I believe the property was acquired by Dynamic Auto, with the intention of demolishing the building and turning it into a parking lot for their overflow stock. No idea when or if this will happen. In the meantime the sidewalk is once again impassable. Between the overgrown trees and bushes and the vehicles parked on and obstructing the sidewalk pedestrians are forced to walk in the street. Neighbors have complained about this property for several years. The Town and Planning & Zoning do nothing. Blight enforcement appears to nonexistent in our town.

There have been complaints about rats also

In the photo provided above you can see the overgrown trees and shrubs and vehicles obstructing the sidewalk on Millis Street. In addition to blight enforcement being nonexistent it appears public/pedestrian safety is of little concern to Town administration.

and they are starting with the cones again , blocking the bike lane on the opposite side of the street

I figured the town didn't want to pick on the prior owner, or he was wired into town hall, or whatever. But once this changed hands, it should have been looked at by the town before allowing a new business to open here. This just isn't acceptable, and I'm not sure what we're supposed to do about it other than complain here. I feel like I've been complaining about this property for years. About 20 years ago, I started stripping my roof before my dumpster arrived, and I got a cease and desist letter within a day. Where's this quick response service from the town now?

And not for nothing who in there right mind would actually buy a car from here ?

Well, that was a question we've had here even when Lenny was running the place.

This morning I sent an email regarding this property to the Mayor, the council members at large, the District 2 council member as well as the LC input mailbox. I included the link to this SeeClickFix as well the SeeClickFix request #8305843 from May 2020 that appears to have lacked follow-up. The property was recently surveyed. The surveyor indicated the new property owners intend to demolish the building and turn the property into a parking lot. While it is good to hear the building will be torn down I doubt anyone envisioned it being replaced by a junkyard. Additionally the owners should be responsible citizens and neighbors and keep the sidewalks on both Dixwell Avenue and Millis Street free of obstructions.

Correction: SeeClickFix #8305843 is from August 2020.

I also e-mailed the Mayor's office yesterday, for what it's worth.

This issue was recategorized from General Issues to Sidewalk Obstructions.

Hamden, CT assigned this issue to Engineering Aide

This is not "sidewalk obstructions". This is blight. Moving the cars off the sidewalk is not resolving the problem here.

Gotta love it ! .. Don't want to address the blight, just categorize it to something that can be ignored. This place has been an eyesore since KFC left the building and Hamden just ignores it.

I live on Millis St. I'm looking forward to whoever's running for reelection to do door-to-door campaigning this fall, which I assume this dump will still be in place.

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/leng_blight/

I received a response to my email of May 11, 2021 to the Mayor et al from Mayor Leng on May 13, indicating he is working with Planning and Zoning to address the issue. I followed up today and requested an update. I included a link to a 2019 New Haven Independent article (posted above). I hope the Mayor will follow through with his commitment to address blight in our town. Though it won’t solve our town’s financial woes blight enforcement is a potential revenue stream. Every little bit helps.

THIS HAS BEEN IN THIS CONDITION FOR DECADES!! NO ONE BELIEVES THAT LENG IS DOING JACK ABOUT THIS, LET ALONE THAT HE IS "WORKING WITH P & Z TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE". YESTERDAY I TURNED ONTO MILLIS AND ALMOST SMACKED INTO THE FLATBED, WHICH HAS BEEN MOVED OFF THE PROPERTY AND IS NOW PARKED ILLEGALLY WITHIN A FEW FEET OFF DIXWELL. DYNAMIC AUTO 2 OWNS THIS PROPERTY, THEY ARE DIRECTLY ACROSS DIXWELL FROM THIS BLIGHT PIT AND ARE HORRIBLE NEIGHBORS. SUPPOSEDLY TAKING THE BUILDING DOWN IS IN THE WORKS, THERE IS NO INDICATION THAT ONCE THE BUILDING IS DOWN THAT THIS LOT WILL NOT JUST CONTINUE TO BE USED AS THEIR JUNKYARD.

Terrapin, I agree with you. I don’t have any expectation anything will be done about this property. When and if the building comes down it will most likely remain Dynamic Auto’s junkyard. Please read the last two sentences in the second to last paragraph of the 2019 New Haven Independent article. It’s pretty clear the Mayor and the Legislative Council, including our council rep, could care less about this end of Hamden. Speaking of the Legislative Council, not not one has responded to my emails, and that includes our district representative. No one cares.

