UPDATE, 5:20 P.M., Monday, June 23 — Earlier today, First Selectman Toni Boucher emailed a statement in reaction to Gov. Lamont’s veto: ”I believe the Governor made a very wise decision on vetoing this housing bill. This bill needs a great more discussion where all factors are considered, particularly the towns that would be affected. A one size fits all housing policy is not workable and needs to go back to the drawing board with stakeholders participation.”
UPDATE, 11:20 A.M., Monday, June 23 — Gov. Ned Lamont has reportedly vetoed the proposed housing bill, HB 5002, according to Rep. Savet Constantine (Wilton-42).
ORIGINAL STORY: The Planning and Zoning Commission has extended an invitation to two special guests to join one of its meetings later this summer. On June 9, Commissioner Chris Pagliaro suggested inviting State Sen. Ceci Maher and State Rep. Savet Constantine for what would seem to be a frank discussion of the controversial state housing bill that currently sits on Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk. Maher voted in favor of the bill while Constantine voted against it.
“I just don’t think that our residents are all that familiar with the impact that this [legislation known as HB 5002] could have — judge it yourself, positive or negative,” Pagliaro said. “I don’t even really want to have any feedback from them [Maher and Constantine]. I just want to hear what they have to say, and maybe ask a few questions.”
Maher, Constantine and town officials have confirmed that conflicting summer schedules will mean pushing that discussion to some time in September. But they say the conversation will still be relevant, as controversy around the fate of the bill has continued to heat up in the weeks since the legislation was introduced, .
As Connecticut’s 169 towns await news of the governor’s decision — possibly coming today — GOOD Morning Wilton looked into the proposed legislation and the state of affordable housing in Wilton, the central challenge the bill seeks to address state-wide.
What is HB 5002?
The bill has ignited a significant debate over balancing the state’s housing needs with local autonomy. Supporters of the bill, largely Democratic lawmakers, say it’s a necessary step toward tackling Connecticut’s housing shortage. They argue that HB 5002 gives municipalities new tools to expand affordable housing options, cut through bureaucratic red tape, and better support residents facing housing insecurity. A study undertaken by the state last year found that Connecticut has the most constrained housing market in the nation.
Critics of HB 5002 argue that the legislation goes too far, infringing on local authority over land use and planning. They raise concerns about state-imposed requirements on towns, including mandated affordable housing goals, which they say could stretch local resources. Opponents say the bill takes a one-size-fits-all approach that ignores each town’s unique needs.
Connecticut state-wide media like CT Mirror have covered the bill extensively, including framing the arguments on both sides.
On Friday, June 6, a bi-partisan group of 12 Wilton officials, including the chairs of three main boards and several P&Z commissioners, signed a letter asking Gov. Ned Lamont to veto the housing bill. Several additional Wilton town representatives have since signed on as well.
The divisive bill passed both houses in Connecticut’s state legislature and now awaits a signature or veto by Lamont. Technically Lamont also has the option to not act on the bill, in which case it takes effect as passed by the legislature.
The joint letter sent by Wilton’s officials listed specific concerns with the bill on the following topics:
- Conversion of Commercial Lots to “As-of-Right” Middle Housing
- Arbitrary “Fair Share” Mandates
- Elimination of Parking Requirements
- Linking Infrastructure Grants to Zoning Compliance
- Unfunded Legal Costs for 8-30g Lawsuits
- Erosion of Local Planning
These objections are explained in greater detail in the letter itself, which has been reprinted in GOOD Morning Wilton’s earlier coverage. In short, the bill would:
- allow developers to convert existing office space to housing without needing to go through a public hearing specifically on the change in use from commercial to residential (other changes subject to public hearing or review would still be heard)
- set targets for the amount of affordable housing each individual town should offer, with an appeal mechanism for towns that determine their target is too high
- eliminate parking minimums for multifamily buildings with less than 24 units
- make towns responsible for legal fees should an 8-30g claim proceed to lawsuit
- reward towns that zone for higher density with priority for infrastructure grants
As the Wilton officials’ letter put it, “HB 5002 would override our local planning efforts and force additional growth without regard for our infrastructure, fiscal capacity, or the thoughtful progress we are already making.”
