Planning Commission Hearing May 10, 2016

Planning Commission Meeting May 10, 2016

I am here to speak to the issue of a 23 lot affordable housing subdivision under CGS 8-30g on the property located at 80 Climax Road.

The Statute for affordable housing as I understand, requires a 40 year restriction on housing set asides. Why restrict the time to 40 years as an arbitrary date? In 1990 the Town had used land set aside under the Eno Trust for the “poor of Simsbury,” through the actions of the State and developed 50 units as the Eno Farms Affordable Housing complex. There were deed restrictions that were not adhered to leaving the complex as a fraudulent operation and in litigation for years. The land given to the Town under the Eno Trust encompasses Eno Farms Affordable Housing, the Town dump, the Community Farm, Virginia Connolly homes and the Owen Murphy apartments. The only complexes that adhere to the deed are the elderly housing complexes under the Housing Authority. In this case restrictions placed on the deed were ignored. CHFA, the owner of Eno Farms does not have clear title to several properties and is still in litigation and the property cannot be sold.

An age restricted complex was developed around 1970 at Knoll Lane. These restrictions became so cumbersome for the homeowner to sell the property that all restrictions were voided and now the community has unrestricted housing. There are numerous other developments where restrictive components were eliminated as too restrictive to sell.

The restrictions placed under the Affordable Housing Act have unintended consequences of being too restrictive. Past history in Simsbury has shown that trying to experiment with legislation for Affordable Housing and deed restrictive property place not only burdens on the owners of the property but the town that administers these restrictions. Land use has always had cycles of bubbles of increase in development and lower demand that lowers the value of the property. Presently there are many homes in Simsbury that are affordable due to market value without restrictions.

The Affordable Housing Act does not benefit the community but increases the wealth of the developer through increased density. The Affordable Act should be repealed and the marketplace should determine the value of property. Simsbury presently has many homes that are below the affordable housing level. The burden of compliance to the Act placed on the town and the homeowner is unreasonable. Simsbury has had testimony in the past that the owners of restrictive housing were unable to sell their homes because banks would not supply the loans. The town had lifted the restriction on a home in the development owned by Ensign-Bickford,

It is my opinion that the Affordable Housing Act is flawed and should be repealed through legislation. I would ask that the Planning Commission require monthly reports on all the activity of the development and the number of people purchasing the affordable units. The burden of proof of compliance should be required by the developer and homeowners over the years..