To The Editor,
You posted a story about Mr. Mark Lazar and his battle to stay in his home. After reading this article I met with Mr. Lazar, something that our selectwomen and P&Z should have done months ago. Mr. Lazar, like many others, has been forced out of his home for a 157-unit apartment complex. Blame as to why this occurred, leaving some homeless or living in hotels, is directed towards the selectwomen and P&Z.
To better understand why compassion was lost, we need to understand the Affordable Housing Appeals Procedure, or statutory citation “8-30g”. My understanding of 8-30g is of a zoning law for suburban towns to comply with obligations per the state’s Zoning Enabling Act. This Act requires towns’ zoning regulations to encourage housing diversity, which includes low/moderate income persons. This law is important to allow families to overcome exclusion criteria they may face. 8-30g neither requires Westport to build additional housing to fulfill a specific need, nor does it require P&Z to ignore zoning regulations. 8-30g allows for Westport to object to developers, if appropriate. Developers using 8-30g need inclusionary criteria to meet state requirements.
So why are some upset and others indifferent?
The only reason I can think of is lack of information. This must be true because we re-elected the same people that created the problem. I think Westporters agree that kicking low-income people out of their homes to make low-income housing is nonsensical.
Mr. Lazar helped me better understand the situation. Mr. Lazar moved to Westport from Weston more than 10 years ago. He is now in a horrible predicament, with little-to-no options. The thought now is that many of his former neighbors are now struggling to find housing, while their former homes remain empty.
How long will the homes stay empty? The abandoned homes may remain empty for months, similar to what occurred in West Haven. It seems today 8-30g may actually displace more people than housed in town due to construction delays.
Why be concerned? When running for BOS, I was shocked that nobody but myself touched the topic on the debate stage. The 5-0 P&Z vote on 5/13/21 to settle the dispute with the construction company regarding Hiawatha building now provides others with a blueprint to bypass our town laws to build massive apartments all over, further straining our resources. I would have thought Selectwoman Tooker would be against this given her campaign promise to “fix traffic.”
Being against the Hiawatha construction does not mean you are against 8-30g and affordable housing. It is about how 8-30g is being manipulated to make a few people very wealthy in the name of “affordability.”
The better option would be to convert some current homes into multi-family houses with rent caps. There is nothing stopping our government from coming in and picking anyone’s home in town in the name of eminent domain to build an apartment complex where you live.
Sincerely,
Louis E. D’Onofrio Jr.
Thank you Mr D’Onofrio,
In my opinion…
Nobody has a given a more accurate insight to the current abuse and exploitation of 8-30g by developers such as Felix Charney, who has decided that the vulnerability of homeowners on Hiawatha Lane Extension could be exploited so he could make money and damn the reality that wetlands, watercourses and swamp streams form the basis of this specific parcel.
I sure as Hell hope we can save our homes from this disastrous project. We’ve been at this effort for 19 years and we will keep at it until we save this community.
Affordable housing is a legitimate need that I’ve supported and worked at for at least two decades, but Developer Charney is not concerned with need, his concern is greed,
100% agree with Carolanne, I mean in the last 19 years look at all the apartment buildings that have sprung up in westport over the last 19 years while Felix Charney is still screwing around trying to force himself on hiawatha lane extension. If he really cared about affordable housing he would’ve just found a new location. But he did everything backwards, instead of talking to the towns zoning board about an appropiate place for his development, he blindly baught the properties, and the road (however that was able to happen I have no idea) then bullied the town for the last 19 years until he got his way. The operative work is “bullying” he is absolutely a text book white collar bully. And just to add insult to injury he has done 0 maintenance to the street even though he baught it, no snow plowing, no paving, and the road is falling apart.