West Haven rally urges local zoning control

WEST HAVEN — State and local Republicans on a mission to quash proposed legislation that would remove zoning issues from local control, implored the public at a rally Saturday to raise the matter with their elected officials.

“The power with you the people and with you the people only,” said Steven R. Mullins, a city Planning and Zoning commissioner who has taken on the cause statewide. “This is going to affect your neighborhoods.”

Mullins told the group they elect the legislators and they can “take them out,” at election time.

State Rep. Charles Ferraro, R-West Haven, urged the group of about 15 at the rally to contact their representatives to voice opposition

Proposed bills in the state House and Senate call for changes to local zoning, some of which would overrule local zoning authorities and mandate the construction of multi-family and affordable housing, regardless of existing local regulations.

and for each of them to contact 10 people and have those 10 do it as well.

Ferraro said a state-regulated “cookie-cutter” approach to zoning won’t work, in part, because municipalities will lose their character, he said. What works in West Haven might not work in Orange, Ferraro said. He said the capacity of sewers and similar systems vary by community, so the one-size-fitsall approach doesn’t work. “It’s a very bad idea,” he said. The rally was hosted CT 169 Strong, a coalition fighting proposed state legislation the group says will take away local zoning.

They have held rallies in East Haven and Fairfield, and promise more to come.

Proposed bills in the state House and Senate call for changes to local zoning, some of which would overrule local zoning authorities and mandate the construction of multi-family and affordable housing, regardless of existing local regulations.

One of a dozen bills that CT 169 Strong is particularly opposed to is S.B. No. 1024, “An Act Concerning Zoning Authority, Certain Design Guidelines, Qualifications of Certain Land Use Officials and Certain Sewage Disposal Systems.

The proposals include mandating where and what type of multi-family housing and accessory apartments are built, and mandating what towns take into account when determining whether to approve a housing project. In some cases, public hearings would be eliminated.

The officials agreed that increasing affordable housing and diversifying communities is an important goal, but state zoning control isn’t the answer.

State Sen. Tony Hwang, RFairfield, and a ranking member of the Planning and Development Committee, said what the Democratically-controlled state is trying to do is “unAmerican” and “un-Connecticut,” because “individual rights” and “property rights matter.”

He said nobody knows a community better than local people and that zoning is a difficult issue to get behind because most people think issues won’t arise with them. But it’s local control that keeps those from arising, he said.

Wong decried the “one party rule in Hartford.”

Some 15 attended Saturday’s rally on the Green and several were from Fairfield County and other places outside of West Haven. Organizers said they expected more to attend.

Carola Cammann, of Stamford, said people in Hartford don’t know what’s going on in her city.

“I want to be able to have a say. You can’t do that when it’s (the decisions) up in Hartford,” she said.

Wilm Donath, also of Stamford, called moving control to the state will lead to “huge mistakes,” that will require “money and bureaucracy to rectify.”

“That distance from the action (in local municipalities), you don’t know what’s going on,” Donath said.

The group held a rally in Fairfield, where some 50 people attended, many from other Fairfield County towns, some carrying signs advocating local zoning control.

Aa number of communities statewide expressed objection to the proposals through letters to legislators and local rallies.

Opponents of the proposed bills argue that people choose to live in a community in part because of its character and local planning and zoning boards make that happen.

In Shelton, state Reps. Ben McGorty and Jason Perillo, both Republicans, are pushing back against the proposals, which they describe as a “money and power grab” by Hartford Democrats.

Perillo, who is deputy House Republican leader, has said the legislation is being introduced by legislators who represent larger, fiscally distressed cities, to “undermine the local efforts of Connecticut’s well-managed towns.”

Hundreds of people signed up to testify live online March 15 on several proposals to implement a new statewide property tax and override local zoning control.

State Sen. Kevin Kelly, RStratford, has listed a number of bills, including S.B. 1024, H.B. 6107, H.B. 6611, H.B. 6613, S.B. 1026, S.B. 1027, and H.B. 6107, as those opposed by Republicans as an overreach on zoning laws.

Kelly has said many of the zoning proposals would allow developers to overdevelop in communities, threaten open space, endanger the environment.

In Winsted, the Planning and Zoning Commission last month approved a resolution to the state that says, in part, “localized decision-making ensures the greatest level of accountability, while allowing affected community members the greatest level of input and a platform...”

The list of bills the Winsted PZC said are of concern is lengthy. Many of the proposed bills are in the hands of the legislature’s Planning and Development Committee and are in various stages of the decision-making process.

Another bill the Winsted PZC says is of concern, addresses transportation and housing; lot and yard sizes, and a number of other areas of regulatory authority.

Another bill would set a statewide assessment on properties based on a town’s percentage of affordable housing.

Fairfield First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said at the April 10 rally in Fairfield the bills are “fairly frightening.”

Among those at the Fairfield rally was Dana Benson, of Easton, who stood along Old Post Road with his sign yelling a range of slogans to passing cars, including “Hartford go home; Leave Fairfield County alone,” “Will Haskell, you rascal,” and “Lamont, move to Vermont!”