Submitted by Steve Hall, Greenwich
First Selectman Camillo and local leaders call for immediate moratorium on zoning mandates for Greenwich
I happened to see notice of the spontaneous previously unscheduled meeting called by the First Selectman and did attend. My comments are below.
Let me preface my comments with my own credentials. I have a degree in Architecture from Princeton and have done graduate studies in City Planning. After my service as a Navy pilot I began my professional career in project management of real estate development at Bechtel in 1972 on the development of a nuclear power project and other large projects. My subsequent career has included projects ranging from ecovillages to various land developments including housing in both the US and in several other countries as well as in Commercial Real Estate. I also completed workouts of failed multimillion projects across the US. I had my own firm in Greenwich from 2001 until 2018 that included both high end residential as well as non-profit projects. In this work scope I have encountered and worked with a variety of regulatory agencies at various levels.
My observation in this town starts with the fallacy that with population of over 60,000 and a land area of 67 acres we are still a town. We are not. We are a city and should have had professional management years ago. We have suffered unnecessarily as a result, and especially financially. That we are so unaware of growth limitations that we must only have anecdotal personal reports to tell of those is ludicrous. That we have no professional enforceable master plan for development that includes projection all growth including housing and required services within specified numbers and areas is a predicate for failure as a town and is creating destructive internal conflict.
I have never been nor will ever be a member any political party. On the subject of affordable housing I have attempted to bridge the political gap. I have had personal meetings with those of each party as in the recent bills there is a workable path to achieve an affordable housing mandate moratorium exception and I had thought we had achieved a willingness to try. But this recent event called by the First Selectman and the comments from our two Representatives to Hartford calling for the cancelation of the Affordable Housing Mandate have rendered my efforts as having been a pointless waste of time.
For the past 10 years or so at I have repeatedly asked all in opposition to the state affordable housing mandate and in particular Fred Camilo and Ryan Fazio to present their own plan or at least what is our percentage goal. There has never been an answer.
So let us factually discuss the issue. I come from a position of believing we as a town and as a society have a moral imperative to care for those that support our town and country with their service. And this must include affordable housing. There are negative consequences in costs and health and to our economy in not doing so. Our workers spend hours driving to and from Greenwich passing along extra travel costs to do so to our residents. Then there is the enormous resulting air pollution damaging all of us and especially our children. One look at Rte 15 and/or I-95 during commute time as well as our numerous air quality alerts tells this story.
Unfunded Mandate – The term UNFUNDED is used constantly used pejoratively clearly and directly suggesting that the state should be paying communities to provide land and for designing and building their affordable housing quotas. As both of our representatives Fazio and Courpas and their party are constantly attacking our government spending to reduce it I cannot reconcile this divergent position.
But I do agree that that there is a mandate for affordable housing and it should be local. It is a MORAL MANDATE too long ignored, but now it seems they have added yet another reason against affordable housing. It will use up available utility resources that will restrict their allocation to the 18,000 sf McMansions and or for all the high end facilities used by their owners such as restaurants, country and yacht clubs. But in fact is it not this segment of our population that is the greater threat to our utility resources?
Sadly this is a direct reflection of the egregious attitudes and actions we daily see from their administration in Washington where wealth and corruption rule over morality.