saddleridgeproject-blog
The Saddle Ridge Proposal
“Anything that will so greatly and permanently alter the town I love should not be undertaken without first determining, with no uncertainty, that it is in fact, the majority will of the residents.” Dan Magner, resident.
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The Saddle Ridge Proposal
Strides in the direction of progress have been made in the longstanding fight for affordable housing in the quiet town of Easton, Conn. The proposal, titled Saddle Ridge, passed in a 5-0 vote by the Planning and Zoning commission on March 13, the first step of many on the road to moving the town forward.
The decision took months of debating, pages of conditions that must be met by developers, and numerous meetings of the Planning and Zoning commission. And while the project was approved only after months of exhaustive planning and conditions, residents still have the right to counter the decision in court, a right many plan to make use of.
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Bordering the roads of Sport Hill, Route 136, Cedar Hill, and Silver Hill, the site is 110 acres, not including the 14 acres of a neighboring horse farm. Of the 66 housing units that will be built, only 20 will actually be affordable housing. This includes nine single-family units and 11 duplex units. Like the rest of the town, each lot will have its own septic tank and water well, but a significant difference, and point of contention to those who oppose the project, is that each lot will only be one acre. This will be discussed further under Easton’s zoning laws.
Additionally, the units will be deed-restricted for 40 years, meaning that the community has a homeowner’s association that has rules and regulations regarding the look of the neighborhood, and how the land is used. This condition will essentially keep Saddle Ridge from throwing off the aesthetic of the town, so that the homes keep with the general look of the rural aesthetic of Easton.
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Meeting Minutes
Minutes of Special Meeting February 23, 2017
Minutes of Regular Meeting February 27, 2017
Minutes of Special Meeting March 6, 2017
Minutes of Regular Meeting March 13, 2017
Minutes of Special Meeting March 13, 2017
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About the Town
Affordable housing has been attempted, and fought, in Easton multiple times in recent years. Many residents feel that affordable housing will not only lower the value of their own homes and property, but that the project will open the floodgates to big businesses, corporations and complexes, of which the town has none. In fact, the most recent business was established around 1940, so suffice it to say that longtime residents of the town are reluctant to introduce a project of such large proportions. Even today, there are debates about building a town center, with shops and restaurants, which residents are staunchly against, shooting down every proposal and idea that could move the town into the future.
The town of Easton is unique in many regards, its rural, farm-town aesthetic being a big pull for residents looking to escape busy streets and corporate businesses. With only 7500 residents, one traffic light, more than 20 operational farms, and just two non-government businesses, Easton has the charm of a town that has hardly aged in the few hundred years since its establishment. Additionally, the reservoir in the town provides water to the majority of Fairfield County, so most of the town is owned by the Aquarion Water Company. This is a major point of contention with the residents who oppose this project, because protecting the public water supply means protecting 400,000 people.
“Growth is a part of a community,” said Lori Cochran-Dougall, resident of the town. “I believe strongly in growth but I believe in doing it with purpose, not on a whim. Our community could celebrate its strongest attributes (nature, open space, farming, good schools, and safety) and use this to shape the growth we see here in Easton.”
#saddle ridge#easton#connecticut#local#news#journalism#affordable housing#politics#rural town#farm town#fairfield county
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Zoning Laws of Easton
Easton has very strict zoning laws for the properties, in order to preserve the town’s natural beauty and numerous acres of undeveloped land. The town is split, with the southern end of town consisting of three-acre lots, and the northern end of town having one-acre lots. Saddle Ridge, situated just north of the center of town, is set to have only one acre per lot, leaving a third of the project with undeveloped land, but causing an inconsistency in the strict zoning of the town. In order for Saddle Ridge to be built, the zoning laws have to be revisited and revised.
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Connecticut Affordable Housing
“Expanding Connecticut’s stock of affordable housing is a smart solution to an important problem our state faces,” writes Lisa Tepper Bates, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. 8-30g is the list of housing regulations for the state of Connecticut. It includes deeds, restrictions, certifications, and affordability plans. 8-30g is essentially the rules and regulations to which affordable housing must conform, to ensure that every aspect of a project has been thoroughly addressed. However, because these are just baseline rules, they do not go into the specificity of town regulations
Joseph R. Holstead, associate analyst for affordable housing programs in Connecticut, writes, “By law, a housing unit is affordable if it costs an occupant no more than one third of his or her annual income, where the income is less than or equal to the area median income (AMI) for the municipality where the housing is located, as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).”
As is the case with any affordable housing eligibility, the cost of living is determined by one’s income, but also by the income of the homes in the area. The process by which this is found is called the Area Median Income, or AMI. There are a number of programs that conduct this process, including Section 8, HOME, LIHTC, Section 515, 202 and 811.
Resident Frank Pagliaro says that affordable housing is a misnomer. “Affordable to whom? It’s based on the local housing stock. If the average price in Easton is $500,000, the most affordable housing you live in might be something like $200,000, which is in no way near affordable for people that have lower income.”
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Conditions
The Saddle Ridge project must meet numerous conditions, in addition to the baseline conditions that are mandatory for most affordable housing projects, such as the environmental and monetary impact on the town. While every affordable housing project in the state must comply by the rules of 8-30g, the developers of this particular project are taking extra steps to ensure that every major concern of the residents is addressed and taken care of.
