This is part three of a series on affordable housing in Westport.

Darien’s first and largest 8-30g development, Everly Darien (formerly Avalon) - Photo Meghan Muldoon
Darien’s first and largest 8-30g development, Everly Darien (formerly Avalon) – Photo Meghan Muldoon

By Meghan Muldoon

WESTPORT–It has been more than three decades since Connecticut enacted its affordable housing statute, known as 8-30g, and the law continues to reshape suburban communities in Fairfield County. 

Passed in 1989 to address a shortage of affordable housing, 8-30g gives developers unusual leverage: if less than 10 percent of a town’s housing stock qualifies as affordable, developers can bypass many local zoning rules so long as 30 percent of a proposed project’s units are deed-restricted as affordable.

In developers’ favor

Local planning and zoning commissions can deny such applications only if they prove that the project poses a serious public health or safety risk.  That high bar, critics argue, stacks the deck in developers’ favor. In many communities, the law is seen as a blunt instrument: effective at forcing some housing, but disruptive in how it plays out.

Since its enactment, 8-30g has unquestionably spurred the creation of affordable housing In Connecticut, where the cost of living remains among the highest in the nation. According to state housing data, thousands of units have been built statewide that likely would not have been approved under traditional zoning. Large-lot single-family requirements, strict density limits and restrictive parking mandates have historically priced out lower- and middle-income households. 

Only 28 municipalities 

But progress toward the 10 percent threshold remains slow: only 28 of Connecticut’s 169 municipalities have met the goal. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Connecticut still faces a shortage of nearly 100,000 affordable units.

Most of the state’s affordable housing is concentrated in the state’s larger cities. Hartford (39.7%), New Haven (32.1%)  and Bridgeport (20.7%) have much higher proportions of low-cost housing than most towns in the state. Broadly, affordable housing includes certain government-assisted and income-restricted housing. 

Putnam, a rural town of under 10,000 with median home prices around $350,000, has managed to surpass Connecticut’s 10% affordable housing goal, underscoring that the mandate is attainable for smaller communities. However, in suburban areas like Westport, where median home values top $2.6 million, creating “affordable” units is an entirely different order of magnitude. 

Unrealistic

Opponents of the statute claim that the state’s counting methods are unrealistic, making it nearly impossible for many highly-developed suburban towns to ever reach 10 percent. While 8-30g has created more affordable housing in the state, critics also argue it has undermined thoughtful local planning and strained small-town infrastructure.

Another complaint is that the law benefits developers more than it benefits families in need. While 30 percent of units must be deed-restricted as affordable, the other 70 percent are market-rate. In affluent towns, this often means luxury apartments or condos which critics argue hardly address the state’s shortage of middle-income housing. 

Recently, ROAN Ventures, the developer of the proposed Hamlet development in Saugatuck, announced plans to file an 8-30g application after the Westport Planning and Zoning Commission rejected their initial bid, citing traffic and scale. The move could bring as many as 400 to 500 new units to the area.

With only 3.97 percent of its housing stock classified as affordable, far short of the state’s 10 percent goal, Westport has little leverage to block such projects. If history is any guide, the road ahead will likely be long and litigious with ROAN Ventures holding the advantage under state law.

Many 8-30g projects have ended up in court, draining town resources and fueling frustration. Westport’s “Summit Saugatuck,” better known as “Hiawatha,” spent 20 years in legal limbo. In neighboring Darien, one case dragged on for 14 years before reaching resolution. While most  disputes don’t linger that long, protracted legal battles have become a hallmark of the statute.

8-30g spurs local policy changes

To avoid costly and burdensome lawsuits, most Fairfield County towns, including Westport, have proactively implemented local measures to boost its affordable housing supply.  Inclusionary zoning rules and housing trust funds often grow directly out of 8-30g pressure.

