Donnelly, Dunn discuss zoning regulations for multi-family housing

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD -- Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Alan Donnelly says that First Selectman Steve Dunn has supported zoning changes that threaten single-family homes along Laurel Hill Road, a charge that Dunn stated is false.

Donnelly, who is the Republican nominee for a seat on the three-member Board of Selectman, said that Curtis Timmerman, now the chairman of the municipal Zoning Commission, is the other person primarily responsible for the zoning changes, which, Donnelly, claims has prompted residents on Laurel Hill Road to sell their homes because they are too close to large multi-family complexes. Dunn, a Democrat seeking another term in the November 4 election, stated that is not true.

In an interview with Brookfield Patch, Donnelly said, that in reading the Zoning code book, he “didn’t like” the 2017-2018 rewrite on Page 100, Section Five regarding the special districts.

Donnelly said, “There was something that I was suspicious about. “t didn’t make sense to me.”

He said that on Page 102 regarding the dimensions and setbacks there was the “odd” notation that there were setbacks of “none” for multi-family housing in the TCD – the Four Corners area of Federal Road and the TCDP - Laurel Hill Road.

Donnelly said four years ago there were 40 single-family homes on Laurel Hill Road. Now there are 34.

He exclaimed, “What was done was insidious and it was done purposely.”

Donnelly said that Dunn, who was first selectman during an earlier tenure, and Timmerman, an engineer, who was serving as a member of the Zoning Commission at the time were responsible for those changes.

Donnelly said that the Republicans, who had a majority on the Zoning Commission at that time “didn’t like writing codes and regulations.”

Donnelly said Timmerman “ was the guy who wrote that in there.”

Donnelly said Dunn and Timmerman wanted to “force all the single-family homes out there to sell, which is starting to happen now.”

He added, Dunn, who is seeking a fifth non-consecutive term as first selectman in the November 4 election, and Timmerman “wanted more multi-family housing.” Timmerman, an unaffiliated voter, is running for a seat on the Planning & Zoning Commission in the November 4 election.

Donnelly asserted that residents in that area don’t want to live next to huge housing complexes with zero setbacks.

He declared, “I think it is totally unfair to the residents that live there. If they can do it in one part of town, they can do it in any part of town. The only way to change that is to change the regulations. It had to be updated.”

In an e-mail interview with Brookfield Patch, Dunn, with some content provided by Timmerman, responded to Donnelly ‘s comments:

Donnelly said in reading the Zoning code book, he “didn’t like” the 2017-2018 rewrite on Page 100, Section Five regarding the special districts.

Dunn: Any resident can petition the Zoning Board to make changes to our zoning laws if they feel they should be changed. I am not aware of anyone asking the Zoning Board to change the Town Center District zoning regulations. I am sure that Alan, as Chairman of the ZBA, could request changes to our zoning and the Zoning board would consider them carefully. The Regulation Rewrite of 2018 did not change anything of substance in the Town Center District zoning as it was too soon to know how the existing prior regulations would develop in actuality. Those were existing regulations drafted back in 2013 and 2014 as I understand the history of what was done under prior administrations.

Furthermore, the rewrite that took place between 2016 to 2018 at which point the Zoning Commission had, to be fair, a Republican majority (Kukk as chair). The Zoning Commission held public hearings on the proposed updates and took into consideration public comments when finalizing the regulations.

Also, be aware that any changes to either the Plan of Conservation and Development or our Zoning laws require that public hearings be held to review and gather input from residents.

Donnelly said that on Page 102 regarding the dimensions and setbacks there was the “odd” notation that there were setbacks of “none” for multi-family housing.

Dunn: The 0’ sideline setbacks apply to all non-single family home buildings as the Town Center District was a ‘village’ concept and 0’ sideline setbacks created a more intimate setting, especially on Federal Road. This zoning is very typical in downtowns. Examples include Bethel and New Milford downtowns. To characterize it to be done for multi-family housing is incorrect. Additionally, there are fire and building codes that are scrupulously followed and if needed, those sideline setbacks would be increased for safety.

Donnelly said that for zones R-20, R-40, R-60 and R-80, there are dimensions for pools, additions to homes and other options.

He added that in the TOWN CENTER DISTRICT – Four Corners – and the TOWN CENTER DISTRICTP – Laurel Hill Road – developers of multi-family housing do not have to provide setbacks.

Dunn: On Multi-Family Housing, I asked the Zoning Commisson in January of 2024, a month after I took office, to consider passing a moratorium on Multi Family Housing while the new Plan of Conservation and Development was being written. The Zoning Commission did pass a moratorium that is in effect until December of 2026.