In introducing the topic on June 9, P&Z Chair Rick Tomasetti expressed concern that neither Maher nor Constantine had consulted Wilton’s P&Z about the bill. He also quoted someone he described as chair of P&Z in a nearby town as saying, “If it passes, it doesn’t matter, the local Planning and Zoning Commissions will get blamed for it anyway.”
“It’s like the building across from the Post Office,” Pagliaro added. “Everybody is badmouthing us about it, but we approved it because we had no choice. It’s not what we wanted.”
What Happened with 12 Godfrey Pl.?
The four-story 40-unit development at 12 Godfrey Pl., is currently under construction in Wilton Center. GOOD Morning Wilton covered the application extensively as it wound through the town review process. The project was originally proposed as more modest three-story building whose exterior stonework design was praised by P&Z in initial pre-application discussions in 2022. At the commission’s request in 2023, the developer, Rich Granoff, provided a memo summarizing the ways his design lined up with the zoning regulations then being developed as part of the master plan process.
Nonetheless, P&Z threatened to reject the application and force Granoff to wait for the conclusion of the master plan process. Granoff in turn threatened to redesign the building as an 8-30g affordable housing project, which would give him standing to sue the town if the development were rejected. He and his team challenged Tomasetti’s assertion that P&Z was a mere six weeks away from completing the master plan process. The master plan was at that point already three months overdue and indeed another 10 months would pass before the commission voted on the new regulations.
In the end, Granoff called the Commission’s bluff and withdrew the application, resubmitting the project as an aesthetically flattened, four-story 8-30g affordable housing development. P&Z reluctantly approved the new design once town counsel informed the commissioners that they would likely lose a court challenge if they tried to block the project now.
Wilton Lofts at 12 Godfrey Pl. is expected to begin leasing this summer. A full 50% of the 40 units will be set aside as affordable housing, more than the 30% that 8-30g guidelines require.
Where Does Wilton Stand on Affordable Housing?
Spurring affordable housing development is the central goal of HB 5002, building on the state’s existing target that 10% of residential units in a town should be set aside as affordable. Including units approved but not yet built, Wilton currently sits at roughly 4%.
In remarks on June 16, Lamont said, “The housing bill, to be really effective, towns have got to buy in. I want them to take the lead,” he said. “Most of the towns have taken the lead, some of them haven’t.”
In the joint bipartisan letter to Lamont, Wilton officials wrote in part, “We have steadily added affordable units, though we are unlikely to meet the 8-30g threshold [of 10% affordability].”
By GOOD Morning Wilton’s count, since the 2020 census, Wilton’s P&Z has approved 933 new housing units, 100 of which are affordable. This represents a 14% increase in overall housing units and a 46% increase in affordable units, but a less than 1% (0.9%) increase in the overall percentage of affordable units, which is the metric of significance. Within that 0.9% increase in affordable units, one-third were created by projects that used the leverage of 8-30g to force the commission’s hand.
Effectively, local control of Wilton’s affordable housing efforts has yielded a 0.6% increase in affordability over five years.
The town has not announced any plans to spur affordable housing beyond requiring that new developments set aside 10% of their units as affordable. With a rate of affordability as low as Wilton’s, requiring 10% affordability for new developments would statistically never achieve a town-wide rate of 10% affordable.
The math in this regard seemed to trip up Town Planner Michael Wrinn in an October 2023 meeting in which he was asked to present to P&Z about the state of affordable housing in Wilton. The footage of the following exchange can be viewed starting at 47:00 in the town’s recording.
After noting that Wilton had roughly 6,500 housing units and would need roughly 400 additional units of affordable housing to meet the state’s 10% threshold (which, at that time, would have been 648 affordable units), Wrinn said, “It’s a lot of units. You’d need basically 4,000 new units if you’re doing them at 10% affordable.”
“No, because if you added 4,000 [new market rate units], you’d be at 10,000 [overall units],” Commissioner Eric Fanwick pointed out. “Then you’d need 1,000 [affordable units, to reach a rate of 10% overall], not just 600.”
