Lyme ― Efforts to lay a foundation for multi-unit housing in the town’s zoning regulations continue as officials gauge where affordable apartments might be built.

Zoning enforcement officer Ross Byrne this week said town attorney Michael Carey has been charged with devising the language for new special permit regulations based on recommendations from the Affordable Housing Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission.

The proposal is intended to be flexible enough to apply to most of the town while giving the Planning and Zoning Commission authority to ensure each proposal is appropriate for the land and its neighbors, according to documents outlining the commissions’ recommendations.

Carol House, Affordable Housing Commission co-chairwoman, said on Friday the group has been working for a year to identify possible locations for affordably priced houses or apartments and potential funding sources.

She said members of the commission’s land availability subcommittee have been talking to various property owners “and just asking about their property and planting the seed for whether it might be appropriate to be sold or donated to the town for affordable housing.”

House declined to say if there are any properties coming up for sale soon.

She emphasized that the town needs to update its regulations to allow multi-family units before the town can make any offers on a place to put them.

The recommendations would require all units in a development to be affordable by state standards and limit applicants to governmental or nonprofit organizations. Affordability guidelines apply to households making less than 80% of the area’s median income, with rent limits set on a sliding scale by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In Lyme, a family of four making $89,840 would pay no more than $2,386 per month for a three-bedroom rental.

The special permit would apply to the two most rural zones that cover most of the town. Minimum lot sizes there range from 2 to 3 acres.

A maximum of 20 units, with no more than four per building, would be allowed in an affordable housing development as long as there are no more than three units per acre.

The proposal gives the Planning and Zoning Commission the discretion to require the units be set back further from the road than usual and to limit the number of units based on topography, location, density of the surrounding neighborhood and the site plan.

House said adding a special permit regulation is a “faster, better, easier” way to address housing in town than the floating zone framework previously recommended by the Affordable Housing Commission.

The previous proposal called for a floating zone allowing two-bedroom units ranging from 900 to 1,500 square feet. Consisting of freestanding homes, duplexes, or townhouses, the developments would have to be at least 5 acres to qualify.

At the time the floating zone proposal was made more than a month ago, members said the Affordable Housing Commission was looking at funding sources so the town could purchase roughly 30 acres. The land would be owned by the town but managed by an established affordable housing developer, according to the plan.

Byrne said the provisions in the special permit proposal are meant to ensure affordable housing is spread across town.

He said the town attorney will produce a draft special permit regulation within a month. If the Planning and Zoning Commission votes to proceed, Byrne will schedule a public hearing. State statute specifies a public hearing must be held within 65 days.

e.regan@theday.com