Key Points
- Planning and Zoning voted to begin changing zoning regulations to use Connecticut’s state median income standard for calculating housing affordability.
- The change could help Wilton qualify for a four-year 8-30g moratorium, limiting developers’ ability to override local zoning regulations.
- Commissioners are also preparing state-mandated zoning updates related to middle housing, parking and traffic mitigation before a July 1 deadline.
Why It Matters: Wilton officials are pursuing a policy change that could give the town greater control over future development proposals under Connecticut’s affordable housing law, while also navigating new state housing mandates.
During its Jun. 8 meeting, Wilton’s Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) voted unanimously to propose revising the town’s zoning regulations to adopt the state median income as the basis for calculating housing affordability rates across the board — a move that will help the town earn a four-year moratorium on developers seeking to sidestep the town’s zoning regulations.
The move is a key step in the commission’s effort to revise the town’s housing policy and align it with state requirements, using the same standard Connecticut uses to determine compliance with state affordability mandates and plan for future development.
The vote follows P&Z’s decision at its May 26 meeting to use the term “median-income housing” rather than “affordable housing,” reflecting Connecticut’s use of state median income as the benchmark used to determine whether housing counts towards Wilton’s affordable housing totals in compliance with the state’s 8-30g affordable housing statute.
A draft resolution will be prepared for P&Z’s next meeting on Jun. 22, and a public hearing will be scheduled next month to gather input from residents and experts on the proposal.
State Median Income Helps Town Reach 8-30g Moratorium
During P&Z’s April special session on housing affordability, the commissioners agreed to use the state median income to calculate the number of affordable units in at least some developments; now, they have decided to apply the rate to all residential zones.
Because the state median-income rate is significantly lower than the area median, using the state rate will allow more people who work in Wilton but can’t afford current market rates to move to town. Just as importantly, adopting the state median income level will allow the town to qualify for a moratorium on further affordability requirements under 8-30g.
Under 8-30g, at least 10% of Wilton’s total housing stock must be set aside for median-income renters and buyers to prevent developers from sidestepping local zoning regulations if they agree to designate 30% or more of a project’s units for median-income occupancy. To avoid that, the town can either increase the total number of affordable units to reach the 10% threshold, or it can increase the number of median-income units by at least 2% — in Wilton’s case, 132 units.
Discussion Begins with Review of Affordability Percentages
The discussion that led to the vote actually began on a different but related topic, that of raising the minimum percentage of median-income housing required in residential zones, another idea proposed during the commission’s April special session.
To help guide the discussion, Director of Planning and Land Use Management Michael Wrinn presented a table showing all residential zones that currently have an affordability requirement. The percentage ranges from 10% in residential zones along Danbury Rd. and the Wilton Center overlay to 100% in the single- and double-family all-affordable districts. Currently, only six parcels along Autumn Ridge Dr. have been designated as single-family all-affordable housing, and there is no designated multifamily housing district in the town. The zoning regulations also specify the minimum number of lots required, ranging from none in Wilton Center to nine in the Housing Opportunity Development District on Danbury Rd., the site of the White Oaks at Wilton development.
Wrinn noted that the single- and double-family all-affordable districts are overlays that are reserved for development projects proposed by a nonprofit or the government. Furthermore, any districts with state-owned property would be exempt from the town’s affordability requirement.
Wrinn said that he would provide the commissioners with data on the affordability percentages in other towns’ zoning regulations for comparison. He noted that Norwalk is currently undergoing a similar review of its regulations, and their experience might yield helpful data points.
“I think what you will see is that when we give you the numbers [for other nearby towns], you’re going to see that a lot of towns are very similar to this, that it’s all over the place,” Wrinn said. “You may have something downtown that has a very high number, could be 14%, but yet if you dig into the numbers, you may have something where they’re going to give you a bonus if you do X number of units. So, it does get a little tricky. It’s very hard [to make an] apples-to-apples type of thing.”
“I think that we just need those other numbers to make a decision as to what we want to do,” P&Z Chair Ken Hoffman said. “I think we know the tenor of what the group wants to do, but … Anthony [Cenatiempo], I think it was you that pointed out it would be helpful as we try and pin a number between 10 and 15% to know what other towns are doing just from the competitive nature.”
Updates to Parking, Traffic Mitigation and Middle Housing Revisions Prior to Public Hearings
During the Jun. 8 meeting, Wrinn also updated the commissioners on progress toward changes to the zoning regulations related to parking, traffic mitigation, and residential buildings with between two and nine units on lots zoned for commercial and mixed uses, called “transit community middle housing.” These changes must be in place by Jul. 1 to ensure the town is compliant with Special Session Public Act 25-1, an Act Concerning Housing Growth.
Wrinn said that the drafts of the regulation changes for middle housing developments and the creation of conservation and traffic mitigation districts have been sent to the town clerks of adjoining towns and to the Western Connecticut Council of Governments (WestCOG) for comment.
Wrinn said that he did not expect to receive any comments from either the towns or WestCOG prior to the public hearings on these proposed changes scheduled for Jun. 22.
Wrinn explained that the Architectural Review Board (ARB) is in the process of reviewing the town’s design guidelines to ensure that there is adequate language governing the design and construction of middle housing. ARB undertook the review at the request of P&Z, which felt that it lacked the architectural expertise to determine whether the existing language was adequate.
“They’re very excited about it,” Wrinn said. “They feel they can add a lot to this.”
Wrinn said that, in order to ensure the new middle housing chapter is ready by the Jul. 1 deadline, any changes proposed by ARB would be incorporated after that date through its own separate public hearing process that would focus just on the ARB’s proposed changes to building materials and design.
“We’ll keep our fingers crossed, and see what we hear at that public hearing,” Wrinn said.
