New proposal could make Westport a transit-oriented community

WESTPORT — Desegregate Connecticut is working on a bill called “Work, Live, Ride” to create transit-oriented communities across Connecticut, with hopes that Westport might become one.

But some residents and planning officials worry the bill as drafted doesn’t address the traffic and congestion issues the districts would create if approved.

“I’d love to come to a place where I could come in front of the state legislature and be very supportive of your bill,” Planning and Zoning Commission chair Danielle Dobin told Desegregate Connecticut officials at a commission subcommittee meeting this week.

Tucker Salls, legislative director with Desegregate Connecticut, said the group believes in “building more abundant and diverse housing,” as well as dense, walkable neighborhoods, which promote economic prosperity and environmental sustainability. One way to do that is development through the proposed transit-oriented communities, which center around the public transportation riders and pedestrians.

“We want to see that denser housing is built near transit so that someone can get from their domicile to their transit to wherever they were going to go — their services or their work — all without having to get in a car,” he said.

Salls said they’re proposing this because cars take up space, are responsible for a lot of emissions and tear up roads, leading to municipal road improvements.

“It is often said that America was kind of built for the car,” he said. “We at Desegregate will say that America, in a lot of cases, was kind of bulldozed for the car.”

Salls said that streetcar suburbs in the past had more reliable transit than today, such as light rail to bus lines. They want to return to “traditional development of communities,” including Westport, which is on a major rail line.

Last year, Salls said they tried to pass legislation, but it was unsuccessful. Through that though they learned the mandate approach was not popular, as it was not fair to some communities who knew their needs better than the organization did and local planning commissions should be partners in the effort.

The framework currently stands that local towns or planning and zoning boards can opt-in to create a transit-oriented community district along rail or bus routes. This would allow funding through the Office of Responsible Growth discretionary funds.

If a community doesn’t opt in, it is ineligible for certain state funding for infrastructure. If it opts in but doesn’t create a TOC, the community must reimburse any funding received and will become ineligible for the program. A town or city can also not retroactively reduce the density within the district or it will receive penalties.

The Office of Responsible Growth partners with local planning and zoning officials to direct the state money for planning and design, infrastructure improvements and creating homes within the TOC.

Salls said that most of Connecticut’s towns fall into one of three tiers: rapid transit communities, transit communities or transit adjacent communities. Westport is a rapid transit community, meaning it has at least one rail or rapid bus station, with a housing requirement of 20 homes per acre for a population under 60,000.

Depending on the location of the TOC, it would require 12 to 20 percent of the housing be affordable, Salls said. The Planning and Zoning department will be responsible for determining the location and size of the district.

Salls said all TOC districts must be of a “reasonable size,” near a transit station, include affordability levels based on a state housing needs assessment, include as-of-right developments of mixed used and mixed income housing developments.

However, the district cannot include parking requirements, lot size minimums or residency restrictions.

Dobin and others at the meeting raised concerns about the lack of parking requirements.

“Parking matters in a place like Westport,” she said.

“We are not fans of the idea of creating opportunities for people to live in apartments in Westport and then saying to them, ‘Unlike the people who live in single-family homes, you don’t have a place to park,’ ” she added.

Desegregate Connecticut is currently waiting on the bill number and a hearing date, Salls said.