Senator Dan Debicella (R-Shelton) introduced an amendment today to repeal the law that allows courts to force municipalities to accept affordable housing against their wishes. Although the amendment to repeal “Section 8-30g” of the General Statutes failed by a 14-22 vote, Debicella promised to “continue to fight to ensure that local people, not judges, decide zoning for their towns.”

Senator Debicella said that Section 8-30g had failed to bring about affordable housing, while allowing developers to use the courts as a weapon when they do not get their way with local zoning boards. Eleven Republicans and three Democrats voted to repeal the law.

“Existing law permits the courts to force towns to accept development projects that have been denied by local elected officials, even when those projects have been turned down for good reasons. This destroys local control, and the ability of towns to chart their own destinies. Furthermore, the existing law has failed miserably in promoting affordable housing in Connecticut. In 20 years, only 3,300 affordable housing units have been built – not because we don’t need them, but because the entire process as dictated by current law is too confrontational and too expensive. We can do better,” said Senator Debicella.

“In Shelton and Stratford, we’ve seen how developers use the existing law as a weapon to force the towns to let them do whatever they want. Not only is this unfair to towns, it is expensive. Stratford, for example, spent more than $200,000 fighting Avalon Bay in court-- money that could have been better spent on education or town improvements. Sometimes, the anticipated expense of fighting these cases prompts towns to permit developers to do whatever they want, even when the developer’s true agenda has nothing to do with building affordable housing,” said Senator Debicella.

Senator Debicella said he is working on legislation to reform Connecticut’s affordable housing law. He said that his proposal will call for replacing Connecticut’s existing law with a new program that would provide municipalities with additional state aid for every unit of affordable housing that they choose to build. “We should be using the carrot instead of the stick to create incentives for affordable housing rather than using the courts.”

Senator Debicella said that he believes municipalities would respond favorably to an incentive program that encourages, and rewards, them for building affordable housing while respecting their local planning and zoning laws.

“Under my proposal, developers would not be able to use state law as a weapon to force towns to approve development projects they don’t want. Instead, towns would have a powerful financial incentive to permit the construction of affordable housing. If we let towns decide for themselves, the ultimate winners would be Connecticut residents who deserve affordable places to live,” said Senator Debicella.

Debicella added he was disappointed that most of the Democratic super-majority chose “to side with big developers over local homeowners. Maintaining the status quo only allows developers like Avalon Bay to use affordable housing as a weapon, instead of really trying to solve the problem.”

Debicella said he will not give up the fight to repeal Section 8-30g, and would reintroduce legislation to reform it in future sessions.