The Planning and Zoning Commission has rejected Alex Vigliotti’s latest effort to put 120 rental units in three large box-like buildings on a hillside near the heart of town. The Wetlands Commission previously rejected the project by a 5 – 1 vote.
The Commission voted 5-0 to reject the project at its meeting last week and a formal decision will soon be released. Vigliotti has been relentless in his pursuit of this development. He has wasted no time in letting the town know he will appeal the Inland Wetlands decision in Superior Court. Presumably he will also file against the P & Z. He has 15 days to do so from the time the decision is published.The P&Z’s decision is 12 pages long.
Several residents have already said Vigliotti has yet another plan to put before these agencies, and that might occur before these appeals are heard in court. If he does, the P& Z has outlined modifications that center on creating a small scale residential neighborhood, preferably one that features “home ownership.”This is the third time the P&Z has rejected Vigliotti’s plan, a plan that had an added legal hitch: an affordable housing component.The Commission addressed the issue, noting that Vigliotti had proposed 36 units out of 120 apartments. (The one-bedrooms begin at $784.00 a month, hardly “affordable,” critics say.) “The Commission finds that the proposed contribution to the affordable housing stock does not outweigh the degradation of public health and safety that would occur under the proposed modifications to the Regulations.”At its December 7th meeting, Chairman Ellsworth McGuigan said the P&Z should consider the IWC denial in the decision making process. He asked each of the Commissioners to state their views. All opposed it as did McGuigan in the vote that took place January 4th.One theme several commissioners repeated was the density of the project.Town Planner Shirley Rasmussen had gathered several experts to speak to the Commission. According to the P&Z minutes of December 7th, Commissioner, Philip Fischer said he rejected the project “in large part due to the testimony by consultant (Frank) Cochran.” Cochran, an attorney who is an expert in affordable housing, told the Commission that Branford has a substantial amount of affordable housing right now. He also said that factors such as safety and health could trump a town’s need for affordable housing. Click here to read about the town’s presentation. Over a period of months, former First Republican Selectman John Opie and other RTM Republicans asked Cheryl Morris, the First Selectwoman, to hire a legal expert in affordable housing, but Morris would not do so. It was important, therefore, that the Town Planner acted to bring in Cochran in order to explain the affordable housing legal landscape to the Commission.The minutes say that “Fischer felt insulted by the applicant’s attitude towards the community and Commission. The Planning and Zoning commission has spent an enormous amount of time crafting regulations to protect the health, safety and community character of the Town of Branford.”The location of Founders Village was also an issue. Commissioner Michael Laudano said in the minutes he was “not in favor for the most part due to the fact that the ill-conceived dense project would change the character of the Town Center that the PZC has worked hard on revitalizing.” ###