Arnold Karp

Affordable Housing: State Issues ‘Declaratory Ruling’ Against the Town in Moratorium Application

By |

The state last week issued a ruling that bolsters its decision in October to deny the town’s application for four years of relief from a widely discussed affordable housing statute. The town had pushed back following the Connecticut Department of Housing’s denial of its application for a “moratorium” from the state law known by its statute number, 8-30g. The law allows developers who propose housing projects where at least 30% of units will be rented at affordable rates to get around local Planning & Zoning Commission decisions through an appeal process. 

The town had qualified for a four-year moratorium in 2017, with the denser redevelopment of New Canaan Housing Authority-owned apartments Millport Avenue, and hoped to qualify for another one, in part, through the redevelopment of the Canaan Parish complex at Lakeview Avenue and Route 123, which was partially completed in October 2021. 

Yet that project was delayed by financing difficulties and the COVID-19 pandemic, officials have said. In the months after the 2017-issued moratorium expired, the town received three such applications, at Weed and Elm Streets (120 units), Main Street (20 units) and Hill Street (93 units). Last July—more than one year after the 2017-issued moratorium expired—the town applied for another one.