Submitted by Steven Chandler Hall, Greenwich
The 8-30g Affordable Housing Application at Putnam Green is awake up call for Greenwich. We must have Professional Planning for a viable future
History
This 8-30g project of two 6 story buildings with 176 units of Affordable Housing is now front and center on the table for Greenwich. Had my recommendation of last year described below been followed it would not have been made. It is also an exclamation point after and on the unscheduled town hall press conference I recently wrote about. That event and now this new project has prompted a number of comments from across the political spectrum. It is a 30 year old unaddressed issue.
Greenwich has a barn door wide open for such projects. It was inevitable as the economy has evolved and priced lower wage workers out of the housing market and especially so in our town that attracts wealth.
We can be sure more 8-30g applications are in the works.
The HB 8002 offers a moratorium on such applications if the town engages with its provisions to develop a Housing Growth Plan (HGP). To do so will require professional planning help and town cooperation that could and should become an enforceable Master Plan.
At present the preferred affordable housing alternative seems to be to generate a statewide vote to totally cancel HB 8002. If successful that may take years and will just accelerate more 8-30g applications during the campaign to vote it out.
Finding and Actions
My long expressed focus that the town should address the affordable housing issue was refocused last year by the Benedict Court project erasing some architectural downtown history. It prompted me to get a copy of the actual HB-8002g and carefully read and study. I sent my analysis with a written recommendation to my district representative Ms Tina Courpas requesting a meeting to discuss late last year. In our meeting I suggested she immediately support and act on my findings. Subsequently in a town hall meeting with her and Ryan Fazio I asked for and believe I was given assurance that they would work across the aisle with their political counterparts to follow up for the benefit of the future of the town. I also spoke separately with Hector Arzeno and Rachel Khanna who acknowledged the issue but were skeptical of anything they could or would do.
Responses and Results
First it is essential to unpack and examine the recent shibboleth of comments and statements on HB6002 to determine if the town has the capacity to factually address this critical issue for our future
1) The “One size fits all mandate” is factually untrue. It is quite to the contrary and flies in the face of affordable housing quotas being assessed as a percentage of the overall population of any and every town at 10% that would seem to be reasonable and one of equitable integration of various income levels into the life of every community as it once was years ago as I am sure our longtime residents will attest.
2) We have had the opinion expressed that our utilities do not have the capacity to accommodate more affordable housing units; however, with the average housing cost of energy in CT at $2.20/sf* then if anything we should be denying building permits for large homes and welcoming affordable units at 1200 sf or less and not the 5,000 sf to 10,000 sf or18,000 sf recently permitted applications that are actually creating a far greater demand drawing down the capacity of our utilities
3) Another but related issue raised was the ability of our supporting infrastructure to accommodate more housing. We have heard blanket statements of limitation issues but do we have any concrete data in a report as one might want to study and assess each and every factor? That is a critically essential tool in planning.
4) One more issue was to address the physical site planning of appropriate locations for affordable housing. That is exactly what a professional master planning study does.
5) And lastly that the state is issuing unfunded mandates. Quite the contrary as HB 8002 offers funding for various studies and actual improvements once a town enters into its Housing Growth Planning Program (GHP).
It will be very sad for Greenwich and our future if we don’t enter into a professionally directed and managed Master Development Plan either on our own but much more logically and financially supported in the HB 8002 program while also holding off more 8-30g applications.
*energysage
Steven Chandler Hall