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| From The New York Times Connecticut Section | |||||||||||||
| September 9, 2007 | |||||||||||||
| Got Land? Now, a Way to Donate | |||||||||||||
| By WOODY HOCHSWENDER | |||||||||||||
| AT town meetings and forums of all kinds, one hears officials and politicians utter two popular refrains: We need to preserve more open space. And almost in the same breath: We need more affordable housing. | |||||||||||||
| When a citizen stands up to ask if these two propositions are not mutually exclusive, the standard reply is: "The two goals do not have to be incompatible." | |||||||||||||
| But they are. When a community preserves large amounts of acreage from housing development, the remaining land becomes more dear. Families of modest means find it increasingly difficult to acquire land and build on it. | |||||||||||||
| This fundamental equation (more open space = more expensive land) gathers even more force in weekend and vacation home communities. Weekenders tend to favor pastoral open space, since that is perhaps why they have chosen their properties in the first place. Similarly, they have a financial self-interest in not approving the building of low-cost homes, which tend to coincide with more children and higher school taxes. | |||||||||||||
| The situation soon becomes one of the haves and the have-nots, with the haves beating back the efforts of local developers, even those who propose "cluster" housing. In areas where weekenders are prevalent, like the Connecticut shore and Litchfield County, local families are often priced out of the market. The cost of housing is considered a prime reason that Connecticut's young work force (18- to 34-year-olds) is leaving faster than in any other state, according to HOMEConnecticut, a housing policy group. | |||||||||||||
| Then somebody had an idea. It's called the "free second cut" law, passed by the state Legislature in 2006 and now being circulated among the 169 towns of Connecticut. This little-known bill, officially called an Act Concerning Subdivisions for Affordable Housing Developments, is simple and ingenious. It allows for the initial subdivision of land by an owner - the so-called first cut - to be exempt from the usual planning and zoning approval process and subdivision rules, provided that at least one lot is donated or sold for use as affordable housing. | |||||||||||||
| The landowner can subsequently divide the property, subject to local zoning regulations, a second time, without penalty or red tape. A landowner could sell or donate a piece of property to the town or a nonprofit organization but still retain the option of splitting off a second piece (the free second cut) later, for example, to construct a home for a family member. | |||||||||||||
| The bill was sponsored by Assemblywoman Marilyn Giuliano, from Old Saybrook, and Senator Andrew Roraback, of northern Litchfield County. | |||||||||||||
| Now, towns around the state are voting whether to convert the enabling legislation into law. In Litchfield County, Sharon and Kent have passed it; in the southeast, Lyme and Old Lyme have. | |||||||||||||
| Senator Roraback believes it is a win-win idea." It allows towns to tip their hat in the direction of affordable housing, without wreaking havoc on the landscape," he said, referring to the way the concept promotes affordable housing in scattered locations, instead of concentrating it in clusters, which tend to become stigmatized as low-cost areas. | |||||||||||||
| "It's definitely a positive development," said John Pogue, the president of Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Connecticut, which is actively acquiring land and building affordable homes in northern Litchfield County. "Every landowner with enough acreage has the option of chipping a piece off that could be useful to us. This facilitates the process." | |||||||||||||
| The legislation and its adoption, town by town, could have a wide impact throughout the state. So far, no one has come up with any reason to think the impact will be negative. "To date, I have not heard that there are issues of unintended consequences of this legislation," Representative Giuliano said in an e-mail message. | |||||||||||||
| Presumably, at town meetings all across the state, this new land-use option will be chosen with deliberateness and the usual native skepticism. It is looked upon by its sponsors as a way to help young people live and work in the towns where they were raised. | |||||||||||||
| It may just be a case of Yankee ingenuity at work. | |||||||||||||
| Copyright 2007The New York Times Company | |||||||||||||
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