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03/28/2017 04:31 PMThe Essex Planning Commission wants to know what you think about housing in town. Essex, along with many other towns in Connecticut, has spent the last couple years reevaluating the types of housing available for residents and what people’s needs are. In light of this, the Planning Commission, along with the Economic Development Commission, the Essex Housing Authority, and the Board of Selectmen, has created a survey to evaluate the public’s perspective on the housing situation in Essex.
According to Town Planner John Guszkowski, the issue of housing has been on the town’s mind for the last couple years, especially after the update to the comprehensive Essex Plan of Conservation and Development.
“When updating the plan, we realized that there was a need for a wider variety of housing needs,” said Guszkowski. “With our demographics we were running into a couple different problems. With an aging population, you see a rise in smaller housing needs.
“The higher cost of living also means that younger people can’t afford to enter town,” continued Guszkowski. “There are few apartments or multifamily housing units available in town.”
The survey is being launched now because, although the issue isn’t necessarily time-sensitive, the issue is more on peoples minds based on two recent projects: Essex Station and Essex Place. Essex Station is a 52-unit development, including some affordable housing units, which generated controversy throughout the zoning approval process. Essex Place is a housing authority project that will include both senior living and affordable units.
“These two projects essentially have added more multifamily housing in the last 18 months than has been added in the last 25 years,” said Guszkowski.
The survey is meant to gauge general public opinion on whether or not people think the town should be pursuing more of these projects, or focusing on a certain part of town in particular. It is available both online through the town’s website www.essexct.gov, and as a printed copy at Town Hall and the Essex and Ivoryton public libraries. The survey will be available for a month or two, depending on the volume of responses.
“It’s important to get as many responses as possible, to really get a feel for public opinion,” said Guszkowski. “This survey is going to be a major contributing factor to the basis for all land use decisions going forward.”