Developer Sues Greenwich P&Z Over Affordable Housing Project: Lawsuit

GREENWICH, CT — Local developer Mason Street Partners has filed a lawsuit against the Greenwich Planning & Zoning Commission, an action that stems from approval conditions placed on an affordable housing project in downtown Greenwich a couple months ago.

In December, the Planning & Zoning Commission granted approval for the project that called for the construction of two large residential buildings on lower Mason Street at the site of a former Honda dealership. In total, 75 residential units would be built, with 24 units classified as below-market, deed-restricted housing.

However, the commission placed several conditions on the approval, notably that the affordable units should be no less than 90 percent of the size of their comparable market-rate units.

Additionally, the commission said the site plans shall be modified to eliminate all non-residential uses. Retail space on the ground floor, accounting for about 4 percent of the total square footage in the project, was proposed for the project.

The lawsuit filed last month in State Superior Court in Hartford claims that the conditions go against state statute 8-30g, which promotes affordable housing around the state, and it seeks to invalidate the approval conditions imposed on the site on Dec. 17, 2024.

"The approval conditions both individually and collectively will have a substantial adverse impact on the viability of the affordable housing development, including by eliminating revenue from the accessory retail use; and increasing the minimum size of all affordable units, so as to increase the already substantial discount-to-market-price at which the affordable units will be sold, thereby decreasing the value of the market-rate units, whose prices provide the internal subsidy that facilitates the affordable unit price discounts," the lawsuit says.

Statute 8-30g ensures that municipalities cannot deny an affordable housing proposal unless there is a specific significant health or safety concern.

The commission wanted the project to be equitable and comparable so there was not a "rich door and a poor door," P&Z Chair Margarita Alban said during the Dec. 17, 2024, P&Z meeting.

The lawsuit claims that the "comparability" of the affordable and market-rate units is not a public health and safety concern, and that CT Supreme Court has held that comparability is a "matter of opinion" that cannot be a basis for denial.

"Condition No. 4, requiring the elimination of retail use or modification of the proposed buildings due to the presence of a small percentage of retail space, is not consistent with or supported by 8-30g caselaw regarding non-residential use as part of a 8-30g site plan, or by the law of accessory uses," the lawsuit claims.

Plans to redevelop the former Honda dealership site on lower Mason Street came about in 2021. The proposal was resubmitted several times over the years.

A message left for town attorney Barbara Schellenberg was not immediately returned Tuesday.