Report by Paula Antolini, November 17, 2019, 3:34PM EDT
A roundtable panel was selected for a meeting that will take place this Wednesday, November 20, 2019, to discuss housing development in Bethel and the 8-30g Affordable Housing issue that has been a huge concern of residents. The meeting is at 6:30pm to 7:30pm in the General Purpose Room of the CJH Municipal Center, 1 School Street, Bethel, CT.
Panelists are CT State Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan (Democrat – serving Bethel, Danbury, Newtown, Redding), First Selectman Matthew Knickerbocker, Bethel Planning & Zoning Commission Chairman Patricia Rist, Bethel Town Planner Beth Cavagna, Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno, and Community Development Specialist Michael Santoro.
When BETHEL ADVOCATE asked Allie-Brennan if the public will be able to ask questions of the panel at the meeting, Allie-Brennan said, “People should submit questions or comments ahead of time. There will be an opportunity at the event to submit questions.”
Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan said it was his idea to organize the meeting and said in a letter to residents, “It’s important that we come together to discuss what we can do both at the local level and in Hartford to ensure those who are tasked with building housing for the next generation are doing so with affordability, quality and local interests at the forefront of their minds,” according to the News Times.
Connecticut General Statutes 8-30g mandates that 10% of each municipalities housing stock be deemed affordable or they are subject to 8-30g. The significance of this act is that it allows developers to disregard local zoning rules while also shifting the burden of proof to the town to justify a denial.
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View CHAPTER 126a AFFORDABLE HOUSING LAND USE APPEALS Sec. 8-30g here.
View part here:
Sec. 8-30g. *(See end of section for amended version of subsection (l) and effective date.) Affordable housing land use appeals procedure. Definitions. Affordability plan; regulations. Conceptual site plan. Maximum monthly housing cost. Percentage-of-income requirement. Appeals. Modification of application. Commission powers and remedies. Exempt municipalities. Moratorium. Model deed restrictions. (a) As used in this section and section 8-30j:
(1) “Affordable housing development” means a proposed housing development which is (A) assisted housing, or (B) a set-aside development;
(2) “Affordable housing application” means any application made to a commission in connection with an affordable housing development by a person who proposes to develop such affordable housing;
(3) “Assisted housing” means housing which is receiving, or will receive, financial assistance under any governmental program for the construction or substantial rehabilitation of low and moderate income housing, and any housing occupied by persons receiving rental assistance under chapter 319uu or Section 1437f of Title 42 of the United States Code;
(4) “Commission” means a zoning commission, planning commission, planning and zoning commission, zoning board of appeals or municipal agency exercising zoning or planning authority;
(5) “Municipality” means any town, city or borough, whether consolidated or unconsolidated;
(6) “Set-aside development” means a development in which not less than thirty per cent of the dwelling units will be conveyed by deeds containing covenants or restrictions which shall require that, for at least forty years after the initial occupation of the proposed development, such dwelling units shall be sold or rented at, or below, prices which will preserve the units as housing for which persons and families pay thirty per cent or less of their annual income, where such income is less than or equal to eighty per cent of the median income. In a set-aside development, of the dwelling units conveyed by deeds containing covenants or restrictions, a number of dwelling units equal to not less than fifteen per cent of all dwelling units in the development shall be sold or rented to persons and families whose income is less than or equal to sixty per cent of the median income and the remainder of the dwelling units conveyed by deeds containing covenants or restrictions shall be sold or rented to persons and families whose income is less than or equal to eighty per cent of the median income;
(7) “Median income” means, after adjustments for family size, the lesser of the state median income or the area median income for the area in which the municipality containing the affordable housing development is located, as determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development; and
(8) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Housing…..
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View some recent Bethel articles about the 8-30g topic:
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OTHER recent building projects in Bethel:
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