Clinton’s Planning & Zoning Commission voted on July 11 to accept two key applications that will rezone 8 Liberty Place as Affordable Housing District-1.

The applications—one to create a floating zone for the purpose of developing affordable housing, and the other to land the zone at 8 Liberty Place—were submitted on May 9 by Clinton Housing, Inc., a private nonprofit organization.

At a public hearing held July 5, a handful of Clinton residents objected to the applications on the grounds that the property had originally been considered for senior housing (there are at least 66 elderly Clinton residents on a waiting list), parking would be insufficient, population density and traffic would increase, and the development is not in close proximity to public transit.

Some also suggested the potential for a conflict of interest, as PZC Chairman Gary Bousquet is the son-in-law of applicant Arthur Isaacson, a member of Clinton Housing, Inc.

Bousquet disclosed his relationship to Isaacson prior to the applicant’s presentation and before public comments were received at the hearing.

“My father-in-law is a member of the corporation that is the applicant,” he said, adding “I have no financial interest in this whatsoever, and I will not be recusing myself.”

A Question of Fit

Clinton Housing, Inc., has proposed building a three-story, 21-unit mixed-income apartment building on the 3.24-acre parcel at 8 Liberty Place. To that end, its petition sought to change the existing zoning regulations in three ways. First, it would allow for multi-family dwellings containing more than two units. Second, it would extend the maximum lot coverage to 25 percent (under existing regulations, only 10 percent of the lot may be developed; the rest must be left as open space). It would also relax the regulations in a way that allows for only 32 parking spaces—fewer than the required minimum number for a building with 12, two-bedroom and nine, one-bedroom units.

“Forty-five spaces—I would argue that’s a little bit excessive, especially when half the units are one-bedroom,” said David Hoopes, an attorney for the applicant.

After concerns were raised at the public hearing about inadequate parking, however, Clinton Housing amended its application, expanding it to 42 parking spaces.

PZC Commissioner Alan Kravitz observed that while the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development calls for affordable housing, it does so in the context of proximity to Route 1 or transit-oriented development. Liberty Place is a cul-de-sac in a residential area off of Liberty Street.

“If you were going to establish a floating zone [for affordable housing], wouldn’t you at least want to encourage the location of those zones in areas where there are options other than private automobile ownership? And you’re building in an area where…very likely if there are two working persons in the household, they’re going to need two cars…?”

The applicant’s attorneys maintained that the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development encourages affordable housing throughout Clinton, not exclusively in areas with access to public transit. They added that the existing neighborhood, which includes single-family homes, duplexes, and apartment buildings, is a good fit for their development.

The new building would have six units, a lobby, building mechanicals, and a property manager’s office on the first floor. (There are no plans for a basement.) Eight units would make up the second floor, with an additional seven units on the third.

Conflict of Interest?

Objecting to Bousquet’s refusal to recuse himself from the hearing, resident Kirk Carr commented on the potential for an ethics complaint similar to that filed against former Clinton PZC commissioners Lisa MacDonald and Cynthia Watts. In 2011, MacDonald and Watts failed to recuse themselves from voting on a building application filed by Watts’s brother and for which the architect for the project was MacDonald’s husband. In March 2012, the two were found to be in violation of the town’s Code of Ethics.

The Code of Ethics contains the following language regarding conflicts of interest: “A town official, officer, or employee shall refrain from voting upon or otherwise participating in any matter on behalf of the municipality if he/she, or a member of his/her immediate family, has a financial or personal pecuniary interest in the transaction or contract, including but not limited to the sale of real estate, material, supplies or services to the municipality.”

“It’s said that those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it,” said Carr. “What Mr. Bousquet and Mr. Richards might not know is that simply being a relative, without the benefit of financial interest, can be considered a conflict, and it could end up being an ethics violation, which is very embarrassing and could ultimately lead to both of these parties not really being qualified to run for office again. I just warn you, it would be in your best interest to recuse yourself.”

Mark Richards, a part-owner of the property at 8 Liberty Place, sits on the board of directors for HOPE Partnership, a local nonprofit organization that promotes affordable housing development throughout the Connecticut shoreline and lower Middlesex County. He also chairs Clinton’s Zoning Board of Appeals.

Bousquet ultimately recused himself at the July 11 PZC meeting that followed, where the commission voted to accept the application.

Carr noted, however, that “recusing himself at the last minute under scrutiny may not have been enough,” stating, “A case could be made that the minute [Bousquet] participated as chairman in the public hearing after he specifically disclosed his relationship and publicly refused to recuse himself, his conflict of interest was established…Sadly, by refusing to recuse himself, he needlessly risked becoming the respondent in a conflict of interest complaint. As such complaints are confidential until the Ethics Commission finds probable cause, I am not at liberty to publicly speculate about even the existence of such a complaint.”

A video recording of the hearing is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN-l6qm_EZw.

The Need for Affordable Housing, Senior Housing

Like most Connecticut towns, Clinton has a shortage of affordable housing, which is typically concentrated in commercial and urban centers.

A state law passed in 1989 with the intent of reversing housing discrimination requires that 10 percent of a town’s total housing stock be affordable to families earning, in most cases, $64,000 a year or less, and affordable housing restricted to senior citizens does not count the same way that other income-restricted housing does.

Although the law has been in effect for 27 years, only 31 out of Connecticut’s 169 towns have met the 10 percent minimum. In towns that don’t meet that requirement—such as Clinton—under Section 8-30g of the Connecticut General Statutes, a developer can ask the courts to override local zoning regulations in order to construct affordable housing for working-class and low-income individuals. The law prevents an application for affordable housing from being denied unless there is evidence of a substantial threat to public interest (such as health or safety) that outweighs the need for affordable housing, and whatever public interest is threatened is something that can’t be addressed by modifications to the application.

To qualify as affordable housing, at least 30 percent of the units in a development must be rented to households making no more than 80 percent of the area’s median income, and those households must be spending no more than 30 percent of their household income on housing. In Clinton, which has a $68,225 median income, the affordable units could have monthly rent and utility bills of up to $1,516.

“Our application well exceeds the statutory minimum,” attorney Jeff Lawlor noted in his presentation to the PZC on July 11.

Attorneys for the applicant noted that affordable housing isn’t necessarily low-income housing but is designed to be affordable to working people making less than the area’s median income.

At the hearing, however, some members of the public said they were disappointed that land that had been identified as a potential site for senior housing in a town with a six-year waiting list for elderly residents wasn’t being used exclusively for that purpose.

First Selectman Bruce Farmer later confirmed that the number of seniors on the waiting list is more than 70, but noted that the new development would provide housing for at least some of those residents and emphasized the overall need for affordable housing in town.

“We can’t keep people in motels and run-down buildings,” he said. “We have to do something.”

Farmer contacted 9 Town Transit, whose 15 buses provide public transportation within and across a dozen towns—Chester, Clinton, Deep River, Durham, East Haddam, Essex, Haddam, Killingworth, Lyme, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, and Westbrook—including connections to New London, New Haven, and Middletown.

“They confirmed that they will make 8 Liberty Place a regular stop,” he said, “which will connect residents to town services and the train station.”

The Planning & Zoning Commission voted to approve the application to create a new AHD-1 zone at 8 Liberty Place, based in part on a report submitted by the town’s planning consultant that determined the rezoning is consistent with the Plan of Conservation and Development’s goal of increasing affordable and mixed-income housing in Clinton. The effective date of the rezoning is Aug. 15.