MONROE, CT — A bill proposed by the Connecticut State Legislature is meant to address homelessness and a housing shortage by allowing developers to build multifamily housing in commercial zones “as of right” — avoiding the usual vetting and approval process by town land use boards and public scrutiny from hearings.
First Selectman Terry Rooney also expressed concerns over a “fair share” component of House Bill 5002, in which the legislature made an initial request for Monroe to build 326 more affordable units to “remain actively considered for” state funding.
Rooney said H.B. 5002: An Act Concerning Housing and the Rights of Homeless Persons overlooks whether housing is compatible with the surrounding area.
“Currently, the town has a limited amount of multifamily residential zones and H.B. 5002 will expand the multi-family development option beyond what the town historically deemed consistent with our land use goals,” he said.
Currently, a housing application is discussed over a series of meetings with town land use staff, before hearing dates are scheduled by the Inland Wetlands and Planning and Zoning commissions. This allows commissioners to see the details, evaluate the plan in accordance with state a local laws and ask questions. Hearings also give residents the opportunity to raise any concerns, according to Rooney.
Amid growing opposition from Monroe and other municipalities across the state, Gov. Ned Lamont is considering calling lawmakers into a special session to make revisions to House Bill 5002, before deciding to veto or sign it into law, according to a report by the Connecticut Mirror.
State Rep. Tony Scott, R-Monroe, and State Sen. Jason Perillo, R-21st, both made statements against House Bill 5002, and Perillo and Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, D-22nd, opposed it in a roll call vote on May 31.
In a recent press release, Perillo acknowledged the need for more affordable housing, but criticized the bill for its approach.
“We absolutely need more affordable housing,” he said. “But this bill fails in both substance and process. More top-down mandates will just give developers more power to use and abuse our neighborhoods. It’s time to go back to the drawing board and craft real, community-driven solutions.”
“A real solution is to incentivize the development of unused and often blighted properties,” Perillo said. “These properties exist across many of our communities and are perfectly situated for creative redevelopment of residential housing.”
Scott said the bill mandates that 30 towns, based on population, must have a fair rent commission staffed by volunteers. “My hometown of Monroe has vacancies on both Republican and Democrat sides of the aisle,” he said.
Another contentious portion of the bill is for direct cash payments to be sent to a certain group of renters under a new pilot program, Scott said, adding the cash payments would be made to eligible state Rental Assistance Program participants, rather than sending them a housing choice voucher.
“Voucher money goes directly to the housing provider, which has a level of accountability and oversight,” he said.
Scott said the Fair Share provision “goes down a path that mandates outlandish affordable housing unit targets for our municipalities.”
“This burden is not just a number on a piece of paper,” he said. “Easton is part of my district, and this methodology says it should add 4,200 units. A town of 7,500 people. If you look over these 169 numbers, you’ll find a lot of embarrassing numbers that make those figures not worth the paper they’re on.”
“I’m disappointed by the mandates on towns in my district that are included in this bill,” Scott said. “I’m frustrated that it fails to truly address the growing problem of homelessness facing our state.”
Perillo said, “H.B. 5002 is a top-down mandate rushed through behind closed doors, threatening local planning autonomy and undermining public trust. We have seen state laws on affordable housing already fail neighborhoods in Shelton and Stratford.”
He mentioned projects on Mohawk Drive, Shelton Avenue and Oronoque Trail as examples of failed mandates.
“These practices create entitled developers, not empowered communities,” Perillo said.
Among the senator’s key concerns are:
- The elimination of a local zoning authority, removing control from municipal leaders who understand their communities.
- Relaxed parking requirements and high-density mandates without necessary investments in transportation or infrastructure.
- Increased power for large-scale developers, enabling them to bypass local input and potentially exploit neighborhoods.
“Connecticut’s towns are not one-size-fits-all,” Perillo said. “From urban centers to rural areas, each community faces unique challenges. Local leaders, not Hartford, are best positioned to make land use decisions.”
Gadkar-Wilcox shared her thoughts on H.B. 5002 with constituents in a post on her Facebook page.
