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04/13/2005 |
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Objections to housing plan may be futile |
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Phil Helsel , Register Staff |
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MILFORD — Despite concerns from some Naugatuck Avenue
residents who say a proposed affordable housing complex will
choke streets, contribute to juvenile delinquency and
otherwise blight their neighborhood, city officials and the
developer say there isn’t much they can do about it.
"If it meets all the regulations, regardless of what the public
thinks about it, there isn’t much you can do to deny it,"
Planning and Zoning Board Chairman Jack Jansen said Tuesday.
The housing is proposed by James D’Amato, son of D’Amato
Brothers Builders owner Louis D’Amato; the younger D’Amato
formed Naugatuck Avenue LLC for the project.
Some neighbors say the planned 28-unit affordable housing
development will add more children to a neighborhood that
already has youths congregating in front of stores. Others
questioned why the city has singled out the economically
challenged Devon neighborhood for affordable housing.
"Why is it always in Devon?" said Bruce Butler, 42, who owns B&B
Power Equipment at Janet Street and Naugatuck Avenue, as well as
a house next door that he rents out. "You don’t see this type of
thing going up in Woodbridge or (on) North Street."
The proposed housing complex is slated for an overgrown thicket
between small houses and a Sunoco gas station on Naugatuck
Avenue, near Milford Point. According to plans submitted to the
PZB, six buildings housing 28 one- and two-bedroom apartments
would be built there, with nine units designated as
"affordable."
Four of the nine apartments would be for occupants who earn 80
percent or less than the median area income of $76,660; the
remaining five would be reserved for occupants who make equal to
or less than 60 percent of the median income, according to the
plans.
Market-price apartments are expected to fetch from $1,200 to
$1,400 a month, Louis D’Amato said. With discounts, they would
range from about $700 to $900 a month, depending on size.
D’Amato, who said he is advising his son on the project, pointed
out that the city designated the neighborhood for affordable
housing last year, and that if residents were concerned, they
should have done something about it then. Jansen said that the
city approved affordable housing there last year, otherwise
developers could set up the housing wherever they chose.
"If we don’t have a place for affordable housing, we have no
basis for denying it anywhere because there’s no other place for
it," Jansen said. "I think there’s a need for real affordable
housing, which means housing that people can afford to buy."
Affordable housing as defined by state statute allows developers
to circumvent traditional zoning regulations, but local boards
still must approve a special permit. The PZB will hold a public
hearing on the project at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday in the City Hall auditorium.
Loretta Drinkwater, a mother of three who lives around the
corner from the proposed development, said the housing complex
would add more children to a congested neighborhood.
But D’Amato said that the project follows all state and local
regulations. He said local opposition to new housing in Milford
and other southern Connecticut communities is one reason why
real estate prices are so high, making affordable housing
necessary.
"(The city) invited me to do this," said D’Amato "If the
neighbors don’t want it, they ought to complain to the zoning
board. I don’t know where they were when the zoning was
changed."
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