newstimes | By: Alex Putterman
A second legislative committee advanced a proposal Monday to block towns and cities from banning multi-family zoning on either a permanent or temporary basis.
Under current law, towns can’t permanently restrict multi-family housing but can pause development under certain circumstances. Trumbull, for example, has extended a moratorium on multi-family housing for six straight years, leading to complaints that the town is abusing the law.
The new bill, which gained approval from the Housing Committee last month and the Planning and Development Committee on Monday, would bar towns from imposing that sort of blanket ban, even on a temporary basis.
Sen. Jeff Gordon, a Woodstock Republican, voted against the measure Monday, arguing it was “an overreach on the part of the legislature, with regards to local decision-making by municipalities.”
“I’m not looking to have permanent bans, but I think there are times that sometimes you have to slow a process down depending upon certain circumstances that may occur at any time,” Gordon said. “We should be flexible and let the towns decide what is working for them and and how they want to proceed with things.”