To The Editor:

Because Matthew Mandell is an influential member of the Westport community, serving as chair of the RTM Planning & Zoning Committee and Director of the Westport Chamber of Commerce, I was profoundly disappointed to read his written testimony criticizing HB 5429, a transit oriented development bill, the intention of which is to encourage creation of additional housing opportunities in proximity to train stations. Either Matt hasn’t read the bill, or he is intentionally misrepresenting its content. Either way, I feel a need to set the record straight.

First, he asserts that the bill does not “address hard infrastructure issues” and would force towns to build housing in places without sewer and water infrastructure. In fact, Line 39 of the bill specifically exempts “areas that are not served by water and sewer infrastructure.” That means no housing would be required to be built in areas where there is insufficient infrastructure.

Second, he states that the bill does not “address climate change and environmental issues,” and that it would put “increased density in the very places we should be leaving.” In fact, the bill exempts from its requirements coastal resources protected by the Connecticut Coastal Management Act and areas identified as likely to be inundated during a thirty-year flood event by the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation.

Environmentally sensitive organizations such as Save the Sound, and the Sierra Club, support the bill as a welcome corrective to our current restrictive zoning regime which causes developers to push into green spaces with sprawling single-family subdivisions and asphalt parking lots rather than building where development already exists.

Third, Matt thinks that the bill does not “take into account the change in work habits and living choices.” Why then does the AARP support the bill, noting that seniors in particular wish to live in walkable communities and that older adults outlive their ability to drive by 7-10 years?

Countless young people testified in favor of the bill and asked for Connecticut to create walkable communities. Westport will benefit by providing a wider range of housing options. One reason why Westport housing is so expensive is that we do not allow as-of-right multi-family housing around our transit stations, making it difficult to build affordable housing. In fact, we even make it difficult to build single-family homes around our transit stations because of large minimum lot sizes. As the leader of our Chamber of Commerce, Matt should be considering the economic growth potential of new housing and listening to local businesses which face worker shortages and will continue to do so unless we take action. We all benefit by making it possible for people to live and work in Connecticut, in homes that they can actually afford.

Larry Weisman