Alexis Harrison

Land use choices are critical to protecting the environment, and those decisions should be left to Connecticut’s local zoning boards.

Land is the most finite of resources, and once local communities lose control over it, we can no longer protect it.

8-30g enables housing developers to largely ignore zoning regulations governing height, lot coverage and setbacks if they deed-restrict 30% of the units to be affordable.

It is a virtual mathematical impossibility for towns to achieve 10% of their housing stock as affordable as required.

Myth: The Planning and Development Committee’s proposed bills would end our local decision making on zoning and land-use. Fact (Spin from Democrats): This legislation empowers local communities to plan for the future. Nothing in any proposed Planning and Development Committee bill eliminates local decision making on zoning and land-use. Instead, these changes add clarity, transparency and consistency […]

I have been involved with zoning and environmental issues for most of my adult life, and I’ve never seen such an attack on our local zoning and land use as I have today by our General Assembly. I strongly believe these proposals, specifically, HB 6107, will weaken the planning and zoning commissions that our 169 towns and cities have had for decades.

“Talent and employers are looking to locate in urban centers that have the density and the activity and the culture and the arts that make them an exciting place to be,” said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. “Connecticut’s old model of suburban office parks and bedroom communities is not what’s attractive either to employees or employers today.”  I agree with Hartford’s mayor that we need to build up our cities in Connecticut.

Legislators and community organizers in Hartford want to drastically change local zoning laws, and it’s right around the corner in the 2021 Legislative session. But the changes being promoted would result in much denser housing without valuing or regarding historical districts, environmentally sensitive areas, and established neighborhoods of single-family homes.

Across Fairfield, from High Street to Beacon View Drive, to Beach Road to Ruane Street and more, large, monstrous developments, all under the State’s 8-30g Affordable Housing law, are either being built or in the midst of being heard by the Town Plan and Zoning Commission. Our town isn’t unique as it’s taking place across our state.

I was 18 years old when I registered to vote at the town hall in my hometown of Fairfield in 1997. I didn’t have my own car at the time, so I had my mother drive me to the Registrar of Voters office after school on my 18th birthday so I could officially be on the voter rolls. I walked into the historic, white-washed Old Town Hall building situated in the center of town, surrounded by old homes and mansions, and filled out the form, with my mom at my side, who I had take a picture of me. It was a key milestone to me – probably even more important for me than getting my driver’s license.