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08/15/2018 08:30 AMIn the ’80s, Sal Brancati stumbled into a New Haven economic development job. Four mayors and one town over, he finds himself again offering his services, this time to the town of East Haven.
He began his career in public service in the financial controller’s office in New Haven. Having experience in private development, Sal moved up the ranks to economic director, the position he holds now in East Haven.
“It’s a cute story,” he says.
For his first job in New Haven, he worked on structuring tax collections and putting people on tax payment programs. He was moved to economic development when then-New Haven mayor Biago DiLieto realized that Sal got along well with businesses.
“I told DiLieto I’d go there for six months,” Sal says. “Twenty-seven years later, I was still there. But I liked it.”
Though Sal says his entry into the public sector was entirely “an accident,” he took to the work well.
“Trying to negotiate the best deal I could for the municipality…without trying to hurt the developer” is what drew Sal into the job.
“Whenever I negotiated a deal with anybody, there had to be an ultimate win for the municipality,” he says.
He’d been retired from his position in New Haven for 10 years when, after former economic development direct Art DeSorbo’s passing, East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr., approached Sal with the offer to come work for him.
“The mayor was looking for someone that he didn’t have to train,” he said. “My first response was, ‘Absolutely not.’”
Eventually, Sal realized that coming back to work “wouldn’t kill” him. He brought his years of experience in New Haven to East Haven in 2014.
Sal’s major philosophy in New Haven was to add residential space on top of ground floor commercial space in downtown, making it a more walkable, “24-hour” town, he says. But East Haven is a smaller, more suburban town than New Haven.
“That part’s a little different for me, but I still think it works,” he says. “No matter where you do it, I think it works.”
His approach to developing East Haven hasn’t changed much from his philosophy in New Haven. If anything, it’s just a smaller scale.
“The downside of East Haven is…there isn’t a lot more room for expansion,” he said. “To find more development opportunities—it gets harder and harder every year.”
Even with the differences between the two towns, Sal has enjoyed his work.
“If you’re improving the quality of life for the people who live in this in the town,” Sal says, “that became fun.”
During his four years in East Haven, Sal is proud to have helped fill the Commerce Street business park. In particular, Sal is happy with the deal that brought Anthony Augliera Moving and Storage to the park.
“We ran into a problem because the building wasn’t big enough, so we identified seven acres behind that building that everyone thought was wetlands,” he says. “We had the ground tested; it was not wet.”
Adding those acres to the proposed lot, Sal negotiated a deal to bring the moving company, which also handles the props and sets for plays on Broadway and in Boston, to East Haven with all its trucks, equipment, and jobs.
He’s also satisfied to have secured Town Fair Tire for a new location on Coe Avenue.
“Every time you take a building and add on to it, renovate a building, you’re growing your grand list,” Sal says. “The goal of every municipality should be to grow their grand list every year.”
With more lots filling up in East Haven, it’s becoming more difficult to find places to bring in new businesses.
In order to find more space to expand, “we started looking at land that we thought was wet—turned out it wasn’t,” Sal says. “Those are the creative things you have to do.”
“We’ve got one last lot at the end of Commerce Street,” he said. “That’s going to be tricky to develop, but in the end, we’ll figure it out.”
Sal’s plans for East Haven are informed by years of experience working in New Haven, what he calls the hub of the wheel for many of the surrounding towns. Developing both towns, Sal has seen projects grow from empty lots, to functioning businesses.
“When you see something you worked on get built and you see the construction guys working on the project…and ultimately the permanent employees that will be in that facility, it’s rewarding knowing you made a difference in someone’s life,” he says.