The Jan 5, 2021 P&Z meeting, which starts at 5:00pm via Zoom, will kick off with a controversial pre-application submitted by Lamasa Realty, LLC for a development at 28 Hollow Wood Lane in Pemberwick. (Click for final agenda and Zoom link.)
The commission will review and discuss the potential 21-unit development (with a total of 39 bedrooms) and a daycare facility for 25 children.
The proposal is being submitted under Section 8-30g of the CT General Statutes, which is the state’s affordable housing statute.
Per 8-30g, Connecticut requires that all municipalities have 10% of all residential housing units be “affordable.”
Municipalities in CT more than 10% affordable housing stock are exempt from 8-30g.
Towns where less than 10% of the housing stock is affordable have to allow affordable or mixed-income housing proposals to be constructed unless they can prove to the Superior Court that the rejection is necessary to protect substantial public interests in health or safety.
The developments must restrict at least 30% of the units as affordable to low- and moderate-income households for at least 40 years. Thirty-one towns and cities (of 169) across Connecticut are exempt from 8-30g.
Greenwich has consistently hovered at about 5%.
The property is in the R-6 Zone.
The proposed floor area is 20,247.22 sq ft, where R6 allows 12,367 sq ft.
The applicant proposes just 30 parking spots (including the 6 required handicapped spots), whereas 50 would be required for that many residential units and daycare (including 6 handicapped) but not for 8-30g.
A letter filed by attorney Chip Haslun at P&Z says Lamasa Realty LLC (registered to Anthony Manganiello of Monica Road) is the owner of three lots in Pemberwick.
One of the three lots has a single family house built in 1914. It fronts onto Hollow Wood Ln and its front and side yard setbacks are legally non-conforming.
The other two lots have deeded rights over and to an unimproved portion of River Street, which runs behind Hollow Wood.
One of the two lots on River St has two legally non-conforming accessory structures – a shed and a garage. The other lot is empty.
River Rd gets its name because it runs along the Byram River at Caroline Pond. The three lots are in the AE Flood zone and the proposal is for 2 FEMA-compliant buildings with two stories of residential units and a garage level with 32 parking spots.
Of the 21 units, a third of them, 7 units, would be deed-restricted as affordable.
Children of residents would have priority in the day care facility for 25 children.
The development would be accessible from River Rd and Hollow Wood Lane, which the applicant’s attorney said in his letter would result in “good traffic flow.”
There are letters on file from neighbors objecting to the development, saying the street is already congested, that cars rely on street parking, and that it is often difficult for two cars to pass on the street.
“A few years ago, the town built a four-unit affordable housing development on three lots at 14 Hollow Wood Lane. The property was cleared very close to the river edge. During the storm in April 2007, the Byram River flooded and resulted in several feet of flooding of the units adjacent to the river. Residents needed to be rescued by boat.”
– James and Janice Carroll, 10B Hollow Wood
More P&Z coverage:
Dec 1, 2020
P&Z Watch: Extension to 2023 Granted for Multi-Family Development Approved in 2013
Jan 3, 2021