Milford PZB Rejects Massive Affordable Housing Complex

Round 1 for Milford residents who opposed a 257-unit affordable housing complex at 460 Bic Drive.

The Planning and Zoning Board voted 8-2 to reject Garden Homes Management, of Stamford, and its plans to construct the massive housing complex, the Milford Mirror reports.

But Attorney Thomas Lynch said he’s already preparing his appeal, which will inevitably lead to round 2. Because it’s an affordable housing application the onus is on Milford to prove why the proposal shouldn’t be constructed, and the only defense courts recognize is health, safety and wellness concerns.

Typically, courts side with the developers in these cases.

“It’s a short-term victory,” said resident John Maccone, who, like many other residents, expect the project to go forward on appeal, the New Haven Register reports.

PZB Chairman Ben Gettinger even commented that he assumes the case will be decided by the courts, the Register reports.

Zoning members have expressed density concerns, limited access for emergency vehicles, and a lack of sidewalks as concerns, the Register has reported.

In July the Milford Planning and Zoning Board unanimously rejected the developer’s original bid to construct a 257-unit affordable housing apartment complex along Bic Drive.

At the time the city was confident in its denial because the state’s General Assembly approved a moratorium on affordable housing projects for 2014 in Milford.

Well it’s a new year and developer Garden Homes Management, of Stamford, came back with the same exact application. But this time the city no longer has the affordable housing moratorium to use.

After the city denied the proposal in July, Garden Homes Management Owner Richard Freeman blasted the city questioning whether racism was the city’s real motivation against allowing affording housing applications in the city.

Freeman filed a legal appeal to the PZB’s denial but that was dropped and a new application was filed earlier this year, reports the Milford Mirror.

The proposal

Garden Homes Management, of Stamford, proposed 257-units along Bic Drive.

Of the 257 units, 78 are considered affordable. The company is planning a 53,617 square-foot “H” type building, which would feature about 60 studio apartments and 190 one-bedroom units.

The size of the units range from 500 square-feet for a studio and up to 750 square-feet for a one bedroom unit. Rents would range from $845 to $1,150 a month.

The development is proposed for 460 Bic Drive, which abuts the Bic Corp. office site and is adjacent to Subway’s World Headquarters and the Caswell Cove Condominium Complex.

The site is currently farmland and includes an existing house. Freedman has said in an email to Milford Patch that “the site is highly appropriate for the proposed use.”