West Haven council adopts comprehensive land-use rewrite after months of review

West Haven City Council on Sept. 17 adopted Ordinance 10-2025, a comprehensive rewrite of land-use chapters that authorizes new review timelines and formalizes the city's development-review procedures.

The ordinance, which Community Development Director Steven (last name not specified in the record) presented to the council, updates subdivision and site-plan review cycles to align with recent state changes and adds detailed checklists and deadlines for applicants. Steven said the city revised the draft to explicitly incorporate state review cycles adopted in 2023'24 and to make the local process clearer for applicants and staff.

Council members and Planning Commission supporters said the changes clarify technical steps such as when construction drawings must be submitted and how many review cycles the city will follow for subdivision improvement plans. Steven described the new approach as: "We have 20 business days to review those plans, provide an index report back to any applicant, and they have 20 business days to respond," and noted that process can repeat up to four review cycles.

The most contested item at the meeting was which body should have final-plat approval authority. State code language reviewed during the session allows municipalities flexibility; staff recommended assigning final-plat approval to city staff (community development director and city engineer) to streamline administrative signoffs. The Planning Commission had recommended retaining final-plat authority at the commission level to serve as a public backstop ensuring conditions from preliminary approval are met.

Council discussion reflected both positions. Council member (last name Kahl) and others emphasized the importance of resident representation on major land-use decisions: the Planning Commission "serve[s] as a backstop to ensure that the things that they're concerned about during the preliminary phases were being addressed," a council member said. Steven said the proposed ordinance already creates a formal Development Review Committee (DRC) composed of staff (community development director, city planner, city engineer, public works director and the fire marshal) to review and advise on technical drawings prior to land-use authority action.

Council ultimately voted to approve Ordinance 10-2025 with one technical amendment: add master development agreement (MDA) approvals to items listed as city-council responsibilities in the administrative table. The motion passed on a roll call vote: Council member Dixon, Council member Morse, Council member Saunders and Council member Kahl all voted yes.

The ordinance requires the city to publish subdivision checklists and related application materials online and formalizes a sequence of steps for preliminary plat, construction/ improvement-plan review and final plat submittal. It also codifies a process for appeal of a city denial of improvement drawings that the state statute describes: if the city denies drawings, the applicant may request review by independent engineers selected by each party and a third jointly selected engineer.

Council and staff said the rewrite is intended to make review timelines more predictable for developers while preserving local oversight where the council and commissioners judge it necessary. Steven told the council he can return with the minor edits requested by councilmembers, and that the city has already begun implementing parts of the new process administratively.

Votes at a glance on Ordinance 10-2025: the motion to approve the ordinance with the added MDA item to the city-council responsibilities passed by roll call: Dixon: Aye; Morse: Aye; Saunders: Aye; Kahl: Aye.

Looking ahead, staff will publish the checklists and implementation materials on the city website and will continue coordination with the Planning Commission and DRC when processing active subdivision and site-plan applications.