Submitted by Adele Rota
Neighbors,
It does not require an advanced degree to know that 830-g and the most recent housing legislation HB8002, forced upon the 169 communities across Connecticut by the Democrat supermajority in Hartford without any return of our tax dollars (aka an unfunded mandate) is seriously flawed – it only requires common sense.
A recent letter in this space referenced notice of a “spontaneous previously unscheduled” meeting called by Fred Camillo. (Hall: Affordable Housing Zoning is Not an Unfunded Mandate for GreenwichJuly 27, 2026) It was actually a press conference calling upon state lawmakers to implement a moratorium on zoning mandates, saying utility companies do not have the capacity to meet the growing needs of municipalities across the state.
I feel compelled to respond to several other inaccuracies in that letter. The observation that “Greenwich is not a town” but rather “is a city” and we have suffered financially because we are not managed like a city. The Town of Greenwich has followed the New England form of government known as the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) since before the founding of our country 250 years ago.
Greenwich is a town and is content to continue to be so unless Hartford mandates we become a city!
The statement that “we have no professional enforceable master plan for development” is blatantly false. Greenwich derives it planning authority from a 1951 State Legislature Special Act and our Planning and Zoning Commission updates the Plan of Conservation and Development every ten years, most recently in 2019. It is these (unfunded) mandates from the State that continue to erode and undermine that local authority.
For example, Governor Lamont called a “special emergency session” in November of 2025 which is a parliamentary procedure (read: undemocratic process) intended to fast track a bill without the usual committee hearings and public input. If this legislation is so important for our state, why not allow it to see the light of day, go through the necessary and appropriate hearings and allow the public to share their views? Not only was the bill hastily forced through but its provisions became law January 1, 2026 without time necessary for review by all 169 municipalities that were required to implement it. This bill makes 830-g look like child’s play. It is worth noting that other legislation passed in that special emergency session included changes to home school regulations and child vaccine requirements – there was also no standard committee reviews, debate or public comment permitted on that legislation.
Whether intentional or not, the writer completely misstates the hard work of State Senator Ryan Fazio and Representative Tina Corpus and their legislative efforts to reign in the fiscally out of control majority in the CT legislature. They are not looking for Hartford to raise taxes, quite the contrary, they are asking why Hartford continues to ram this unpopular legislation down our throats without returning even the most modest amount of the enormous amount of hard earned tax dollars Greenwich residents send to Hartford each year.
What is morally wrong about this affordable housing legislation is that it allows the developers to skate past zoning regulations that impact town infrastructure (sewers, stormwater) traffic and parking not to mention the character of our neighborhoods forever (read: in perpetuity). Yet in return the developers need only provide an insignificant number of affordable units and these units need only affordable for forty years. Now before you say well forty years is a long time, think how quickly your kids and grandkids are growing up!
It is also morally wrong for the supermajority not to allow work force housing and naturally occurring affordable housing to be counted toward the town’s affordable housing stock as our Republican legislators have proposed.
I can say with pride and confidence that no one in the state legislature has worked harder to protect us from these (unfunded) housing mandates as well as the third highest energy cost of any state than Ryan Fazio (candidate for Governor) and Representative Tina Courpas. They both continue working tirelessly to make Connecticut more affordable.
Our First Selectman and former State Representative Fred Camillo should also be commended for his ongoing efforts, testifying in Hartford countless times to protect our town from housing mandates that have no regard or concern for the impact the legislation has on our infrastructure, environment and the quality of life in our town.
Yes our town, not our city.
Respectfully,
Adele Rota
While a member of the RTC District 9, the opinions
expressed here are strictly her own.