Oddly enough, in discussing limiting the growth of multi-family housing, it was the Zoning Board of Appeals, that Mr. Donnelly chairs, that gave a variance for more apartments on 20 Station Road in the Town Center District. They approved an increase from 36 apartments that were allowed under our zoning laws to allowing over 50 apartments to be built on 20 Station Road. That is outrageous given the size of the property. Even more concerning, they also approved the developer’s request to eliminate commercial space on the ground floor and replace it with apartments. That went directly in the face of the town’s desire to have only commercial stores on the ground floors of all buildings in the town center. The town has fought hard to ensure that we build a real town center for our residents and that means having stores on the ground floors of all buildings. Allowing apartments on the ground floor in a town center is not what anyone wants to see in the town center. Does anyone want to walk down the street in our downtown and look into someone’s apartment?

The reason the Zoning Board of Appeals gave for allowing the almost doubling of apartments and the elimination of commercial space at 20 Station Road is that the developer claimed a hardship of the site being “contaminated”. What they should have done is deny the application because the hardship was not real in that the developer knew, and the Zoning Board of Appeals should have known , that the Town was getting a grant to eliminate all of the contamination on the site and by the time the developer put the first shovel in the ground, the hardship they claimed would not exist. The site would have no contamination when they actually started building.

Donnelly said that four years ago there were 40 single-family homes on Laurel Hill Road. He said there are now 34, due to the “insidious” rewrite of the zoning code.

Dunn: As previously discussed, and if you do the research the Town Center District regulations that exist now were written back in 2013/2014 under a prior administration well before we took office. But even if we had different zoning laws back then that prohibited multi-Family housing, those 6 homes are where the 8-30g apartments and Incentive Housing apartments were built and the Zoning Commission and the Town no ability to prevent their construction (around 2014/2015) as developers used Federal laws combined with Connecticut’s 8-30g laws to bypass our all of our zoning laws to build whatever they wanted. When I took office in 2015 one of the first things I did was get the State to give the town an 8-30G moratorium that allowed the town to stop these developments that bypassed our zoning laws. We then applied for and received a second moratorium on 8-30g housing. Brookfield is the only municipality in CT to be awarded two moratoriums.

Donnelly indicated that the people responsible for the rewriting were First Selectman Steve Dunn and Zoning Commission Chairman Curtis Timmerman.

Dunn: This is not correct. The zoning laws Mr. Donnelly is discussing were drafted in 2013/14 and they were not changed in the 2018 update. Neither Mr. Timmerman nor I were in office when these zoning laws were adopted.

Donnelly said they wanted to “force all the single-family homes out there to sell, which is starting to happen now.”

He added, Dunn and Timmerman “wanted more multi-family housing.”

Dunn: If you review the facts outlined above, this is simply incorrect. As proof, I asked for and the Zoning Board approved a multi-family housing moratorium last year.

Residents in that area don’t want to live next to huge housing complexes with zero setbacks, according to Donnelly.

Donnelly declared, “I think it is totally unfair to the residents that live there. If they can do it in one part of town, they can do it in any part of town. The only way to change that is to change the regulations. It had to be updated.”

Dunn: A simple reading of our current Plan of Conservation and Development and the draft one being adopted later this year clearly states that any high-density housing should be restricted to the Town Center District and commercial corridor and to specifically not support multi-family housing in residential zones in order to preserve the rural/suburban character of the town, among other reasons.

As the guided document to the town’s vision, the Plan of Conservation and Development, with the public’s input, provides a very specific blueprint and outlines to the Zoning Commission on how to change the regs to implement the vision and goals. And, in fact, our current zoning does not allow multi-family housing in residential zones.

We believe that our zoning regulations are too important to be politicized, and I hope the Alan will be able to continue working cooperatively and maintain the good relationship we have developed over the past two years.

To recap

• The TOWN CENTER DISTRICT regs that Mr. Donnelly is speaking about were drafted in 2013-2014 under a prior administration and the 2018 Reg rewrite did not make changes to those regs, which was a Republican majority commission at the time.
• It was the current ZONING COMMISSION that actually implemented a MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING moratorium, and the First Selectman was in support of it and requested we consider a moratorium be put in place.
• The current PLAN OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT and the future PLAN OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT both clearly do NOT want MULTI-FAMILY HOUSINGs outside the TOWN CENTER DISTRICT and commercial corridor to keep our residential zones like they are.
• The current Zoning Board of Appeal, chaired by Mr. Donnelly, actually voted to give a variance to 20 Station Road to ADD more apartments and eliminate stores on the ground floor. 20 Station Road is in the TOWN CENTER DISTRICT.
• Some of those current apartment complexes on Laurel Hill Drive were either 8-30g (Affordable Housing) or Incentive Housing (that was the result of a lawsuit settlement). The town had little to no control over approving the projects and filed suit to oppose them. This happened back in 2014/2015. Steve Dunn fixed that for the future by getting two moratoriums on 8-30g housing.
• There is no coordination, nor should there be, between the First Selectman’s office and the Zoning Commission. The Zoning Commission is an independent commission that strives to remain non-political. The First Selectman does, however, have the same rights as all of our residents to request a change in zoning laws and will continue to exercise that right.

Resources:

Interview with Alan Donnelly, Patch.com, on Saturday, August 23, 2025.

E-mail interview with Steve Dunn, Patch.com, on Thursday, August 28, 2025.