Don’t let your voice be usurped
Keep zoning decisions in Connecticut local
I began my career in public service as an elected member of the Trumbull Planning and Zoning Commission. I served for 10 years, four as chairman, before being elected first selectman of Trumbull in 2009. During my time in public service at the local level, I was proud of how Trumbull was able to increase its affordable housing stock and diversify its housing portfolio. This was accomplished through local collaboration, local decision-making and local control.
This was not accomplished by trying to fit a square peg through a round hole, with a one-size-fits-all mentality.
Sadly, a coordinated effort is presently underway to completely usurp and upend local control of zoning across Connecticut. Advocates for these sweeping changes are seeking to weaponize the legislative and judicial process in our state to achieve this desired outcome. The Land of Steady Habits is becoming the laboratory of radical public policy. One need only to look to a zoning proposal brought in Woodbridge by the Open Communities Alliance to see what is at stake.
Under the proposal, in every single-family residential zone in Woodbridge, an applicant would be able to obtain, over the counter, a zoning permit to convert any single-family residential home to a multiunit housing development. To put this in context, the present affordable housing laws in our state allow for local land-use boards to review affordable housing applications. This review is essential to ensure that the application is based on sound and accepted planning principles. The current proposal completely eliminates local land-use boards from the review and approval process, thereby giving any affordable housing applicant carte blanche. The proposal fails to consider the impact on sewer systems, public water supply and other infrastructure.
A planner retained by Woodbridge opined that the residential density to be created by this proposal would be greater than the residential density of neighboring New Haven — the second largest city in Connecticut. The proposal even ignores recommendations from the Connecticut Department of Housing regarding the development of affordable housing policies for municipalities — recommendations that came from affordable housing advocates.
There is no question that Woodbridge is the test case to apply this radical zoning policy statewide. Gov. Ned Lamont and the General Assembly cannot play big brother with how communities develop land and educate their children. If our state leaders and those who advocate for these policies truly want communities to develop more affordable housing, they should follow the recommendations issued by the Connecticut Department of Housing in 2020. This plan calls for local collaboration, where municipalities develop specific plans to meet the affordable housing needs of their respective communities. Once those plans are developed, municipalities then enact zoning regulations and ordinances at the local level that facilitate how the plan will be executed through either private or government-sponsored development.
The proposal in Woodbridge and the current debate in Hartford should not be rooted in a zero sum game that pits cities against towns. As President John F. Kennedy said, a rising tide lifts all boats. There must be a recognition that vibrant workforce housing is critical to urban renewal. Cities with more people build on that success by creating more jobs and business investment. As Connecticut turns the corner on the pandemic, we must seize upon this moment and this booming housing market to improve our quality of life and availability of housing in both our cities and our towns.
When we place confidence in ourselves instead of government and when we unleash investment and innovation, we will then realize that Connecticut is a state with unlimited potential.