The conditions, by category, follow.
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Building
A concern of some residents is that the engineers and developers will not follow the regulations of the town and state, and that the project will end up hurting the town. To settle these concerns, the developer will hire an independent site engineer to oversee the development on behalf of the town, to ensure that the engineer is unbiased and impartial, and will better follow the rules of the town and the state.
Tony Ballaro, the building official for the town, could not be reached for comment.
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Environmental Impact
In Easton, the Conservation Commission acts as the local inland wetlands regulatory agency. With a modified application, the P&Z has the latitude to determine if a development plan is essentially the same as a previous application and therefore doesn’t require a new inland wetlands application.
Resident Grant Monsarrat spoke out at the April 6 Board of Selectman meeting, and told the selectmen the P&Z “has bypassed our Conservation Commission and approved the project unilaterally.” He said that, based on the minutes of a recent Conservation Commission meeting, that commission felt the P&Z action “usurped Conservation’s statutory authority while expecting them to take responsibility for enforcement.”
A major worry is the environmental impact on the town itself, and regarding the protection of the public water supply watershed. Easton’s reservoir is used by the county, and because the Aquarion Water Company controls most of the town, residents want to be sure that the water will not be affected in any negative way. One way to make sure that the environment is being protected is to limit the amount of water that will drain into the ground. Impervious coverage, which include roads and buildings, will be limited to 13% of each lot of Saddle Ridge, meaning water will not drain into the ground.
But despite these conditions, many residents still feel uneasy and distrustful. Verne Gay, president of Citizens for Easton, expresses her anger about the lack of conditions to protect the watershed. “We don’t quite understand why our own zoning commission has ignored an extenuating factor in this instance: Intensive housing developments such as this put the watershed at risk and ultimately public health as well. All manner of so-called “safety nets” or “conditions” can’t begin to redress this blunt fact nor prevent similar developments in the future.”
Among those who spoke out in favor of protecting the watershed was former Easton first selectman William Kupinse, who is also a member of the aforementioned group Citizens for Easton. “No matter the conditions, the intensive development of this property in the watershed between two reservoirs which service over 400,000 residents in Fairfield County should not have been approved. Even if the project remains affordable and even if the developer accepts all of the conditions and attempts to meet them, there is no guarantee that the watershed will be protected.”
Resident Janet Wainright voiced her own concerns. “P&Z understood there was a risk to the public drinking-water supply, and instead of denying the application, chose to add conditions in an attempt to safeguard it, when there is no guarantee that the developer will adhere to these conditions. This sets a dangerous precedent. I sincerely hope that Aquarion intercedes to protect the purity of our precious public drinking-water supply.”
Another resident, Grant Monsarrat, offered his suggestion to the Board. “Pass an ordinance that requires the approval of Easton’s Conservation Commission/Inland Wetlands Agency for any matters of construction within, or otherwise affecting, Easton’s wetlands areas.”
The Conservation Commission had no comment when interviewed, and redirected questions elsewhere.
#saddle ridge#easton#connecticut#local#news#journalism#affordable housing#politics#environment#environmental impact#public water#public safety#conservation
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Cost to Build
Perhaps the biggest concern Easton residents may have is how much the project is going to cost. Therefore, a reserve fund for the project will be established, which will pay for inspections, maintenance and repairs, and will have enough money to cover two years’ worth of expenses. The site engineer will determine how much money goes into the reserve fund, as their professional opinion will decide.
Additionally, fund updates must be provided to the town four times a year, to ensure that the project is not exceeding its budget or spending town money on unnecessary expenses. And if the required work is not being done by the homeowner’s association or the developer, the town reserves the right to access the reserve fund in order to complete the work with their own developers and engineers.
Because the rules of 8-30g are so strict, the developer and HOA must show that state affordability plan rules are met when renting or selling affordable units. Units are also to be built in each development phase and dispersed throughout the site, on their own acre and with their own well and septic tanks.
Kupinse expressed his doubts regarding the phases of the project. “The application as submitted proposed a phased construction plan in which the first phase would have contained no affordable housing. While the zoning commission may have ‘conditioned out’ this phasing, one does wonder whether the intent of the application was to make a quick profit on the first phase and not have to worry about phasing in the affordable units.”
Christine Calvert, the finance director for the town, could not be reached for comment.
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Valuation of Homes
Teresa Rainieri, CCMA and assessor, when asked for her professional opinion, simply said, “Oh, I don’t have any. Nope.” She said she did not know how valuation of homes and properties would be affected because “this is a first for us.”
“Any addition to a town brings up the revenue, but I don’t know.”
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The Last Word
Whether the Saddle Ridge project will take flight, or burn out like every affordable housing project that came before it, is ultimately up to judges and residents. The more outspoken residents, and the Citizens for Easton, will undoubtedly fight the proposal with every bit of arsenal they can muster, as is their right as residents of the town, while contractors and builders find a middle ground that can appease all parties.
“Through our work, we see every day the transformative power of housing,” says Tepper Bates. “To ensure that our residents have safe and decent places to live and can be productive contributors to Connecticut, we need more affordable housing.”
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