Dionna Carlson

Town Re-Applies for Relief from Affordable Housing Law

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One year after suing the state for denying its application for four years of relief from a widely discussed affordable housing law, the town is re-applying. The Connecticut Department of Housing denied New Canaan’s first attempt to secure a “moratorium,” saying in part that the town erred in how it counted affordable units at Millport Avenue as part of that application. 

Since that denial, the town has created additional affordable units at Canaan Parish. So this time, according to documents on file in the Town Clerk’s office, the town is not trying to use the flagged Millport Avenue units in making its case for a four-year moratorium. “This application includes documentation for two additional affordable housing residential developments in the Town of New Canaan,” First Selectman Dionna Carlson wrote in a cover letter to the state DOH that accompanies the new application, dated Dec. 13.

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Town: Land Use Attorney’s Comments Delay Filing of Moratorium Application

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A prominent land use attorney’s feedback on the town’s application for relief from a state affordable housing law has delayed its widely anticipated submission, officials say. In reference to the application for a four-year “moratorium” for the town, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said Tuesday that “after getting some comments from a rather skilled lawyer who wrote the law, we’re going to get that back in very soon.” The lawyer in question, Tim Hollister, “makes a habit commenting on people’s applications before they’re even filed,” Moynihan told members of the Board of Finance during an update at their regular meeting, held in Town Hall and via videoconference. “That’s what the public comment period is for,” Moynihan said. “Since he [Hollister] wrote the law, he knows how to use it.”

Tucker Murphy, administrative officer under Moynihan, had said during the April 19 Board of Selectmen meeting that the town anticipated submitting the application two weeks ago (April 28).