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RiverCog members flag concerns with special-session House Bill 8,002 and prepare legislative agenda
Summary
RiverCog staff and members discussed House Bill 8,002 (housing reforms), highlighted concerns about by-right residential conversion of commercial zones via summary review, problematic language on 'hostile architecture,' and the need for clarification on implementation deadlines; RiverCog will seek corrections and develop a regional approach.
RiverCog members spent substantial time evaluating House Bill 8,002, a special-session housing bill that replaces municipal affordable-housing plan mandates under Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 8-30j with new municipal housing growth plans and requires regions to prepare complementary regional plans.
Susie (RiverCog regional planner) told the board the bill would require towns to update zoning regulations by July 1 to accommodate the new process and said one of the most consequential changes is allowing "by-right" residential development in all commercial districts under a summary-review procedure. She warned that summary review—an administrative pathway introduced in earlier statute for adaptive reuse of nursing homes—may not map cleanly onto converting diverse commercial parcels to residential uses, especially where local regulations do not yet include residential standards.
"This bill allows, by right, development of residential uses in all commercial districts," Susie said. "If the regulation doesn't have anything about residential, I don't know how you do an administrative approval when the regulation doesn't even allow the use that is now allowed by statute." She recommended regional coordination to produce model zoning language and noted RiverCog will work with other COGs on corrections.
Board members raised implementation issues including population-change inputs for housing plans and the bill’s apparent preference language for wealthy towns with high grand-list per capita, which may conflict with transit-oriented development priorities. RiverCog reported it has already completed a regional housing-needs assessment methodology and that the COG will receive $200,000 to support plan work; another $200,000 was allocated for either solid-waste or stormwater work (the bill's wording needs clarification). Members agreed to draft corrections for co-chairs and to discuss this item further at the RPC and at a planned December meeting with legislators.
Susie also flagged problematic "hostile architecture" language in HB 8,002 that could be unworkable in practice; the board agreed the provision likely needs correction. The timing for the governor's signature was discussed; members reported an expectation of a signing the following week but no definitive implementation schedule was confirmed.
Next steps: RiverCog will circulate a marked legislative-agenda draft, pursue clarifying corrections with legislative co-chairs, and invite legislators to the COG's December meeting to review the agenda.
