It's tempting to say the state Democrats never be this stupid, but then consider their party’s nationwide campaign to shut down the country's energy supply and ...

pecora towers, riverside CT

Heat’s building for imposition of multi-family housing in single-family zones

At Monday’s marathon public hearing by the CGA Planning & Development committee, 140 people signed up to testify, mostly on a proposed HB 5426, a “Transit Oriented Development” bill, TOD for short, which was fully written, as opposed to being presented as a draft, which is more typical. 

The bill would allow high density housing to be developed around train stations with the goals of increasing supply overall and adding affordable units. The bill specifies 10% affordable units. It would allow, as of right, development of 15 residential units per acre, in a 1/2-mile radius of a train station.

Proponents said the bill would increase affordable housing with the 10% requirement, and overall supply of housing, in turn, driving down the cost of housing.

Critics called it one-size-fits-all zoning from the state level, removing local control, and precluding public input since TOD would be ‘as of right’ meaning no P&Z public hearings would be required. They say 10% is too low, especially considering 8-30g developments require 30% affordable. And, they said, that developers would rush to develop with the lower, 10% requirement.

Danielle Dobin, who chairs the Westport P&Z commission, said higher density around train stations might sound reasonable, but the bill “failed spectacularly” upon careful review. She said 5426 “completely guts 8-30g.”

“Why would a developer ever choose to use 8-30g and include 30% affordable on site when they can build, as of right, with only 10% somewhere else, i.e. around the train stations?” she asked.

Dobin said under the proposed bill, thousands of new units would be built around train stations, as of right, and the way the bill was written, the language was not specific as to what the “circle” radius incorporates.

“Where is the circle? Where is the radius of the circle? What’s included? What’s not included?” she asked.

“Just over 500 acres exist within a circle with a 1⁄2 mile radius. Once streets, wetlands, etc are removed, there’s likely an average of 325 buildable acres,” Dobin continued. “At a gross average of 15 units per acre, this would require towns to zone for approximately 4,875 units around each train station.”

This bill is likely going nowhere this session, but the people behind it will keep coming back and one way or another, will make incremental incursions that slowly erode local zoning control. And it’s not just nut job organization like Desegregate Connecticut* developers like Greenwich residents John Fareri and Joey Pecora have big money interests behind them, and the lure of the huge profits to be made here seems to be irresistible; certainly, they’ve shown no hesitation in destroying neighborhoods for their 8-30g projects with its 30% moderate-income requirement, and the Transit Oriented Development law that requires just 10% of the units to be “affordable” must have them drooling.

I’m still waiting to hear a persuasive argument on why every individual has a right to be able to afford a house in every town and every neighborhood. Certainly, I can’t afford a house in, say Riverside, and my children can’t either. How does that fact give us the right to demand that the town allow 14-story towers along Summit Road to accommodate us?

*We are a pro-homes coalition of neighbors and nonprofits advocating for more equitable, affordable, and environmentally-sustainable land use policies in Connecticut, with a focus on expanding the diversity and supply of our housing stock. Formed in June 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the renewed conversation on racial justice, our work is about first imagining and then enacting a new vision for local and state land use policies that promotes racial, economic, and climate justice. We leverage original research and grassroots organizing in service of public education and policy change at both the state and local levels.