Affordable housing law may change

Bill to modify regulations passes Senate heads to Malloy

MILFORD » Major revisions to the state’s controversial affordable housing law that had virtually left local zoning boards powerless over developers, passed in the state Senate Wednesday and will become law if Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signs the legislation.

“This bill enables the Affordable Housing Act to continue encouraging the creation of affordable housing options, but updates the law to reflect communities’ actual experience with the statute,” said state Senator Gayle Slossberg, co-chairwoman of the Senate Housing Committee. “I, along with the entire Milford delegation, worked very hard to secure passage of this bill, and am looking forward to seeing it signed into law.”

She said the bill makes “several critical reforms that will restore the ability of communities like Milford to make sound planning decisions.”

State Rep. Kim Rose, DMilford, vice-chairwoman of the Housing Committee, hailed Senate passage of the bill that was years in the making with tireless effort across party lines to include state Reps. Pam Staneski, R-Milford, Charles Ferraro, R-West Haven, and Slossberg, who has been in the forefront of revising the law and led the fight in the Senate. The bill passed the House last week.

Rose said the bill protects towns and cities from “predatory development while also encouraging the creation of affordable housing.”

“This is the culmination of many years of hard work to negotiate sensible changes to SS830g to help Milford reach a moratorium,” she said. “Our residents have been waiting far too long and I am pleased the legislation was finally passed by both the House and Senate.”

The bill includes a bonus for Milford, which has had a surge of 8-30g housing applications because of its desirability as a community and because it has sewers.

Under 8-30g, developers can build multi-family housing in zones where it otherwise wouldn’t be allowed. The proposals are rarely denied by planning and zoning officials because the burden of proof on appeal is with the board, which must show the denial was necessary to protect the public health or safety. The appeals are costly to municipalities and they rarely win, meaning developers are in control.

Hundreds of residents in Milford have poured into public hearings to speak against such proposed projects, citing safety, health and quality of life issues. The Milford delegation sought a moratorium, but under the law there can be none until a percentage of housing is deemed affordable, which is different from low-income housing.

Under the bill that passed both the House and Senate:

• Milford’s Ryder Mobile Home park will be included in the city’s count toward affordable housing stock.

• Encouragement of the development of three-bedroom family units, senior units tied to family housing, and family units located in incentive housing zones.

• Awarding of bonus HUE points for family units that contain at least three bedrooms, elderly units when 60 percent of an affordable housing completion certificate is tied to family housing, and family units located within an incentive housing zone.

• Making affordable housing moratoriums more achievable for midsize cities. The current threshold to qualify for a moratorium is 2 percent. The bill lowers that threshold to 1.5 percent.

The bill, revised from its original, which called for stricter rules on developer appeals, will go on to the governor to be signed.

Rose thanked Housing Chairman Larry Butler for his “tireless work and advocacy” on this issue affecting the entire state.

Butler, D-Waterbury, said he was happy about the bipartisan support of the legislation.

Milford’s legislative delegation has lobbied hard for the changes, even publicly encouraging city and Orange residents to weigh in at a public hearing in Hartford early in 2017. Legislators in favor of the revisions have argued the 8-30g statute is old and has undergone few revisions over the years. Most of the pushback over revisions has come from large cities.