Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s office negotiated a housing bill with state lawmakers, but that didn’t stop him from vetoing it when it came to his desk.
Lamont “reluctantly” vetoed the sweeping housing bill on Monday, CT Insider reported. He told reporters at a news conference Monday he flipped on his previous position after “having a little more time to take a look at it.”
Provisions in the bill included measures to promote “transit-oriented” development, permit commercial-to-residential conversions and prevent towns from imposing minimum parking requirements for residential developments.
The crux of the debate surrounding the measure was the deemphasis of local control on zoning matters. The bill had a provision — “Towns Take the Lead” — that would create affordable housing targets for each town, rewarding those that reached the goal with priority on certain state funding.
Proponents of the bill said it deferred significantly to local control, offering towns the ability to opt in and out of most provisions in the measure. They also hailed it as an important step towards adding more affordable housing to the heavily constrained state’s market.
Opponents, however, feared the specter of the state usurping local municipalities on zoning measures, even though the bill did not appear to do so by requirement. The governor said opponents exaggerated and mischaracterized aspects of the bill, particularly the town targets.
“I think for housing to continue growing successfully, it has to be led by our towns, it has to be led by our first selectmen, it has to be led by our mayors,” Lamont said.
The governor expressed a desire to negotiate an amended version of the bill with legislative leaders and revisit it during a special session in September.
Local control is often a rallying point in housing policy discussions. In New York, housing production targets in the New York Housing Compact drew enough opposition to push Gov. Kathy Hochul to abandon her plan altogether.
In New Jersey, meanwhile, affordable housing targets inspired a myriad of legal challenges by municipalities.
— Holden Walter-Warner
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