CT State Reps Update And Reform Senate Bill 535

From CT State Reps: State Reps. Pam Staneski (R-119) and Charles Ferraro (R-117) hailed the passage of major legislation to update and reform the current (8-30g) affordable housing law by the Housing committee on Tuesday March 7th.

The legislation, Senate Bill 535 An Act Revising The Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Process And Requirements For Affordable Housing Applications And Obtaining A Municipal Moratorium makes many changes to the existing state law on affordable housing.

“I want to thank the leadership of the Housing committee especially Milford’s own, Senate Co-chair Senator Gayle Slossberg and House Vice-Chair Rep. Kim Rose, this was truly a Milford team effort. There is still much work to do but I believe these reforms return local control back to the municipal zoning boards and not predatory developers or the courts,” said Rep. Staneski.

“We are one step closer to getting the power of zoning regulations back in the hands of our local zoning officials,” said Rep. Ferraro. “I remain hopeful that we will pass bipartisan legislation this year that will make much-needed reforms to our affordable housing regulations. The Milford Delegation is working hard with our colleagues from around the state to make this happen.”

Some of the provisions include:

• Requires that a rotation of judges hear affordable housing application appeals cases, in the districts where the judges sit
• Adds to the units that count toward the 10% threshold and Moratorium status certain mobile manufactured homes located in resident-owned mobile manufactured home parks and other mobile manufactured homes
• Lowers the threshold of the 2% HUE requirement for a moratorium to 1.75% if a municipality has adopted an affordable housing plan
• Requires each municipality, at least every four years, to prepare on affordable housing plan, which must include inclusionary zoning
• Bonus points for 3 Bedroom family units and senior units tied to family housing
• Awards Assisted housing that is open to only seniors and people with disabilities HUE points
• Award points for units that receive financial assistance under a governmental program for the construction or substantial rehabilitation of low and moderate income housing
• Specifies that matters a commission may legally consider when reviewing an affordable housing application include “best planning practices” and “design standards”
• Allows a Municipality to deny an application if the proposal is for 25 units or fewer and it exceeds the parcel’s permitted density by more than 100% if certain conditions are met
• States that the appeals procedure does not apply to a proposal concerning real property that is subject to a municipal tax lien unless the municipality releases the lien or agrees to subject itself to the § 8-30g
• Makes income-restricted units in an IHZ development eligible for points toward a moratorium

“These modifications to the law will help communities, like Milford, meet their goal of increasing affordable housing and address the unintended consequences that have resulted from this statute,” said Rep. Staneski.

Image Courtesy Of CT State Reps