s been. “We’re trying to think about: What is the next 20, 25, 30 years of Hamden’s future like? How can we position Hamden for success?” Some have suggested the retail puck left Hamden’s “Magic Mile” of shops that became a juggernaut on Dixwell Avenue in the 20th century. Suggestions have included encouraging builders to put housing there, for instance, given the affordable housing crunch. Fontana reported that in fact new stores are replacing old ones, and retail is going strong on Dixwell. Builders are not knocking on his door to put apartments there — that’s elsewhere in town, such as a “High Meadows” project currently in the pipeline to build 150 affordable apartments off of the Hartford Turnpike. “The trick is to get them to come to you” rather than try to convince builders to create projects the market might not bear, Fontana said. “My job is to help developers with whatever they want to build.” For example, he said the town is far along on a deal to have an industrial company — unnamed for now — to take over and renovate the 116,000 square-foot abandoned Leed Himmel Industries aluminum plant on Leeder Hill Drive. When it comes to the crossroads of Dixwell and Whitney Avenues in Hamden’s core, the puck is headed the way it did a generation ago in New Haven, Fontana predicted: Toward a denser multi-use center for people to live, work, shop, play. The town center’s future is the subject of a current community master plan process. Fontana said he’d like to see zoning roles eased, parking lots built on, to offer more apartments, shops, and stuff to do at the juncture of two main bus lines primed to expand through a Bus Rapid Transit plan.  In northern Hamden, Fontana sees opportunities to work with Quinnipiac University to integrate the surrounding community into growth plans the way Yale has worked with New Haven. Then there are two neighborhoods close to New Haven: Whitneyville and Newhall. The former needs “a little TLC” rather than a new master plan, Fontana said, to expand: “a little infrastructure, road diet, some retail recruitment, and it will be a small version of East Rock or Spring Glen.”    Newhall/Highwood, on the other hand, is primed for a revival/renewal connected in part to Dixwell Avenue transit improvement but perhaps even more to the stretch of the Farmington Canal biking/pedestrian greenway, Fontana said. He points to both work his New Haven office did to improve Whalley Avenue and Atlanta’s Beltline as inspirations. He’d like to see public art flourish along the trail, cafes, shops, and improvements connecting the trail to Dixwell. A dog park, perhaps, or a skate park. “It starts with the bike-ped connections. You have to make it clean, safe, and friendly; that’s what I learned from my work on Whalley Avenue, from Howe out to Pendleton. Part of that is the infrastructure: You have to make sure that people want to walk and bike on the trail throughout its length.” Click on the below video to watch the full conversation with Hamden development chief Steven Fontana on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” about past and future economic development in Hamden, New Haven, and North Haven. Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of “Dateline New Haven.” The post Fontana Brings New Haven Lessons To Hamden appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less