Just as there are those who think towns aren’t doing enough to encourage affordable housing within their borders, there are those who believe the state is overstepping its bounds by pushing the kind of development towns aren’t prioritizing on their own.

Then there's the newly returned state Rep. Aundré Bumgardner, D-Groton, a former Republican who calls for local control while at the same time recognizing the need for more affordable options in a district where he sees a lack of safe, quality housing for those who are barely scraping by financially.

These interests are converging in Hartford for this year’s legislative session to argue the merits of a bill that would incentivize the creation of affordable housing in ― and adjacent to ― places with regular train and bus routes.

The Open Communities Alliance reports there are 135,000 households in the lowest income brackets in serious need of affordable housing across the state. About 10,200 households of them are in southeastern Connecticut.

The bill encourages local zoning commissions to create areas for multifamily developments ― like apartment complexes or condominiums ― within a half-mile of train stations and some bus stops.

This past Wednesday, at a 14-hour-long public hearing on House Bill 6890 in front of the legislature’s Planning and Development Committee, Bumgardner told fellow members that he appreciates being part of the important discussion.

“I don’t think it necessarily needs to be one where there are two sides,” he said. “I think there's a lot of nuance here.”

The transit-oriented development concept is being promoted by DesegregateCT, a group formed to promote racial justice by examining the way people use land to live on, work on and get around.

It’s about planning at the state and local level to address conservation of resources and new development going forward. It’s about changing the emphasis on large lots and single-family homes in many suburban and rural towns that tend to exclude options like apartments or condominiums more people from more backgrounds can afford.

Communities that opt-in get the reward, or carrot, according to DesegregateCT Director Pete Harrison: expert guidance from state-level planning professionals and priority status for infrastructure-related grant funding in areas like water and sewer system expansion and the remediation of polluted sites.

Cities and towns that don’t participate get the punishment, or stick. That means they get no help from the state’s planning professionals and go to the bottom of the priority list for competitive grants.

New London, on the Shoreline East commuter rail line, would be required to allow 20-30 homes per acre around its train station. Towns with at least one regular bus route, which in New London County are Colchester, East Lyme, Griswold, Groton, Lisbon, Montville, New London, Norwich, Old Lyme and Waterford, would have to allow 15-20 units per acre.

The remaining towns in the county are considered “transit adjacent” because they border a town with rail or bus service. Qualifying transit-oriented developments in those towns must allow 10 units per acre in their downtown area.

‘Starts and ends’ with zoning

The transit oriented development bill also specifies how many units must be set aside as affordable to low income households. Municipalities with the strongest housing markets and resources like quality schools and available jobs must put 40-year deed restrictions on 20% of the units to keep them affordable, while towns in weak housing markets with fewer resources only have to set aside 5% of their units as affordable.

Then, it’s the job of the zoning commissions to create special districts in their regulations that spell out what kind of housing they want and where they want it.

Bumgardner told The Day this past week that the bill balances the need for local control and affordable housing.

“This bill starts and ends with planning and zoning approvals, which is critical,” he said.

No action had been taken on the bill as of Friday.

This year’s bill is a departure from the one pushed by DesegregateCT last year that would have required transit-oriented districts in 40 cities and towns with commuter rail or CTFastrak service, rather than incentivize them in almost all the cities and towns in Connecticut near train or bus lines.

The bill also calls for the revitalization of the Office of Responsible Growth created in 2006 by Gov. Jodi Rell to promote transportation, housing and environmental planning. A coordinator within the agency would be charged with advising local transit-oriented development efforts and be given discretion, in many cases, to determine whether they are in keeping with the bill’s intent.

Harrison, the DesegregateCT director, sat down about four hours into the public hearing, which was governed by a lottery system to choose the speaking order for in-person and remote testimony.

He blamed the “exclusionary land use regime” in municipalities throughout the state for fostering economic and racial segregation and delaying action on climate change.

He recognized the transit-oriented bill won’t solve all those issues.

“But we do believe that it can create incentives for development, for collaboration that we need between local governments and the state to break the sort of psychic funk that our state seems to be in,” he said.

Harrison told lawmakers “good faith” criticism to the previous iteration of the bill showed him local governments don’t like state mandates even if they want development and could use help making plans and getting grants.

But for those like state Rep. Doug Dubitsky, R-Chaplin, efforts to withhold grant funding from reluctant towns don’t stray far enough from a mandate.

“It’s sort of holding a gun to somebody’s head and saying ‘give me your money or I’ll shoot you,’” he said. “Giving the money is an opt-in. You have an option: Don’t give the money. But you’ll get shot.”

Under Dubitsky’s questioning, Harrison acknowledged the bill language was “a little bit ambiguous” in terms of the type of infrastructure funding that would be prioritized for towns with transit-oriented development districts.

“That wasn’t ideal. That wasn’t what we wanted. But hopefully we can work on that, and I would be happy to work with you on that later,” Harrison said.

He emphasized the bill would not change any town’s access to programs related to public health or tied to federal requirements.

Harrison provided The Day with a list of about a dozen grant programs he believes should fall under the bill, from a spate of brownfield remediation grants to the Main Street Investment Fund. He noted the bill would not affect participation in the popular Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP).

Those testifying against the bill and several Republican lawmakers also said the measure should not give so much latitude to the responsible growth coordinator to decide whether a zoning commission’s transit-oriented development district fits the bill.

The shoreline effect

Numerous people, including Bumgardner, talked about the effects of climate change on plans for development near train stations along the shoreline.

A report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released last year predicted a sea level rise of 10-12 inches by 2050. The Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation (CIRCA) guidance recommends communities plan for a rise of 20 inches in the same time frame.

“Every corner of our district is vulnerable to those rising sea levels,” the Groton and Stonington representative said. “Especially our transportation infrastructure.”

Harrison pointed to language in the bill that allows the responsible growth coordinator to exempt land identified by CIRCA as likely to flood within 30 years.

It’s a way to acknowledge that it probably doesn’t make sense to build in some places, according to Harrison: “In some places, it probably makes sense to retreat.”

In Groton, Bumgardner said he can see the legislation as a benefit if a study about extending Shore Line East commuter rail service from New London to Westerly comes to fruition with a stop somewhere along Route 1. The area is currently dominated by strip malls and large parking lots.

“In my eye, and I think the community’s eye, that is not the highest and best use for that property,” he said, calling for a mixed-use model that incorporates housing.

Harrison told The Day that Clean Water funding would not be affected by the bill the way his organization envisions it. But he said a sewer project like the one in Old Lyme can potentially benefit from additional funding options and assistance from the responsible growth coordinator if the town adds a transit-oriented district into its zoning regulations.

New London Mayor Michael Passero this week said financial support from the state is the key to development. He said existing programs drive developers away from New London by promoting construction in the suburbs. He has been critical of the scoring system for coveted Low Income Housing Tax Credits, which he says makes it difficult for developers to secure tax credit financing in the city.

“If they’re looking at anything that would put New London back in the pipeline for housing tax credits that would permit affordable housing developers to build in New London, then hey, I’m all for it,” he said.

Included in Gov. Ned Lamont’s biennial budget proposal released last month is $100 million over two years for the Housing Trust Fund, with an emphasis on multi-unit housing in downtown areas close to transportation.

e.regan@theday.com

Editor’s note: This version corrects the Connecticut Institute for Resilience & Climate Adaptation (CIRCA)’s recommended guidance for sea level rise.