Green Dreams Rise From Vacant Lot

The next phase of the reinvention of a Newhallville crossroads came into view Tuesday during a tour of a vacant lot where Doreen Abubakar has seeded big plans.

The Livable City Initiative (LCI) has submitted a resolution request to the Board of Alders for a five-year lease agreement with Abubakar’s Community Placemaking Engagement Network Inc. (CPEN) to rent the vacant lot at the corner of Hazel Street and Shelton Avenue for $1 a year near Farmington Canal trail.

CPEN founder Abubakar Tuesday took LCI’s acquisition and disposition coordinator, Evan Trachten, on a walk-through of the lot at 227 – 231 Shelton Ave. and 131 – 133 Hazel St. to describe her working vision for what will grow there. She aims to bring entrepreneurship programming to Newhallville and model a neighborhood-based vacant lot revitalization for neighbors interested in building up other plots of land.

The five-year lease agreement is scheduled to come before the Board of Alder’s City Services and Environmental Policy committee on Thursday night. If approved, the proposal will be recommended to the full Board of Alders for a final vote.

The deal would make official and expand an unofficial arrangement under which the city has already welcomed Abubakar’s work growing plants on the property.

Abubakar was a visionary behind transforming the surrounding stretch of Shelton and Hazel, formerly an infamous drug-dealing zone known as ​“The Mudhole,” into a vibrant community gathering and activity space known as the Learning Corridor.

The idea for the vacant lot is to build on that grassroots energy. Abubakar is dreaming big. She plans to set up an outdoor kitchen/bistro, 30-foot pavilion, woodwork maker shed, and expandable greenhouse. Abubakar hopes to gather a team to create a brick pizza oven in the outdoor kitchen.

After those improvements are installed, Abubakar looks to add a one-story building on the Hazel Street side of the lot to offer office space, an indoor bathroom, training rooms, and a computer lab for about 30 – 50 people.

“Right now, what’s here is churches and people,” Abubakar said. ​“We need more for Newhallville.”

Abubakar is partnering with Dennis Riordan of the Menunkatuck Audubon Society to maintain the lot’s 1,500 plants. The work so far has been self-sustaining with the profit made from plant sales being reinvested in improvements for the land.

Abubakar came up with the plan for the urban oasis on Shelton six years ago after gaining inspiration from the Learning Cooridor’s block-long pollinator garden.

Riordan and Abubakar met after working in West River together. Riordan suggested the idea for a oasis near the Learning Cooridor.

“All of these vacant lots are underutilized, and Newhallville can make something of that,” Abubakar said.

A business consultant for the past 20 years, Abubakar said she hopes to bring programming to the urban oasis for neighbors to learn entrepreneurship, gardening, and woodworking skills. In addition Abubakar is focused on the beautification of Newhallville.

In the past Abubakar had an arrangement with Gather New Haven, which helps maintain four active community gardens only blocks from the land, to work on the plot of land.

During his visit Tuesday, Trachten informed Abubakar that a building permit for the 9x14-21 foot expandable greenhouse will not be required as long as it does not exceed 200 feet and meets zoning requirements. Because the property is a corner lot, its standing structures must have a 17-foot setback on both sides of the street, he added.

Abubakar is working with City Engineer Giovanni Zinn to draw up designs for the land.

Abubakar asked Trachten if the city could help with fencing in the lot for security to which Trachten said he would ask about.

Trachten commended Abubakar for the many partnerships she established in putting together the project.

Abubakar plans for the woodworking shed to be done last late fall. Trachten suggested she invest in a mobile saw mill to create more benches for the neighborhood.

In addition to woodworking and gardening, Abubakar will aim to have training for Newhallville residents to learn how to repurpose vacant lots.

“This will make people aware that this community is worth investing in,” Abubakar said.

Programming at the lot will continue to include plant giveaways and gardening trainings.

A combination of fundraising and profits from plant sales have helped Abubakar’s team to gather the funds necessary for the project, she said.

Under the pavilion, Abubakar pictures community groups hosting outdoor meetings and gatherings.

Abubakar’s team of volunteers is also working to build and distribute ten 4x4 garden beds to be installed at Newhallville homes.

Abubakar and Trachten also discussed ideas for helping neighbors plant Pawpaws and other trees. Trachten gifted the lot with a fig tree to be planted for the lot to supply to neighbors.

Riordan plans to donate pollinator plants for neighbor’s personal gardens. This year the team plans to take three pollinator plants from the oasis to help create butterfly gardens in other places throughout the neighborhood.