This issue was recategorized from Sidewalk Obstructions to Blight - General.

Hamden, CT assigned this issue to AZEO

The flatbed was there a couple of hours ago, parked right at the corner making it difficult to see when pulling out of Millis Street. It’s gone now, replaced by two junk cars. No worries, though, folks don’t often stroll down Dixwell Avenue.

“You’re not for the most part going to have people taking a stroll on Dixwell,” he said. I would offer that one reason people avoid taking a stroll on Dixwell is the increasing likelihood that they would be robbed or assaulted in broad daylight. Over the past year, I've read about holdups at 8 am in someone's driveway, carjackings at the gas station 2 blocks north of Custom Auto Top, and 2 people getting shot (but thankfully not killed) on the corner where The Terrace restaurant is located, just as a sample. The town allows properties along one of its main byways to deteriorate, and this follows. People will only want to invest in properties in neighborhoods that are up and coming, or at least stable, not in neighborhoods that appear to be circling the drain. I've been dealing with public works and the mayor's office for about 20 years now over couches being left for a month (yes, a month) in Treadwell Street, box springs in Grandview Avenue, shopping carts which would be stolen from the southern Stop & Shop and left, inexplicably, on the corner of my street. My inquiries would be always be met with the town trying to find reasons not to deal with these issues. I contacted Mayor Jackson's office about the box spring, and was told they'd have to investigate whether it was "on private property". It was in the middle of the road. I suggested that this crap would never be tolerated in Spring Glen. When I was trying to remove the drug delalers from Hamden Plains field, I said if I wanted to live in the Bronx, I'd move there. Jackson got defensive and said that we have a very nice neighborhood, that he grew up there. Of course, as he said this, he was living on Hartford Turnpike. HE didn't choose to settle here. My point is, the town signed off on the Dixwell Ave corridor south of the parkway, or at least Mather Street, a long time ago. There a plenty of small businesses and restaurants along Dixwell Avenue who are trying to make a go of it. We don't need our end of town to be rezoned for big scale retail; there's enough vacant space along the "Magic Mile" for that. Mauro Motors has been vacant for over a decade, the one tenant is moving across the street to the site of the old Tommy K's, which was also empty forever, for a net gain of zero. The town needs to enforce it's own blight laws, or improve them, so as to help create an inviting environment for small businesses to invest. I'm glad that Town Hall at least responded to Joanne; I also wrote to the Mayor, my councilperson and the at-large councilpersons. I asked them to please respond, so I at least knew we were being heard. I got crickets. I grew up in Hamden, I've owned a house here since 1986. My daughter rents here, and I advise her and anyone else considering buying a home to not do it in Hamden. My house is paid for, which is the main reason I'm still here.

I wonder if The Patch or WTNH would like to do a story on how the town addresses blight ....

AZEO, please provide an update on the status of this blight issue. Is the Town at a minimum enforcing the daily blight fine?

And please don't tell us how there's a complicated process in order to issue a demo permit. I'm very much looking forward to having the Mayor or my town council rep stop by my house when they're sucking up for votes. I e-mailed both of them weeks ago and asked them to please respond, just so I know they read my message. I'm assuming that e-mail from taxpayers go straight to the spam bin. High taxes, spiking crime, and a town hall that allows this mess to fester. I meet people who ask where I'm from and they go, "oh Hamden's nice!" and I have to tell them that, sadly it used to be, but you're crazy to by a home here now.

I reached out to our Mayor and the Legislative council, including my district rep and the members at large, on 5/11/21, 6/11/21 and 7/15/21. As mentioned in a previous comment Mayor Leng responded 5/13/21 and he did respond to my 7/15/21 shortly after I sent it. Mayor Leng acknowledged the situation at 1510 Dixwell has gone on for too long and is hopeful enforcement is underway. He copied the new town planner who manages the inspectors. I will also note that I have not received a response, not one acknowledgment of my emails, from any members of the Legislative council.

I will also note the last update from from a “verified official” on this page was on 6/11/21 indicating the issue was reclassified as “general-blight” and reassigned to AZEO. Mayor Leng indicated he is asking his deputy chief of staff to check SeeClickFix to determine the complaint status.

