City Plan commissioners weigh zoning change.
A proposed rent-capping amendment to the city’s new “inclusionary zoning” (IZ) law is one step closer to adoption, thanks to a favorable vote by the City Plan Commission.
That was the outcome of Wednesday night’s latest regular monthly meeting of the City Plan Commission. The virtual meeting took place online via Zoom.
The local land-use commissioners voted unanimously in support of a proposed ordinance text amendment to the city’s new IZ law.
That law — which won final approval by the Board of Alders in January, and went into effect on Feb. 18 — requires developers to set aside a certain percentage of units in new market-rate apartment buildings at rents affordable to lower-income tenants.
Well, that was the intent of the law, at least.
City Plan Commissioners and a member of the public (the ever-eagle-eyed Kevin McCarthy) raised questions at a recent commission meeting about whether the law as written actually accomplishes what city policymakers intended it to.
They pointed out that the law on the books appears to permit the city to require developers to set aside certain units for tenants earning no more than 50 percent of the area median income (AMI) — but then says nothing about what those developers can charge those lower-income tenants in rent.
So, city Assistant Corporation Counsel Michael Pinto said on Wednesday night, the city is now seeking to amend the recently approved law to make clear that New Haven’s IZ ordinance does require capped rents, and not just capped income limits.
“With the concerns that were raised by the commission, we would like … to make explicit what we believe was implicit in the original draft,” he said.
They key changes included in the proposed amendments are:
• A definition of the new term “IZ Affordable Unit” as: “a residential dwelling unit, which is a required or voluntarily set aside unit under this Section 50 and which is restricted for occupancy by households that have a combined total annual income for all members that does not exceed fifty percent (50%) of the New Haven Area Median Income as defined by HUD at the time of initial occupancy; and for which the costs for rent and utilities do not exceed thirty percent (30%) percent of household income.”
Pinto said that the definition and use of this term throughout the ordinance will make clear that rents and incomes are capped as part of IZ. It will also not conflict with “the more generalized definition of affordable housing” included elsewhere in the city’s zoning code.
• A requirement that the City Plan Department director “review all Applicable Developments at the time of application for site plan review to verify compliance with income and rental limits as required for the IZ Affordable Units.”
• A requirement that the Livable City Initiative director or his/her designee “review leasing plans and rent rolls to verify ongoing compliance with income and rental limits of the IZ Affordable Units.”
• Clarifications of an IZ appeal process involving the Board of Zoning Appeals and the state Superior Court.
“These changes are good, clarifying changes,” Westville Alder and City Plan Commissioner Adam Marchand said. “The intent is the same” as the law originally passed by the alders in January.
City Plan Commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe thanked Pinto for his prompt work in putting these text amendments together. “You heard us and you attended to those items” that we raised, she said.
The proposed IZ amendment now advances to the aldermanic Legislation Committee for another public hearing, and then to the full Board of Alders for a final debate and vote.
Click here to read the proposed amendment in full.