Despite a last-minute effort by the board’s lone Republican to push the decision to the public, the Board of Selectmen Wednesday approved “incentive housing overlay” zone regulations that could promote affordable housing in town.
The vote was 2 – 1. Republican David Yish voted against the measure. First Selectwoman Mary Ann Drayton-Rogers and Dave McKane, both Democrats, voted for it.
The regulations will now be submitted to the state’s Office of Policy and Management for review.
Background
The town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, working with a consultant, has identified three sites along the Route 67 corridor that could receive the “incentive housing” zone. They are the Haynes quarry, the Tommy K’s Plaza area and the land next to the American Legion near the Seymour border.
The designation means the properties could be redeveloped — most likely as town houses or condos — with affordable units set aside.
The affordable units are targeted toward households making $64,000 per year or less, according to a town-endorsed website.
Oxford is creating the overlay zones because the state mandates towns to have a percentage of housing stock set aside as affordable. Oxford has been on the losing end of housing lawsuits where developers and judges have claimed the town does little-to-nothing to promote affordable housing.
The new overlay zones, proponents say, gives the town the ability to put affordable housing where the town officials want it.
Yish: Let The People Decide
Yish, who voted against the measure, urged his fellow Selectmen to leave the decision to the public.
“We should move this issue to a town meeting,” Yish told the Selectmen in the meeting at Town Hall.
He referenced a parking ordinance that the board had just approved to send to a town meeting.
“We’re going to put a parking question in front of a town meeting, but we’re not going to put this Planning and Zoning issue that will change the landscape of the town forever more?” he said.
McKane didn’t see it that way, saying that land use issues are the responsibility of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
“With regard to land use matters, that simply can’t happen. Whether you agree or disagree, that’s your prerogative. If you could send to a referendum every decision Planning and Zoning made, you would have a lot of unhappy applicants,” McKane said.
Drayton-Rogers agreed.
“This is a land use issue. The Planning and Zoning Commission has had public hearings on this issue and there has been an opportunity for input at the hearings,” Drayton-Rogers said.
She looks forward to the next step.
“We’re going to present it to the state Office of Policy and Management and take the next step for the town,” Drayton-Rogers said.
Yish was not alone in his desire to see the issue put out to vote.
Tanya Carver, leader of Keep Oxford Green, a political action group that opposes high density housing, and Jay Hard, an Oxford resident, told the Board of Selectmen they have been collecting signatures on a petition and hope to force a referendum on the issue.
Carver is running as a Republican for a seat on the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Her group has said that if affordable housing is coming to Oxford, it should be in the form on single-family homes, only. Opponents say that simply isn’t practical.
“We’re going to keep going, keep collecting signatures,” Carver said after the vote.
She said they have nearly 200 signatures. The hope is that 200 signatures presented to the Town Clerk will be enough to force a public vote on the incentive housing zone overlay.