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02/16/2020 11:00 PMA long-planned push for the construction of more affordable housing in Guilford took a large step forward as residents at a town meeting approved the gifting of a parcel of land near Old Whitfield Street for the construction of three buildings and 16 united targeted at low- to moderate-income residents.
Almost 250 residents showed up to the community center on Feb. 11 to vote on the project, which has been germinating and gaining traction in the town for almost four years.
The final vote was 202 approving of the sale and 39 against.
Though the town meeting approval is a significant step in the process, it only concerns the sale of the land parcel. The development itself is still subject to significant oversight and further approvals by Guilford’s Planning & Zoning, Historic, and Inland Wetlands commissions, and will also need to find funding and meet standards set by the State of Connecticut, all of which will be handled by non-profit New Haven-based NeighborWorks New Horizons, which is overseeing the project.
Actual construction will likely not begin until the end of 2021, according to Ron Penton of LaRosa Building group, which will be handling construction of the project. The town is giving the property, appraised at $289,000, to NeighborWorks as a sort of subsidy for the project.
Representatives from NeighborWorks, as well as LaRosa Building Group and Patriquin Architects, which has worked on the design, were all the meeting to answer resident questions and hear concerns.
Selectman Sandy Ruoff, who chairs the Housing and Economic Development Plan Committee (HEDP) and has spearheaded an attempt to get affordable housing in Guilford since 2014, told the Courier she was very happy with both the outcome as well as resident’s attitudes toward the project.
“I’m very proud of my town right now,” she said.
Getting Started
Though there is still a long way to go, the development has already passed many hurdles in Guilford. Ruoff cited a 2012 study by the Guilford Foundation that identified affordable housing as one of the town’s biggest needs as the genesis of the project, which set the stage for a cohesive push for developments like this.
Former first selectman Joe Mazza formed the HEDP in 2014, with Ruoff at its head. After an initial study that looked at about 40 properties, the approximately six-acre Woodruff Property, which belonged to the town, was chosen for further exploration, Ruoff said.
A 2016 feasibility study that was funded by a state grant determined the land could indeed serve as the site of the kind of development for which the town was looking.
NeighborWorks was chosen last August after an approximately year-long request for proposals (RFP) process and review, Ruoff said. She cited a long working relationship with NeighborWorks and the fact that it has already developed affordable housing in Guilford as reasons why the town wanted to work with it again.
Town Planner George Kral, who also presented at the meeting, told the Courier that NeighborWorks has “quite a good reputation” around the state, with around 700 affordable homes in its portfolio, 34 of which are in Guilford.
The units will be targeted at households making about 60 percent of Guilford’s median annual income, which is approximately $102,000.
With 16 units spread across five buildings, the preliminary design of the project also includes a garden and off-street parking. It will likely share a driveway with the Guilford Center for Children (GCC), a pre-school and after-school educational non-profit located on Stone House Lane, according to Karin Patriquin of Patriquin Architects.
Ruoff said she has been in close contact with members of GCC to make sure their concerns are addressed. GCC President Laura Davidson read a statement in support of the project at the meeting.
“We fully support the development of affordable housing in Guilford. We were able to voice out concerns for the proposed development...regarding parking, increased pedestrian and vehicular traffic, and the impact of construction on our daily workings. We have since met or spoken with several town officials or stakeholders to discuss our concerns and have been assured that we will be able to work closely with the town, committees, and project management moving forward, which we greatly appreciate,” Davidson said.
Next Steps
Many specifics of the design could change over the next several months based on further public input and the review of the town’s various committees, Ruoff told the Courier, though she said most people involved were happy with the design so far. She said she was already working toward reaching out to some people who lived near the development and had expressed concerns about traffic, crowding, or light pollution.
There is also the possibility that the project does not receive the funding it needs to go forward, Penton said at the meeting. He said they would know for certain whether or not the project was funding by around March 2021.
After about an hour of presentations by the development group and town officials, the meeting was opened up to questions and comments from residents. Many people spoke up in favor of having more affordable housing, with several emotional testimonies from people who either had personally benefited from these kinds of developments or had witnessed their importance. Others expressed specific concerns about the development, from potential issues with parking layout to fears over what kinds of people would live in the new housing.
A couple of the more powerful appeals in favor of the development came from residents who had benefited from affordable housing in Guilford, including one woman who said she moved to town to take advantage of Guilford’s public schools. She attributed her children’s success to being able to stay in town, saying she would not have been able to afford to stay without NeighborWorks’ other affordable housing development on Apple Tree Lane.
Meghan Scanlon, director of the Woman & Family Life Center, and its former director Peggy Britt both spoke out in favor of the development, saying many of their clients who are fleeing domestic violence or struggling after divorces desperately need the kind of housing that NeighborWorks is providing.
“This has been a need for years, and we see it every day at the center...so this could not happen soon enough for your neighbors, that we see every day,” Scanlon said.
Britt also spoke to her personal experience of growing up in government assisted housing.
“Having a home that’s safe in a community that’s safe is priceless. I wouldn’t be here without it,” she said.
Concerns about the project ranged widely, from those who saw it as having an impact on the historical neighborhood and tourism, to people questioning whether NeighborWorks might force a completely new kind of development on the town rather than the one presented, to others concerned about screening of future residents of the project.
One man questioned whether there was anything stopping NeighborWorks from turning the project into a 8-30g application, referring to the state law that allows developers to ignore local zoning regulation in towns that have less than the 10 percent mandated affordable housing.
Kral told the Courier that Guilford has never had an 8-30g application, and there are several safeguards in place even if NeighborWorks threw the preliminary design out the window.
Not only is there a contract between the town and NeighborWorks that would preclude this procedure entirely, Kral said, but the lack of sewers in Guilford makes it almost unfeasible for any developer to try to strong-arm one of these applications in town.
“The idea that NeighborWorks would propose to go that route on this particular property is even more unlikely, given the circumstances...and the fact that the town and the developer are essentially partners in his whole arrangement. It’s just a totally unrealistic and highly unlikely prospect,” Kral said.
Mary Barrow, who identified herself as a retired lawyer, said that she was concerned because the contract between Neighborworks and Guilford did not set any requirements for screening or background checks of potential residents. Kral confirmed that this was accurate, but said that both internal policies implemented by NeighborWorks as well as the stipulations of state grants that would fund the development will ensure a robust screening of residents.
“All of those things lead me at least, and I think lead the town to be reassured that this is going to be a great place to live and will end up being a good neighbor to the other people that live down near Woodruff Property,” Kral said.