UPDATE: Milford to Appeal Judge's Affordable Housing Decision

UPDATE 4:15 p.m. Mayor Benjamin G. Blake told the Milford Mirror that the city is definitely appealing the judge’s ruling.

Original post: In 2013, Pond Point Avenue residents celebrated the Planning and Zoning Board’s rejection of a 23-unit affordable housing development at 86 Pond Point Avenue.

Now two years later, a land-use judge in Hartford recently sided with the developer Colberg LLC, and has approved the proposed development.

Milford officials have about two weeks left to appeal the case to the Appellate Court, according to a representative with ties to the developer.

The judge ruled that the city needed to base its rejection on more than local residents not liking the project, especially over traffic concerns, the representative with ties to the developer said.

Hundreds of residents opposed the development in 2013 as locals said the development would only worsen drainage issues in an already flood-prone area, add to congestion on a busy street and harm wildlife on the mostly-wooded 2.7-acre site, according to a past Patch article.

At the time representatives for the developer, Colberg LLC, said the installation of a retention pond would mitigate flooding and actually improve draining in the area, traffic impact would be minimal and there are no endangered species on the site.

Nearby residents also voiced concerns over decreasing property values, fears that a spokesman for the developer at the time called “overblown,” according to a prior Milford Patch article.

The affordable housing state statute allows developers to bypass local zoning regulations so long as at least 30 percent of the proposed units are deemed “affordable” for households earning less than the state’s median income, which was $54,000 in 2013.

If a local zoning board wants to deny such an application, it must prove its health and safety concerns outweigh the need for affordable housing. In Milford, the figure is just above 6 percent.