WEST HAVEN – Meli Garthwait has a warning for anyone who lives on Beach Street near the former Debonair Beach Motel – watch out for the rats.
Construction crews are due in early November to start razing the dilapidated former beachfront resort to make way for a $2 million apartment complex. That will finally rid the neighborhood of a decades-old eyesore. If they’re not thorough in dealing with the vermin that have infested the place, neighbors could find some very unwelcome animals headed their way, the Republican City Council member told CT Examiner.
“We had a lot of issues with rats and raccoons and possums living in there. We had some of those animals attacking a resident’s dog at one point,” Garthwait said. “Before Mayor [Dorinda] Borer came in, I had a meeting with some of the city Building Department and Health department folks with the old owners of the place, and [the owners] had promised that they were going to do things that they never did.”
Resident Bonnie Posick, a Republican running for the District 2 council seat, has been checking with city officials to ensure that the building site will be thoroughly cleaned up before demolition starts. The demolition permit was issued about two weeks ago, city officials said.
They have assured Posick that an exterminator has been keeping an eye on the property, she said. The new owners, Sim Levenhartz, of Sim Lev Holdings LLC, finalized the sale with Monroe-based Duchinelli Development Co. in February. He plans to convert the 295 Beach St. property into a three-story, podium-style building of 30 two-bedroom units, each about 1,500-square-feet, with ground-floor garages, city officials have said.
Two years ago, neighbors in that area “were just beside themselves. There were rats everywhere. There were great big raccoons that were scaring their dogs.”
Borer, a Democrat, targeted the Beach Street-Morse Park area for revitalization since getting elected in November 2023 as part of efforts to get more tax relief for residents. A New Haven County city with one of the state’s longest stretches of beach, West Haven has suffered from chronic underdevelopment or neglect of some of its best shoreline areas.
A wide thoroughfare that plugs into First Avenue near the Sandy Point Bird Sanctuary at one end and the Savin Rock Trail or boardwalk at the other, Beach Street got raised 11 feet above sea level thanks partly to Borer’s securing $5 million in federal funds as a state representative in 2020. That infusion allowed contractors to finish the elevation last year.
The elevation is enough to withstand a 100-year storm and other flooding, city officials have said.
Since its completion, Riva Bar & Restaurant opened earlier this year where the legendary Chick’s Drive-In operated for decades; a new pumping station came online; the city got funding for a new seawall near the water filtration plant along First Avenue to be built over the next two years; and several pricey condo developments have opened.
Chick’s Drive-in, Captain’s Galley, the city-owned Savin Rock Conference Center and Bait&Tackle among a number of derelict properties around the city that were “stuck and need special attention” due to the challenges of redeveloping the area, according to the city’s 2017 Plan of Conservation and Development.
The infrastructure improvements has been a key element to the new residential and commercial investments, Borer has said. Rising seas spurred by global warming and heavy weather – Tropical Storm Irene and Superstorm Sandy – had destroyed 28 of 54 homes damaged by flooding in 2011 and 2012.
Rats are among the vermin common to swampy, flooding-prone areas, and decaying properties are a natural home. Vermin escaping cleaned-up properties along the shore have been known to flee as far inland as Leete Street, which is seven blocks from the shoreline, Posick said.
Built in 1959, the Debonair was once an anchor with a kind of breezy, laid-back glamour. It was famous for its restaurant and for welcoming same-sex couples before it was shuttered in 2014.
The razing will be followed by construction that is expected to take most of the next year, officials have said.