In March, Westport’s 8-30g moratorium ends.
Four months from now, developers may again apply to include “affordable housing” in their plans. Some believe in it. Others use it as a ploy for approval of projects otherwise too big to pass zoning muster.
(8-30g is a state statute requiring at least 10% of a community’s housing stock to be “affordable,” according to a state median income formula. Westport would meet that standard if all affordable units were included. However, only those built after 1990 — when the regulation was adopted — are included.)
Meanwhile, an 8-30g project approved before the moratorium is moving through Westport’s approval pipeline.
122 Wilton Road — the 1.16-acre parcel bordered by Wilton Road, Kings Highway North, the Saugatuck River and Taylortown Salt Marsh — is the planned site of a 3-story, 19-unit, 20,078-square foot apartment complex.
122 Wilton Road is the site of a planned 3-story, 19-unit apartment complex.
In 2018, the state Appellate Court denied a plan by Garden Homes of Stamford to build a 7-story, 48-unit apartment complex.
The developer returned with the smaller, 19-unit proposal, which included an 8-30g component.
Again the P&Z rejected the request. The scale was still too big; there were still traffic and fire safety issues.
But Garden Homes appealed, and a court overruled the P&Z. According to 8-30g, affordability trumps traffic and safety concerns.
COVID pushed back the 122 Wilton Road schedule. But last month the Conservation Department issued a permit. Still ahead are permits from the Water Pollution Control Facility and Building Department.
But with the court’s okay, the project moves steadily ahead.