The state Office of Policy and Management has removed the “incentives” from the state’s Incentive Housing Zones, like the one Oxford is creating.
It means the town cannot collect $2,000 per unit of affordable housing that is developed under the zone being conceptualized.
State budget constraints are the reason.
The OPM has also stopped giving official approval to these zones once they are created. That means Oxford cannot get official state OPM designation until further notice, said Brian Durand, spokesman for the OPM.
However, Durand said these issues are more than likely temporary — and that the state intends to move forward.
“While the program is ongoing, this phase has currently been delayed temporarily due to the budget uncertainty facing the state. OPM has yet to approve any IHZs, and does not yet have a specific timeline for when that will happen,” Durand said.
However, “the program is very much active and ongoing, and that OPM fully anticipates moving forward with its second phase (which includes granting financial incentives of up to $2,000 per unit of affordable housing). While this phase of the program has been delayed due to the budget uncertainties facing the state, we’re still authorized to move forward with the grants and fully expect to begin taking applications again in the near future,” Durand said in an e‑mail.
This issues recently came to light when resident Tanya Carver, of Keep Oxford Green, the group opposed to high density housing in Oxford, wrote about in her blog on Oxford Patch.
But it won’t stop Oxford’s efforts to establish incentive housing zones, members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and their consultant said last week.
The bottom line is that Oxford never embarked on the Incentive Housing Zone for the incentive dollars it would bring, but rather, to help the town meet state mandated requirements for affordable housing, said Frank Fish, consultant with BFJ Planning, the New York based firm that is helping the Planning and Zoning Commission write the regulations.
He said the Planning and Zoning Commission will continue creating a zone that complies with the requirements of the state, so that if and when the state’s economic situation improves and the OPM reopens the application process, it will be prepared for approval.
“We’re writing it to comply with the state requirements, so if the state program clicks in again, then they can approve it. My guess is they might approve it with no money,” Fish said.
He said that he had warned the Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this year the state’s economic situation looked bad and this loss of funding for incentive housing may occur.
The zone will be adopted locally, and still serve its purpose of helping the town defend against lawsuits from housing developers who challenge the town in court over not having enough affordable housing, he said. The zone will give the town more control over the location and look of affordable housing that is built in town.
“If the town has been sued and the town is in a lawsuit, the town will then be able to say, look your honor, we now have an adorable housing zone,” Fish said.
Pat Cocchiarella, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission, said the town does not need any state approval for its zoning regulations anyway, since zoning is a local matter.
“They don’t have final approval of our regulations, so if we put these regulations in place, and they are challenged in court, that does not mean the court cannot rule in our favor,” Cocchiarella said.
Carver was not pleased that the Planning and Zoning Commission is pushing ahead.
She is opposed to the density of the townhouses the commission wants built in the zones, which are overlayed onto existing commercial zones at the Haynes Quarry, Tommy K’s Plaza and the land adjoining the American Legion near the Seymour border, all on the Route 67 corridor.
“If they’re not going to have an approved Incentive Housing Zone from the state, why do the density?,” Carver said. “If we’re not so concerned about the state approving this, why have the density?”
Carver wants the Planning and Zoning Commission to write affordable housing regulations, geared toward single family homes, instead.
Fish said the Planning and Zoning Commission will begin work on those regulations after it completes the incentive housing zone regulations.
