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Stratford commission sets March 30 effective date for Gold Coast workforce-housing amendment
Summary
The Stratford Zoning Commission voted 5-0 at a March special meeting to set an effective date of March 30, 2025, and adopt a renumbering for a previously approved text amendment from Gold Coast Properties LLC that clarifies where and how workforce housing regulations apply; the commission did not change the regulation's text.
The Stratford Zoning Commission voted 5-0 Wednesday to set an effective date of March 30, 2025, and to adopt a renumbering for a text amendment to the town's workforce-housing regulations submitted by Gold Coast Properties LLC, while leaving the amendment's substantive text unchanged.
The vote resolves a procedural oversight: the regulation, originally approved by the commission on Jan. 29, did not include an effective date or match the commission's new numbering system. Attorney Benjamin Frodo, representing the applicant, asked the commission to “readopt the regulation as it has been written with the new formatting, and with the effective date of March the thirtieth of 2025.”
The decision finalizes two narrow items the commission placed on a special-hearing agenda: (1) apply the commission's current numbering format to the previously approved workforce-housing amendment, and (2) set its effective date. Commissioners and staff repeatedly said no text changes were being made at the special meeting; broader changes — including whether the standards should be applied townwide — were described as topics for a separate, noticed process.
Attorney and applicant remarks, plus staff clarifications, focused on where the new development standards apply. Planning and zoning administrator Jay Bansky explained the amendment's geographic scope and how the commission should interpret the added subdivision: the development standards in the newly numbered subsection are intended to apply only within the RS-4, RM-1 and CA zones identified by the applicant, principally the half-mile corridor near Lordship Boulevard and the Stratford–Bridgeport boundary, not automatically townwide. Frodo told the panel he and his client did not intend to repeal the commission's earlier workforce-housing regulation but to supplement it with a separately numbered subsection.
During public comment, Stratford Town Councilman Alvin O'Neil (District 3) urged broader changes and raised specific concerns about the amendment's dimensional and eligibility provisions. O'Neil asked why a proposed maximum building height in the South End would be 65 feet when the town's tallest allowed building elsewhere is 60 feet, and he urged a townwide approach to both where workforce housing is allowed and the development standards applied to it. “I'm in favor of the workforce housing to be town wide,” O'Neil said, asking the commission to consider consistent rear-yard dimensions and higher shares of workforce units in any project.
Speakers also discussed how financing and state incentives affect developer choices. An unidentified commenter who addressed financing noted state programs and grants can make larger percentages of deed-restricted units financially viable; the transcript records a developer example that the state provided roughly $3,000,000 to a Derby project after construction had begun. Commissioners and the applicant emphasized the need to keep regulations workable so projects are financeable and do not instead use Connecticut's Section 8-30g process.
Commissioners and staff flagged implementation limits: in parts of the South End much of the area is in a flood zone, which constrains new construction and may limit some dimensional changes; speakers said much work in the corridor is likely to be interior renovations of existing buildings rather than new footprints. The applicant reiterated willingness to work with the commission on any future townwide standard.
Votes at a glance - Motion to take the Gold Coast Properties LLC text amendment off the table: moved and seconded; outcome approved (vote 5-0). - Motion to approve the effective date of 03/30/2025 and adopt the numbering/formatting described by staff: moved and seconded; outcome approved (vote 5-0). The approval covered the effective date and renumbering only; no text changes were approved at this hearing.
The commission closed the public portion and moved to its administrative session after the vote. Commissioners said they remain open to separate, noticed discussions about whether to adopt the applicant's standards townwide and invited the applicant to assist with any future drafting work.
