Some crucial decisions about development at Fort Trumbull are at hand, and now is the time for the city to be wary about what new development might be in the pipeline and how it might forever change the city's waterfront.

Remember, not so long ago, when New London Mayor Daryl Finizio's big ideas for Fort Trumbull included a proposed neighborhood of environmentally-spare micro houses, or a water desalination plant?

I know. I know. New London owns a reservoir. Why in the world would it build a fabulously expensive water-making plant? But practicality has never stopped the mayor.

These days Mayor Finizio is obsessing over making a memorial parklet out of the lot where Susette Kelo's pink house used to stand, before it was snatched in an eminent domain taking that became national history.

I don't think a parklet (across the street from a major state park) makes any more sense than micro houses in a region where land is not scarce. I doubt it would even make Kelo feel any better.

If you really want to remember Kelo's pink house, just head over to New London's Franklin Street, where Avner Gregory has reassembled it, complete with a plaque out front.

Meanwhile, the most promising development proposal to come along since the old Fort Trumbull neighborhood was destroyed is queued up for city approval.

I wish the mayor would pay more attention to this pending project, which could change the face of the New London waterfront, instead of dragging out old battles already won or lost.

I understand that it will be hard to say no to the developer, A.R. Building Co., who is proposing a new sprawl of apartment buildings, 80 units in the first phase and 80 in a subsequent phase.

A.R. Building is a solid Pennsylvania-based company that seems to have found its groove in developing and managing big apartment complexes. This would be their first venture in Connecticut, but their work is all over the South and the Mid-Atlantic states.

They seem to have the financial wherewithal and experience to hit the ground running in New London with a big taxable project.

I know this looks appealing in tax-hungry New London, where everyone has been staring for years now at the barren landscape wrought by a misguided redevelopment plan fueled by eminent domain.

With the Great Recession still lingering here, a developer unrolling a big wad of construction money looks a little like, well, a water desalination plant in the desert.

But I would urge the mayor, city councilors, zoning commissioners and members of the Renaissance City Development Association to curb their enthusiasm and mind the details of the proposal.

More specifically, all those representing the city in this transaction should focus on what this project is going to look like and how it is going to blend into the fabric of the city's waterfront.

It would be good to remember that the city is offering to give away this spectacular waterfront setting and that, not too far in the future, it might actually be valuable, a development site on the water between a National Coast Guard Museum and an historic fort surrounded by a state park.

I believe the best development for the peninsula would be something in keeping with the plans envisioned by the Yale Urban Design Workshop, a multi-purpose mix of commercial and residential, retail at the street level, maybe, and apartments or offices on upper floors, the kind of urban neighborhood that was destroyed by eminent domain.

Instead, it looks like New London may be in store for the kind of suburban apartment complex sprawl that A.R. Building seems to be so good at. A quick scroll through their website is like navigating a suburban landscape, feature-less garden-style apartment complexes that look like they could be built next to shopping centers in Anywhere, U.S.A.

They are fine. They look like they are well built. Residents probably find them comfortable and practical. They must be profitable. But New London can do a lot better than that for Fort Trumbull.

Maybe I am getting ahead of things here and the developer is hoping to break out of its suburban cookie-cutter mold as it moves into New England. Maybe it doesn't just want to drop a suburban apartment complex into a city neighborhood.

But New London officials have an obligation to see that they don't.

I realize a viable development of any kind for the city would be hard to turn down right now. And it doesn't look like this developer would be game for much beyond the apartment model that seems to be the company's bread and butter.

But the city does have some opportunity in negotiations to at least direct a more aesthetically pleasing, urban-appropriate design. There are ways to avoid a collection of modern garden apartments surrounded by parking lots.

If design standards are not built into the contract, then maybe a new zoning district could be considered.

Why not bring back the architects from the Yale Urban Design Workshop to help develop a set of standards that would help make an apartment complex better blend into the city's historic waterfront. Make the developers pay for the city's design team. After all, they are getting the land for free.

Welcome to New London, A.R. Building. Here's hoping you can find a way to fit in.

This is the opinion of David Collins

d.collins@theday.com

Twitter: @DavidCollinsct