A potential new home for Public Works, other than the Tabor property, was identified publically last week: two contiguous commercial parcels at 132 Ivy Street and 142 Ivy Street.

The properties are listed in on Town of Branford property field cards as 132 Ivy Street and 142 Ivy Street, but the street where the properties are located is identified on town location maps and by the posted town street sign as North Ivy Street. The assessed property value of 142 Ivy Street (70 percent of the appraised value) is currently listed at $348,000. The assessed property value of 132 Ivy Street is listed as $274,400.

These properties comprise the un-named alternate parcel First Selectman Anthony “Unk” DaRos had announced the town would review in May. The majority of the parcel is made up of a 7.33acre site at 142 Ivy Street, owned by Ivy Street LLC. Next door, 132 Ivy Street, owned by Premier Realty Holdings, comprises .08 acres of the potential new Public Works site.

Centrally located in town on commercial property, the parcels are nearby the intersection of Route 1 (North Main Street) at North Ivy Street. The location seems to answer several criticisms about the Tabor property. Those opposed to building at Tabor have said the land isn’t easily accessible to Route 1, is not centrally located in town, and is not in a commercial zone. Residents of many neighborhoods in the Tabor site vicinity also have voiced concerns about safety and increased truck traffic.

Many of those criticisms were brought back to the Board of Selectmen (BOS) by a grass-roots group, “Stop Public Works at Tabor,” which formed up with resident Fred Russo in the lead. Russo formed the group shortly after the BOS, by a November (2012) vote of 2-1, approved the Public Works Building Committee (PWBC) recommendation to build a new Public Works facility on ten acres of town-owned Tabor land.  In response to opposition to the vote, DaRos said the BOS recommendation to build at Tabor would not move forward until all concerns from residents had been addressed.

In May 2013, DaRos announced that a new, undisclosed site was being considered by the PWBC. On July 10, the disclosure of the site location was listed as an item on the call of the PWBC meeting. The next meeting of the PWBC is scheduled for Aug. 14.

Formed in 2010, the charge of the PWBC has been securing the temporary location for Branford Public Works (due to the demolition of the former building to make way for the new fire headquarters) and finding a new site for a permanent facility.