“I want to emphasize that Connecticut does have a housing crisis that needs to be fixed,” she said. “We do need to increase our housing supply, find ways to make housing more affordable for everyone, and reduce homelessness. These are laudable goals, and I appreciate the efforts of the chairs of the Housing Committee to address them with this bill.”
However, the senator said she has heard “serious and valid concerns” from many constituents in her district of Bridgeport, Trumbull and Monroe. She also discussed the bill with Bridgeport City Council members and listened to the concerns of voters, first selectmen and former state representatives.
“What I heard was that while action on housing is necessary, too many aspects of the bill took a one-size-fits-all approach — with too much discretion being given to developers and very few mechanisms for cities, towns — and even the state — to object even when the development is not designated for affordable housing,” Gadkar-Wilcox said.
Gadkar-Wilcox said it makes sense to reduce parking requirements for developments near convenient public transportation, but added, “one size does not fit all.”
“In many cases, allowing developers to build large apartment complexes with inadequate parking will burden the larger neighborhoods with more cars than the street parking can handle, producing traffic congestion and even raising safety concerns,” she said.
The senator said she hopes her concerns, especially parking, will be taken seriously going forward.
A letter to the governor
The Monroe Town Council’s Planning and Zoning, Public Works and Parks and Recreation subcommittee met last week and the full Council will have a special meeting at Town Hall tonight (Monday) at 6 p.m. to decide whether to issue a statement to the governor about H.B. 5002.
“There appears to be an appetite on Town Council to request that the governor veto the recently passed legislation,” Town Council Chairman Jonathan Formichella told The Sun on Sunday.
If the Town Council moves forward, it will be the second statement from the town on the bill. Last Tuesday, the first selectman sent the following letter to Lamont and posted a copy on the Town of Monroe’s Facebook page:
Governor Lamont,
This correspondence letter has been written in concern of the bill “HB 5002” recently passed by the Senate and House of Representatives. My office, Town Council and the Monroe community are aware that this legislation is being carefully reviewed by you, with a potential to Veto.
Governor, as I speak for the Monroe community and my administration, it is imperative that you be aware that Monroe’s Planning and Zoning Department and Commission initiatives, based on historic data, has supported affordable units in all of our recently approved projects. Although many of these approvals are still yet to be constructed due to State DEEP delays and funding concerns, we anticipate many approved projects coming to fruition in due time.
As I read HB 5002, it has become immediately apparent to me that the allowance of residential units on our existing commercial zones “STATE MANDATED AS OF RIGHT” is an unnecessary over reach in Monroe. Monroe is uniquely impacted in this legislation as we have developable parcels in our commercial zones that if “MANDATED AS OF RIGHT” for residential uses will have the following impacts:
- Currently Monroe is experiencing space needs in our schools and the additional mandated
family units will put a pressure on our enrollment the district cannot accommodate. - Traffic on our main roads are already a significant concern and many vehicles and trucks are traveling side roads through neighborhoods creating passionate public vociferation, as these new traffic patterns have not been well received. Encouraging high density residential development in our Town which lacks transit infrastructure, exacerbates traffic congestion challenges rather than mitigate them.
- The population increase will put unnecessary pressure on our emergency services, as our EMS and Fire departments are resident volunteers and are typically very busy with current call volume.
- The Historic nature of Monroe will be significantly threatened as we currently already struggle to hold on to Monroe’s remaining colonial New England charm.
- Monroe relies primarily on septic systems with no access to sewers; providing significant
barriers to complying with the increased residential development. Compliance with the bills’ mandates may be technically infeasible without considerable investments in new utility infrastructure.
Governor, I ask that you read this legislation with an extremely critical eye and understand that zoning is not a one size fits all. In my humble opinion, a blanket state mandated bill such as “HB 5002” is clearly not a quality use of legislative power.
Both of our local elected Senators and our State Representative have opposed this bill and from what I am seeing, this is being rejected in a bipartisan manner by not only state legislators, but Mayors and First Selectperson(s) as well.
Thank you for your attention and Veto consideration of HB5002,
Terrence P. Rooney,
First Selectman
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