Nuccio Defends Local Government from Hartford Overreach
HARTFORD — State Representative Tammy Nuccio (R-53) recently expressed her opposition to a bill imposing more local control on her district from Hartford.
Hundreds of people signed up to testify during a marathon public hearing on Monday regarding a proposal impacting local zoning decisions, with more than half being turned away when the hearing was ended abruptly after 24 hours.
In the Planning and Development Committee, over 300 people signed up to testify on a number of bills to promote affordable housing, including SB-1024. The bill would override local zoning authorities by mandating multi-family developments and affordable housing “as-of-right”, regardless of existing regulations. Nuccio pointed out that the towns in her district are updating regulations on their own to allow for more diverse housing stock, despite claims by the bill’s supporters that they aren’t doing enough.
“You can’t pass judgement on my towns without knowing their history or what our local officials are already doing on this issue. Anyone with experience in local government knows that context is important and that ‘one-size-fits-all’ policies are not always the solution. Housing is no different. I will continue to work with our zoning boards in Ashford, Tolland and Willington to assist where I can and will vote against proposals that would take these decisions away from local government,” Rep. Nuccio said.
“Because of past settlement patterns and to some extent our previous zoning regulations, our town has very little affordable or workforce housing. Instead, it is dominated by single family homes on large lots. As a commission, we are aware of this and have been working hard to increase our housing diversity,” said Andy Powell, the chair of the Tolland Planning and Zoning Commission who had signed up to testify against the bill but was not given an opportunity to speak before the hearing ended. “Making affordable, multi-family housing a use by right, removes the community engagement in creating our new Tolland. We have very limited infrastructure (water, sewer, gas) in the vast majority of our town to support large scale affordable housing developments.”
Following Monday’s public hearing, the Planning and Development Committee has until March 23rd to issue a Joint Favorable report and move the bill to the House floor for a vote.
Nuccio encourages residents to visit her website, RepNuccio.com for the latest state legislative updates.
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