Darien’s Land Use Director Jeremy Ginsberg emphasized long-term inclusionary zoning requirements, which compel developers to either include affordable units in new projects or contribute to Darien’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, have helped fuel Darien’s steady expansion of low-cost housing.  

“I think Darien has taken the goal very seriously and has made tremendous progress over the past 15 to 20 years,” Ginsberg said.

While still below the state-mandated goal of 10%, Darien’s percentage of affordable housing stock has increased from 2.6% to 4.2% over the past decade. 

8-30g projects like Avalon, 397 Boston Post Road and Pemberton 16 have added deed-restricted units, while new developments, such as the Corbin District, Darien Commons, and Heights Crossing have contributed affordable housing outside the 8-30g framework. 

Deed restrictions require 8-30g units to remain affordable for a set period, typically 40 years. Darien’s first 8-30g project, Avalon, now known as Everly Darien, was built in the 1990s with 189 units, 47 of them designated affordable. But in five years, those units could revert to market rate, shrinking the town’s limited affordable housing stock.

Fairfield: a relentless wave of applications

But few towns in Connecticut have been targeted by 8-30g developers as heavily as Fairfield. According to Mark Barnhart, the town’s Director of Community and Economic Development, Fairfield has faced more than 30 applications, most of them filed in just the last decade.

“We certainly have seen our share of applications,” Barnhart said. 

He estimates that roughly two-thirds have been approved. Of the third that were rejected by the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, about half of those decisions were later overturned on appeal. Many others remain tied up in litigation.  

Barnhart noted that many 8-30g proposals in Fairfield pushed housing densities beyond what local ordinances permitted but the town had little choice but to OK them under the statute.

“I don’t know that the commission was happy about approving many, if not all of these applications but I think they understood what their obligation is under the law,” he noted.

Seeking to blunt 8-30g’s impact, the town established an Affordable Housing Trust Fund and adopted inclusionary zoning rules  Together, these state and local measures helped Fairfield boost its percentage of affordable housing to 3.05% and qualify for a moratorium on 8-30g applications this past April.

Moratotia

In 2000, Connecticut created the Housing Unit Equivalency (HUE) system, allowing towns to earn credits for affordable housing to secure a four-year moratorium that shields them from new 8-30g applications or lawsuits.  

Moratoria are highly valued but difficult to secure. In 25 years, only 16 Connecticut towns have qualified for one. (Westport earned a four-year moratorium from 8-30g projects in 2019, which expired in 2023.)  

Barnhart described the moratorium process as “arduous,” pointing out that Fairfield’s application to the state Department of Housing ran 680 pages. 

Once Fairfield announced its intent to apply in December 2024, developers rushed to beat the deadline, triggering what Barnhart described as a “last call” for filings. Since then, the all-volunteer Planning and Zoning Commission has been meeting weekly to keep up with the surge. “It’s been a real burden,” Barnhart said.

Still, Barnhart said the benefits of the moratorium outweigh the strain by giving towns breathing room and a measure of control.

“The moratorium does give you an indication that you’ve made enough progress that the state recognizes it. It’s an important milestone,” he said. “But I think the bigger benefit to communities is that you’re now more in control of your own destiny in terms of how and where you should be building housing.”

Darien is one of the few towns that has received two moratoriums on 8-30g requirements, with the most recent expiring in 2020.  Ginsberg noted that the town has no immediate plans to apply for a third and warned against a strategy of chasing moratoriums.

“If you think of the history of a community, a moratorium is only four years and it goes by in a blip,” he said. “So that’s not what we’re trying to do here. That’s not the goal.”

But Fairfield’s Barnhart said the town plans to apply for a second moratorium before the current one expires, emphasizing that even under this temporary reprieve, the town will continue to expand affordable housing, but with more oversight from local officials and residents.

“At least we now have some ability to control the future for the next four years,” he said. “If we continue our work, we’ll hopefully extend that for another five years beyond that. That’s our goal, to try to control our own destiny.”

Westport Journal’s recent coverage of affordable housing

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