Grants will help towns realize affordable housing plans

FALLS VILLAGE —  The cause of affordable housing in the region took a significant step forward earlier this month as the Northwestern Regional Planning Collaborative announced state grants have been obtained to study affordable housing for five towns, including three in the Region One school district.

Salisbury, Sharon and Falls Village (along with Goshen and Norfolk) will receive grants in amounts ranging from $32,000 to $43,000 to conduct technical studies, prepare new regulations and guidelines, and apply for state approval of housing incentive zones. (Cornwall has an application pending.)

Ruth Skovron, a member of the Falls Village Planning and Zoning Commission, said, “The money for the grants was already legislated,� so the collaborative had worked rapidly to be “at the front of the receiving line.�

The collaborative’s oversight board includes Skovron and Falls Village First Selectman Pat Mechare; the duo’s “Bulldozers and Bears� forum in 2006 helped create the impetus for the collaborative’s formation. Other members are Dan McGuinness of the Northwestern Connecticut Council of Governments (COG), Rick Lynn of the Litchfield Hills Council of Elected Officials, and Tom McGowan, Salisbury’s town planner. The two councils are made up of first selectmen from 20 Litchfield County towns.

The grant money goes directly to the towns, which then sign contracts with either the Northwest COG or the Litchfield Hills group to do the necessary work.

The studies will look at the potential of sites for affordable housing — “What is the capacity, where can we put it, how do you accommodate the need� — with the available infrastructure (such as water and sewer lines), said McGuinness.

The collaborative’s approach, guided by two planners — Jocelyn Ayer and Chris Wood — also promises to be more in tune with the needs of the towns, as opposed to a top-down approach coming from the state.

“The state’s density figures for incentive housing zones tend to be higher than I personally would feel comfortable with,� said McGuinness, explaining by way of an example how a coordinated regional approach is preferable.

And accepting the grant money and completing the studies does not commit the towns to anything, as both Mechare and Salisbury First Selectman Curtis Rand noted. “The towns can back out,� said McGuinness. “Or they can change their regulations.�

Creating housing incentive zones does not necessarily mean a wholesale re-writing of a town’s zoning regulations. Ayer, who has worked with affordable housing groups in Massachusetts, said that a common tactic is the creation of “overlay districts� that leave existing zoning intact, but create target areas where smaller or higher-density lots can be used.

Skovron said that town officials statewide identify affordable housing as a top priority. The studies (which have a completion deadline of Dec. 31, 2009) will allow towns to move decisively when the economic climate improves.

“The economy will turn around at some point,� said Skovron. By planning now, “we’ll be able to create affordable housing on a much larger scale.� 

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