Affordable housing proposal well-received at hearing

December 7, 2006; As originally appeared in The Advocate by Lauren Klein, Staff Writer

NORWALK - A proposed regulation mandating that developers provide a certain amount of affordable housing in the city for each multifamily project they build received general support last night from the business, political and private arenas. Their encouragement, however, often came with requests for modifications at a public hearing of the Zoning Commission.

The most common adjustment to the regulations, first drafted over the summer, was making sure that the commission could set up a method for enforcement.

" It is important that a municipal infrastructure be developed to handle the sale and rental of these units," Attorney David Waters said speaking on behalf of developers Michael DiScala and Carl Kuehner. "You cannot expect a condominium association or landlord to monitor and be responsible" years from now.

The so-called work-force housing regulations, revised with comment from real estate developers and lawyers, and an ad-hoc committee of the Chamber of Commerce, call for 10 percent of the units in new, multifamily developments to be affordably priced.

According to state statute, households earning less than 80 percent of the state median income, or $65,000 for a family of four are eligible for such units.

Work-force housing regulations will allow developers to increase the density of projects to accommodate the affordable units; transfer the requirement to another development site; or pay a fee in lieu of housing to a special fund for other affordable housing projects. The proposal also includes an equity-sharing program which would allow developers to build non-deed restricted units that the owners could later sell at market-rate prices, splitting any profit with the city's housing fund.

With rising costs of living forcing city teachers, policemen, firefighters and others to commute, Joan Carty, executive director of the Housing Development Fund, said that creating a work-force housing regulation is important.

David Park, who has lived in a market-rate home at 66 Strawberry Hill Ave. since 1985, opposed the regulation. Any type of affordable housing law would burden market-rate homeowners with subsidizing taxes, he said.

"I am against the government getting involved in social engineering," said Park, who works for Complete Janitorial Services. "If others are paying less, then the rest of us are paying more."

Michael Coffey, president of the Common Council said nearby towns such as Greenwich, and Darien that do not meet the state's guideline of having at least 10 percent of its housing stock affordably priced need to do more.

Cities and towns that do not meet the standard are open to lawsuits from developers whose zoning applications for high-density housing that include below-market-rate units are rejected.

"This needs to be dealt with because it's important to the city's economic vitality," Coffey said. But "I think we need to issue a challenge to our neighboring communities to step up."

Dorothy Mobilia, a former chairman of the Zoning Commission, said that just because other towns were ignoring their duty doesn't mean Norwalk should. She said although the city has met the state minimum to date, it could fall below the requirement.

According to a state Department of Economic and Community Development survey released in April, 11.45 percent of Norwalk housing qualified as affordable last year. That number was down from 11.77 percent, or 3,972 units, in 2004.

Ed Musante, president of the Chamber of Commerce, supported the regulation, pointing out that half the work force lives outside the city.

The process, however, of creating and maintaining affordable housing in Norwalk could not just be done only from the Zoning Commission, he said.

"There needs to be an overreaching policy . . . with more city boards involved," Musante said. "There needs to be a city policy."