Housing Affordable For Whom?

To the Editor:

Planning & Zoning is presently reviewing a developer’s application to build 16 housing units fronted by 39 parking spaces on a five-acre parcel of land at 95 Church Hill Road. This development would be drastically out of context with the existing streetscape of quaint single-family historic homes.

In order to build 16 units on a parcel of R-2 land that is zoned for only two houses, the developer is marketing this as an “affordable” housing development. At a recent P&Z meeting the attorney for the developer stated that the units would be priced at $300,000 each. Affordable for whom?

This is a prime example of how developers are able to twist the P&Z regulations for their own financial benefit. The developer is also requesting that P&Z change two key rules in Newtown’s P&Z regulations for affordable housing. Currently the minimum land requirement for affordable housing is six acres with a 300-foot street frontage. The developer is asking that the minimum acreage be reduced to three acres with a 225-foot street frontage, as long as town water and sewer service the property. How convenient! If these regulations are changed as requested, this could have drastic implications throughout Newtown. Anyone with as little as a three-acre parcel of land serviced by town water could potentially build 12 “affordable” housing units on their site.

Our Planning and Zoning regulations are in place for a reason — to promote appropriate development based on carefully considered rules such as minimum lot area and street frontage. A developer should not be allowed to change these regulations for their own benefit, to the detriment of the community. Anyone can do the math — 16 housing units on five acres of land would be drastically out of context with the fabric of the streetscape along Church Hill Road, the gateway to Sandy Hook Center.

The changes to Newtown’s Zoning Regulations requested by the developer are self-serving and are of no benefit to the neighborhood or to the town. The requested changes would degrade the planning intentions of P&Z regulations for all future affordable housing proposals.

Zoltan Csillag

10 Walnut Tree Hill Road, Sandy Hook                        April 9, 2003