Alders OK SRO Halt, W’ville Zone Change

Were they voting to save SROs? Or preventing them from being built?

Downtown Alder Abby Roth asked colleagues that question during debates over two bills that became law Monday night.

In a 23 to 4 vote, the Board of Alders approved a zoning ordinance text amendment that will put a six to nine-month moratorium on converting single room occupancy (SRO) facilities into market-rate housing or lodging. The goal: Preserve that kind of affordable housing.

Then in a separate unanimous vote, alders turned approved a the creation of a new zone for commercial Westville Village that allows more density and a greater mix of uses. But that greater mix does not include any possibility of adding more SROs.

All of that happened during the board’s regular bimonthly meeting at City Hall, which saw a small group of alders — Downtown Alder Abby Roth, East Rock Alder Anna Festa, Newhallville/Prospect Hill Alders Kim Edwards and Steve Winter — break away from the whole to vote against the moratorium.

Roth argued that the moratorium was unnecessary because no SROs are currently threatened, would skew the work of a new affordable housing task force, and is generally bad for business. The quest to establish a moratorium on SROs and establish a task force grew out of a UNITE HERE fight to force the new owners of the Duncan Hotel, a partial SRO becoming an upscale establishment, to run a union operation. After months of public hearings, lawyers for the Board of Alders and the owners of the Duncan were able to strike a deal that ensured that any moratorium enacted would have no impact on that project.

Roth pointed out that none of the city’s remaining SROs — which includes hotels — are in any danger of converting in the next six to nine months. She also noted that of the remaining SROs, particularly the downtown YMCA has given assurances that it has no plans to change its housing model.

“You might ask why does it matter if we enact this if it doesn’t harm anyone,” she said. ​“I strongly believe a legislative body should not enact ordinances that have no purpose as a general matter. Moreover, it has been made very clear to me that it sends a very bad signal to investors that New Haven is a difficult place to do business because we enact arbitrary rules and hurdles. Amid complaints that we already have patchwork zoning rules, it is harmful to add to that patchwork. and enact this rule, when we should be encouraging investment.”

Roth said debate over the moratorium resulted in a task force that will hold its first meeting this coming Wednesday. Meanwhile, she argued, the moratorium skews the work of finding solutions to focusing on SROs and not the plethora of ideas needed to the affordable housing crisis in the city.

“The task force has a critically important mission in establishing a range of solutions to create more affordable housing to meet the diverse needs of our community,” she said. ​“I encourage the task force to focus on all solutions .. .including changing zoning laws to have SROs in more parts of the city.”

Wooster Square Alder Aaron Greenberg, who both sits on the affordable housing task force and has pushed the SRO proposal, argues that the moratorium provides a needed ​“time out” from potential development that hastens gentrification and gives the city a chance to devise longer-term strategy.

He said Monday night that while he and Roth respectfully disagreed on the need for the moratorium, they do agree on the need to address affordable housing and the work ahead for the task force.

New Urbanist Upgrade

Like … Westville Village?

Also Monday night, alders approved the long-awaited new special zoning district for Westville Village.

Currently zoned General Business or BA, the village will now have its own Village Center Mixed Use designation, or BA‑2, zoning district. The new zone which will allow more density won’t allow SROs — unless alders change that — but it will allow taller buildings. And any developer seeking a special exception to build a hotel, assembly hall or theater will make the ask in front of the Board of Zoning Appeals instead of the City Plan Commission.

East Rock Alder Charles Decker amended the use table for the zone to make sure such developments are done by special exception instead of the previously proposed special permit. Decker, a BZA member, said that his amendment didn’t change the intent of the legislation but changed the venue for public hearings.

“By either process, those uses would require a public hearing in front of a board of zoning experts,” he said. ​“The only difference is which board of zoning experts hears the item. I served on the Board of Zoning Appeals for several years. In my experience the BZA is the more suitable venue for the public to give testimony on how high impact developments like these affect their neighborhoods.”

Westville Alder Adam Marchand said the process for researching and developing the new zoning district is what the city and its neighborhoods would want — ​“thorough and conclusive.”

“The fruit of these labors [the work of Yale Law clinic students and the Westville Renaissance Alliance] is a new zoning district BA 2 which matches up well with the local community’s desire for a denser pattern of development in the cultural and commercial area along Whalley Avenue,” he said. ​“It was a good process with good results, resulting in a new zone that other district may want to consider.”

Roth applauded the process but she voted in favor of the zone change with reservation.

“I find it strangely inconsistent that as part of this there is a prohibited use for rooming and boarding houses — in other words single room occupancies. when we just had a discussion about the need for more affordable housing in the city and how critical it is,” she said. ​“Not that it should be accepted as of right but that there isn’t any possibility through a special exception for anyone to even appeal it. I do find that odd to have these items one after another. ”