“If you added 4,000 units, and 10% of those were affordable, that would give you your 400 additional,” Wrinn said, trying again.
“But you still wouldn’t get 10%,” Fanwick explained.
Fanwick’s understanding of the math was correct. Indeed, by requiring just 10% affordability from developers of new buildings and using no other mechanisms to create affordable housing, Wilton’s current regulations mean that the town will never meaningfully diversify its housing stock.
In this regard, Wilton stands in stark contrast to other towns in Fairfield County opposing the bill as state overreach in local planning:
- Westport requires 20% affordability in all new developments; New Canaan requires 15%; Darien required 14%. Each of these requirements mean that these towns grow closer to 10% affordable as an overall percentage of units with each new development.
- Both New Canaan and Fairfield recently earned four-year moratoria from the state protecting the towns from 8-30g challenges, after demonstrating significant progress toward achieving the overall 10% threshold.
- Last year, Westport established a town housing trust, funded by zoning fees on new development, that will allow the town to purchase property and create 100% affordable housing according its own vision. New Canaan and Fairfield have similar funds in place as well, allowing them to add affordable housing stock without also adding new market rate units that offset their statistical impact.
For a time, during the Greater Wilton Center Master Plan process, the P&Z subcommittee charged with creating the town’s new zoning seemed inclined to take a more proactive approach.
“I don’t want to see 10% affordable housing,” P&Z Vice Chair Melissa-Jean Rotini said then. “Ten [percent] doesn’t help; it maintains the baseline or makes it worse.”
Subcommittee member (and then-Architectural Review Board member) Sam Gardner agreed. “At 10%, you wind up chasing your tail,” he said. “You build more units but you don’t build enough affordability to offset what the goals of the state are.”
However, Tomasetti had argued at the time that developers in Wilton could not afford to provide more than 10% affordability, because market rate rents in town were too low in comparison.
The first in Wilton’s wave of new multi-family complexes, Riverside Wilton at the former Melissa & Doug corporate site at 141 Danbury Rd., opened last summer. Market rents start at $2,930 for one-bedroom apartments and go up to $5,840 for three-bedroom units. In comparison, market rate rents for the apartments in Darien’s new Corben District start at $4,200/month for one-bedroom units and go up to $8,925/month for three-bedrooms.
In the end, the debate over which minimum percentage the town should land on was rendered moot. The P&Z master plan subcommittee, staffed by Wrinn and a team of private consultants, forgot to incorporate any affordable housing requirement in the zoning overlay for Wilton Center. The oversight allowed Kimco to include just three affordable units in its upcoming 173-unit apartment complex. P&Z amended the zoning regulations to require 10% affordability for future developments post-Kimco, but not before also setting a precedent allowing an unusually lenient interpretation of affordability requirements for bonus floors.
Looking Ahead
Gov. Lamont has until tomorrow (June 24) to act on the bill with a signature, approving the bill in its current form, or veto, which would likely kick off a re-examination and second iteration of the legislation. Earlier this month, Lamont stated that he was listening to arguments from advocates pro and con as he considered the future of the bill, but lamented, “They’re screaming on both sides. There’s not much middle ground.”
“Housing is absolutely crucial to the economic growth and opportunity in the state, so we’re going to get it right,” he said. “I just have to figure out whether this bill is the right way to get it done.”
Omg! This makes me so mad who cares if developers couldn’t afford 20% affordable houses on their project. Wow!! Really!!! This confirms that the chairman put the developers pockets in-front of the needs or wants of the town. This board along with the master plan and POCD should be ripped up and people who actually care about our town should create new ones! And this time putting the community and the residents needs before developers. WE NEED IN PERSON TOWN MEETING WITH P&Z NOW!!!! Before the town is another …..
thank you heather – great/helpful coverage. going forward 10 % just doesn’t advance the ball. other towns can see that, why can’t we?
Echoing your thanks to Heather: comprehensive, helpful coverage of the issue.
I have to give credit where credit is due… Reporter Meaghan Baron is the one responsible for our land use, planning and zoning coverage. She is the one who does the GOOD work when it comes to that beat.