Sen. Ryan Fazio Defends Local Control of Zoning

HARTFORD, CT – State Senator Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich) defended local control of zoning by fighting against ‘Work Live Ride’ bill (H.B.6831) during today’s Planning and Development Committee meeting. This bill would undermine local control for municipalities by withholding essential funding from towns that do not adhere to strict high-density development zoning mandates, without regard to the unique needs of each community.

Seeking to improve H.B. 6831, Sen. Fazio introduced four amendments to ease the aggressive anti-zoning requirements and reduce the amount of funding that could be taken away from municipalities. LCO 6288, an amendment that allows towns and cities to still be eligible to receive vital funding even if they do not adhere to the strict zoning requirements prescribed by H.B.6831. Also introduced was an amendment, LCO 6289, which would change the required nine-unit-per-lot as-of-right zoning to four units.

“Voters and local leaders can make decisions about their own communities better than the state can. Threatening to withhold hundreds of millions in vital funding for failure to comply with aggressive state-prescribed zoning is wrong especially when municipalities and property-tax payers are wanting for that funding,” said Sen. Fazio.

Sen. Fazio continued, “My colleagues and I offered four amendments to the bill in good faith to make it less onerous on towns, to reduce the funding they could be deprived of, and make the development and zoning changes less aggressive. Unfortunately, those amendments failed on party lines. However, I remain committed to finding common ground on policy that defends local control of zoning while improving our housing sector in this state for everybody. I will always work with others when possible but will also always fight to protect local control when necessary. As such, I am prepared to continue fighting Work Live Ride and other anti-local control policies vigorously and for many hours on end if they ever come to the Senate floor.”

After extensive debate, both amendments failed to gain support from the Planning and Development Committee. Sen. Fazio is committed to fighting for local control of zoning and will continue to work towards a middle-ground solution during this session.