Stratford planning panel recommends against renumbering text amendment for Majestic Place affordable-housing district

The Stratford Planning Commission on April 15 voted unanimously to issue an unfavorable recommendation on a zoning-text amendment requested by Comlink Inc. that would renumber and modify provisions for the Majestic Place affordable-housing district.

Planning and Zoning staff member Susmitha, who prepared the analysis for the commission, said the application was presented as a renumbering to match the town's new zoning code but in practice contained substantive changes. "The applicant has changed this regulation in so many ways that it doesn't reflect what was approved," Susmitha said. The staff report noted differences between the originally approved text and the newly proposed language on unit counts, parking, lot-size minimums and landscaping requirements.

The item traces to a zone change approved by the Stratford Zoning Commission on April 24, 2024, to permit an approximately four‑story development of affordable housing. Susmitha told commissioners the zoning change and the applicant's subsequent text-amendment request seek to accommodate a proposed building with 45 units, of which the application narrative says 32 would be in Stratford and the remainder in Bridgeport, noting the property straddles the town line. She said Bridgeport had not yet approved a sewer connection needed for the project and that the WPCA had not put the matter on its agenda.

Staff flagged multiple numerical and drafting conflicts between the proposed text and the submitted site materials: parking counts that show 43, 48 and—per the office's calculation—an estimated 62 required spaces under different assumptions; a minimum lot-size listed as 25,000 square feet in earlier approvals versus 7,500 square feet in the new text; and removal of a previously required landscaping-plan provision. Susmitha also pointed to a proposed allowance that would eliminate required referrals to the Planning Commission and Architectural Review Board if a final site plan "complies with the requirements of Connecticut General Statutes 8-30g," a change staff said was not in the originally approved ordinance.

Commissioners questioned the applicant's shifting unit counts and parking calculations. Commissioner Joe Gehrigs noted, "the developer's summary calls for 60 parking spaces, but I only count 47," and asked where the missing spaces were. The planning staff and commissioners said the discrepancies made it impossible to determine what the applicant intended and whether the revised text would be enforceable.

After discussion, Commissioner Gehrigs moved an unfavorable recommendation, citing inconsistency with the Town of Stratford Plan of Conservation and Development and the unclear, substantive changes in the renumbering request. The motion, seconded by Commissioner Alec Wiccola, passed unanimously.

The unfavorable recommendation is advisory to the Zoning Commission; it does not itself change the zoning. The staff report and commissioners' questions indicate outstanding issues that will need resolution—matching the text amendment language to a consistent site plan and securing any required sewer approvals—before the project could proceed to final permitting.