By Meghan Muldoon 

WESTPORT–The same group behind 122 Wilton Road, Westport’s first 100% affordable housing development, is proposing a second project in town.

Garden Homes Fund, the foundation behind the 19-unit development at 122 Wilton Road, is proposing an 18-unit affordable housing development at 96 Compo Road North.  The project would rely on Connecticut’s 8-30g affordable housing statute to build in a single-family residential zone.

The application was submitted to Westport’s Planning and Zoning Commission last week. 

According to Richard Freedman, head of Garden Homes Fund, the proposal calls for nine one-story duplexes, with two bedrooms in each unit.  Freedman said the homes would be open to people of all ages, including families with children.

As with the 122 Wilton Road project, all 18 units would be affordable, even though the 8-30g statute requires only 30% of units in a qualifying development to meet affordability requirements.

Freedman said the one-story design was a deliberate choice intended to fit the residential surroundings. The proposed buildings would be “considerably shorter” than neighboring homes.

“I did make a conscious decision to keep the heights of the buildings down,” Freedman said.

According to Freedman, the Compo Road North site was selected because it is a flat parcel with public water and sewer. The unoccupied house on the lot had been damaged by flooding and was sold, and priced, as a teardown.

122 Wilton Road Apartments was ultimately built after two denials and a court challenge. The four-story building was sold, below cost, to Homes with Hope, which has owned and managed the property for the past two years.

“I think it’s been extremely successful.  I think it’s transformed the lives of the people who have been able to move in,” Freedman said. “It’s been a chance for people to move in from places like Norwalk or Bridgeport and get their kids into the Westport public schools.”

Freedman said the response to the Wilton Road development helped underscore the need for more affordable housing in Westport and was one factor in pursuing another project in town. 

“The number of people who want to live in these properties is way, way in excess of the number of units that are available,” he said. He said Homes with Hope received hundreds of applications for the 19 apartments at 122 Wilton Road.

Income limits for tenants at 122 Wilton Road range from $60,000 for a one-person household to $99,400 for a six-person household. One-bedroom units rent for $1,579 per month, while three-bedroom apartments rent for $2,084, according to the apartments’ website.

The Garden Homes Fund, founded by Freedman’s father, is the charitable arm of Stamford-based Garden Homes Management.  Freedman said the foundation has built affordable housing in Stamford and has proposed a project in New Canaan that was recently denied and is now on appeal.

The Compo Road proposal would be the foundation’s fifth 8-30g project.

Freedman’s “most optimistic” estimate is that the Westport project could be completed within two years if it is approved and permitted.

Freedman acknowledged that the Wilton Road project faced objections, which he said were fundamentally about placing multifamily housing in a single-family neighborhood. He said he hopes the community will consider the group’s previous work as the new proposal moves forward.

“I’ve had resistance every time I’ve tried to build a project like this,” he said. “Hopefully, people will see what I’ve done in Westport. That I’m a person of my word and that that will mute some of the resistance that might have otherwise happened.”

Meghan Muldoon

^{_{Meghan Muldoon is a freelance journalist based in Darien, Connecticut. As a television and print journalist, Muldoon has covered state government and politics in Virginia and Connecticut.}}