Another month has passed. First, the good news: the sidewalk on the Millis Street of the property was finally cleared. The not so good news, the property is still a junk car dump, debris from the sidewalk clearing litters the property, the building continues to rot. Town of Hamden, hello? Is anyone home?

I agree it's a complete eyesore furthermore who would purchase a car from there?
this needs to be addressed !!

This posted comment is to provide information that you might find useful.

This issue is assigned to our town's AZEO (Assistant Zoning Enforcement Officer). Here is his contact information.

Name: Adam Zonas
Phone: 203-287-7076
Email: azonas@hamden.com

If Mr. Zonas is not available, here is the contact information for our town's ZEO (Zoning Enforcement Officer).

Name: Holly Masi
Phone: 203-287-7072
Email: hmasi@hamden.com

Also, if you would like to schedule a meeting with our town's Planning & Zoning Department to discuss blight issues, please go to the following webpage and complete the meeting request form.

https://www.hamden.com/FormCenter/Request-a-Meeting-13/Planning-and-Zoning-Department-84

In an effort to keep this comment concise, I won't list the plethora of other information that could be applicable to this scenario.

I hope this information helps.

I'd been asking myself that for about the past 20 years. I started to strip my roof years ago, before my dumpster arrived. Within a day I received a cease and desist letter from the town, threatening me with fines if I didn't get the shingles off the grass strip by the sidewalk. WHY IS NOTHING BEING DONE ABOUT THIS? The thing that's disappointing is that the same owners bought Scarpo's across the street, which was in OK condition, and redid the place and is in nice shape. I was hoping the same thing would happen here.

For what it's worth, I've suggested this to Channel 8 for a story.

Hello TERRAPIN,

It might be more advantageous to use the information from my last posted comment to achieve your goals.

I hope this information helps.

Thanks, Tommy. I really wish the town would just do it's job, rather than pretending this is being dealt with while doing nothing.

for what it's worth I have used Adam in the past and he got the job done

Tommy, thank you for this information. It is very frustrating to follow the Town’s advice to address issues via SeeClickFix and for months, going on years, to hear nothing but crickets and no action. That being said…This morning I sent my monthly email regarding the blight to Mayor Leng and the council members. Within the hour I received a response from Erik Johnson, the Acting Town Planner including his direct phone number. We spoke about the situation. Mr. Johnson indicated the condition of the property, and the issue of cars blocking the right of way are unacceptable. His office is working with the owners to address the issue and come up with a more appropriate development plan. I am cautiously optimistic.

I also thank Wendy, Terrapin and B.Shaw for keeping this blight issue alive and continuing to keep attention on it.

Thank you Joanne I am trying also to get this resolved for the better

Once again, when will the Town address this eyesore? Does the building need to collapse on a pedestrian for action to be taken? Is the Town enforcing daily blight fines? It appears Mr. Johnson has not been able to make any headway with the owners of the property (reference my post of August 26 2021). I reach out to the Mayor, the Legislative Council members and now Mr. Johnson each month regarding this property. Aside from two responses from the Mayor and an email and phone conversation with Mr. Johnson in August, nothing. Not a single member of the legislative council can be bothered to reply. Please, I’m pleading with you, get this mess cleaned up.

To add, this property has been an eyesore for years, with multiple complaints to SeeClickFix (e.g. #9886950 & #8305843). The message Town officials are sending to its citizens is we don’t care.

Still crickets. When will the Town enforce blight regulations? When will the Town enforce traffic regulations, in particular General Regulations, Miscellaneous code 70.30? Will another rat infestation to prompt the Town to take action and address this derelict property? Will it take a serious or fatal auto accident to prevent Dynamic Auto from parking its flatbed tow truck between the sidewalk and curb, obstructing the view of oncoming southbound Dixwell Avenue traffic when exiting Millis Street?

Spoke to the owner on this. His response was to mind my own business.

Perhaps a new mayoral administration will see a change in how the town handles blight, but I'm not holding my breath.

Another year has passed. The Town continues to turn a blind eye to this blight. Please, do something. This property meets the definition of blight under the Town’s blight code. Perhaps enforcement of blight regs including daily fines would encourage the property owners to be a better neighbor.

owner is working on improving property

New overhead doors and roofing had been completed the past couple months.

Most recently a portion of the building was removed, new overhead doors installed, and painting completed.

The owner is actively working to resolve the remaining deteriorated conditions on the property.

Thanks for fixing this request!

Looks 100% better.