The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Mayor: Growing apartment market in New Milford offers opportunity in town
NEW MILFORD – There's a "great opportunity" for those who work in New Milford to live in town, Mayor Pete Bass said, with dozens of new apartments coming onto the market soon and hundreds more planned.
“I think we're all aware there is a shortage of housing — especially for those that are working here — so I think that's a great opportunity for those that work here to also have an opportunity to live here as well,” Bass said, adding, “As long as we keep the character and the charm of the town.”
Bass gave an overview of the apartments — including affordable housing units — that are in the works at the Town Council's Jan. 23 meeting.
Construction has started for 27 affordable housing units on Poplar Street next to the New Milford Police Department, Bass said. Also, 27 affordable housing units on Lanesville Road have been built and are taking applications for renters, he said. About 17 affordable housing units under construction on Boardman Road are expected to be completed by summer.
Bass described the new apartments as multifamily units. The apartments will be built “side by side” on Lanesville Road while the new apartments on Poplar Street “are units on a floor-by-floor basis,” he said.
The property on Poplar Street “has been thrown back and forth for a long time due to zoning and planning with making changes and getting things ready for zoning,” said Chris Ludwig, vice chair of New Milford's Housing Partnership Committee.
The site on Lanesville Road received its certificate of occupancy and “apparently is already maxed out for occupancy because almost any places here … are basically a waiting list,” he said.
Ludwig said the Housing Partnership has been spending more time “trying to find places – whether they be town properties, state properties, private properties – where people have the potential to do a project,” specifically for affordable housing projects.
“But it's very difficult,” Ludwig said. “We do have an ongoing list of town and state properties that we're trying to work through and see if we can do anything with them. Hopefully through Housing Partnership, we can maybe get somebody to donate the land – some private owner who's retiring or moving away.”
In addition to those sites, Bass said the building at 25 Church St. may be converted into 17 housing units, and a site on Pickett District Road has been approved for 110 new town homes.
Also, a plan is in place for 100 units on a property on Route 7 across from Ruwet-Sibley Equipment Corp. that Bass said he believes will be “80 percent market rate and 20 percent affordable.”
An additional 300 units “have been approved but haven't been built yet in all different units of town,” Bass said, including areas on Route 7, Route 202 and Grove Street.
“There's different areas that have been approved for a few years, and it's just a matter of somebody coming in and developing those units,” Bass said.