Three potential incentive housing overlay zones that lie on the Route 67 corridor were outlined Thursday evening by a consultant working for the Planning and Zoning Commission.
“The main message is that these zones would represent less than 10 percent of the land area in Oxford, so most people in Oxford would not be affected by these zones,” said Frank Fish of BFJ Planning in Manhattan, a consultant working for the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The three zones would be overlaid onto existing commercials zones, giving property owners an option to either develop commercial enterprises, or to develop townhouses, 20 percent of which would be deed restricted as affordable.
They are called overlay zones because they overlay housing development as an option onto the existing commercial zone.
The three zones outlined are:
- “Site A,” Near Echo Valley Road at what is now the Haynes quarry. A total of 38 developable acres, which means potential room for 380 townhouse units, 76 of which would be affordable. Fish pointed out the total potential is almost never reached and the actual number of townhouses built would be less.
Fish said townhouses are better than single-family homes, because there are fewer bedrooms and it is believed they would have less of an impact on the local schools.
- Site B, in the area of West Road and Wedge Hill Road at what is now known for Tommy K’s shopping center. A total of 13 developable acres, with room for a potential 130 units, 26 of which would be affordable.
- Site C is Mountain Road, near the Seymour town line. A total of 17 developable acres, with room for a potential 170 townhouse units, 34 of which would be affordable.
These sites have sewers, or the potential to have sewers, and they lie on the Route 67 corridor which would be the logical place for a bus route, if there were to be a bus route in town.
The next step is a public workshop on May 3 at Town Hall where members of the public could have their say.The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved these concepts to go forward with, as the town advances toward a deadline of having an incentive housing
overlay zone plan in place by July.
Pat Cocchiarella, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, said he is satisified with the direction the plan is taking.
“You’ve done a really good job,” Cocchiarella told Fish.
There are incentives from the state to the town for establishing incentive housing regulations. The state would pay the town these incentives, but the larger advantage is that the town could have some control over where higher-density housing is developed, officials said.
The need for regulations regarding overlay zones and affordable housing was underlined in a lawsuit Oxford lost.
