Affordable housing is NOT what I want to write about, but New Canaan is undergoing an existential crisis because of House Bill 5022. It’s like a meteor hurtling toward Earth, in that we are unaware of the implications or believe nothing can be done about it.

In 1989, Connecticut adopted Section 8-30g of the Connecticut General Statutes, the “Connecticut Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Procedure.” It is the sword of Damocles over our heads, permitting developers to propose high-density projects as long as they set aside 30% as affordable for 40 years.

One practical problem with the bill is that after 40 years, those units become market-rate. Towns must not only grow the number, we must replace what reverts to market rate. That’s how New York City lost 49,000 affordable apartments since 1985 and expects to lose 58,000 more soon. It’s called the “expiring use trap.” Hartford could learn from a NYC where, like whack-a-mole, the government is scrambling to fund new deals (Stuyvesant Town, Co Op City) to prevent expiration.

A second problem with 8-30g is “affordable” rents or prices must be tied to the lesser of Area Median Income (AMI) or the State Median Income (SMI), so the affordability yardstick is capped for high-cost areas. Here, 80% AMI for a 4-person household is $113,050, but the state 80% limit is $99,700 — so New Canaan must use $99,700 as the affordability ceiling. What this means, practically speaking, is that our teachers, firefighters, and police officers make too much to qualify to live here. New Canaan teachers at many mid-career steps and all top steps are $100k+ (max step hits $126,031 in 2024-25). NC patrol officers top out at $104,389 base in 2024-25. CT median firefighter pay is about $80–87k: One earner may fit; a two-earner firefighter/ teacher household quickly exceeds the cap.

A third problem is that the law does not fairly value 1, 2 and 3-bedroom rentals, treating them equally in some cases.

The fix is simple: Keep hitting our 8-30g targets and add a local workforce lane so teachers, cops, and firefighters aren’t priced out of the town they serve:

1. Create a “workforce” lane (100–120% SMI). Deed-restrict a slice of new units for teachers, police, and firefighters at 100– 120% SMI. These won’t count for 8-30g, but they should. It’s why 8-30g was adopted in the first place.

2. Fund the buy-down. Use our Inclusionary Zoning fee ($10 per $1,000 of construction value) and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to buy rents/prices down into that workforce band; pair with density bonuses where design fits.

3. Don’t sacrifice moratorium math. Keep producing 60–80% SMI deed-restricted units (the ones that do count) to secure 2028-2032 moratorium coverage, and add the workforce tier on top so our employees can actually live here.

New Canaan has 7,502 homes. The state counts 298 of them as affordable. That’s 3.97%. The target is 10%. The gap is 452 homes. 8-30g lets a town earn a four-year pause by producing enough deed-restricted units. We earned a moratorium in August 2024 that runs to August 2028. That pause restores local control on density and design while we build more units that count. To secure the next moratorium, the town is studying three town lots: Richmond Hill, Locust Avenue, and the Lumberyard by the train. Target: about 70–80 affordable units under construction by 2032. The town hired an architect to size each site.

Canaan Parish is a big reason we got this moratorium.

The Vue doesn’t count, market-rate, no income restrictions. It’s an example of how developers are using 8-30g to threaten larger projects, only to negotiate them down to smaller, market-rate ones. That’s what happened in this case. But without an affordable component, these projects actually take us further from our affordable housing goal.

Avalon was purchased by the Housing Authority for around $75 million, but units only count if they’re deed-restricted/assisted under the state rules.

What’s in House Bill 5002 (the meteor)?

1. Fair Share (“Towns Take the Lead”) — the state would assign each town a number of homes to plan and zone for. Not just to write a plan but to rewrite zoning to hit the number.

2. Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) — denser housing near transportation stations, plus radical parking changes (lower the minimums).

The irony is that New Canaan already approves high-density projects (Husted, Burtis, Main), requires a portion be affordable, and considers fee-in-lieu on parking where appropriate. We are currently rewriting our zoning laws with experts who are helping us balance property owner’s rights with safety, traffic, and environmental stewardship in mind.

Who pushed for 5022?

Majority Leader Jason Rojas (East Hartford), Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (Norwalk), and Senate President Martin Looney (New Haven). Locally, Sen. Ryan Fazio and Rep. Tom O’Dea fought against the bill and for local control. Tragically, two of our local representatives didn’t get the memo and voted for HB 5002: Ceci Maher and Lucy Dathan. Please, I implore you, let our two local representatives know how you feel.

Gov. Lamont “reluctantly” vetoed the bill on June 23, 2025, but said he wanted to sign an amended version and suggested the legislature take it up again in October. More recently, he said he’d prefer towns take the lead. Follow-on reporting says leaders still want to move on the original bill. If talks are taking place, they aren’t public, and they aren’t bipartisan.

What 5002 means to New Canaan

Fair Share: New Canaan got its numeric target of 1,875 affordable units. We’d have to rezone on a clock, even while we’re managing our moratorium cadence. That can collide with careful site work and bonding.

TOD: This means up-zoning near the train, fewer parking minimums, and more units on each parcel. It means as-of-right housing built over the shops on South Ave., Elm Street, and Main Street. It means multifamily homes. Good for walkability, tough on the environment, schools, traffic, fire safety, and looming when we don’t set guardrails.

A simple, local plan (do this now) Lock the 2032 moratorium. Move one town lot from study to schematics to funding this budget year.

Keep producing “counts-for-8- 30g” units (60–80% incomes).

Add a small workforce lane (100– 120% SMI) for teachers, cops, and firefighters so they can actually live here.

Use the Trust Fund to buy down those rents/prices. Workforce units don’t count for 8-30g, but they should.

Ask the state for alignment, not ambush. If 5002 returns, tie any town targets to moratorium timelines, sewer/road capacity, and funding, so towns that plan and bond aren’t punished mid-stream.

Focus on fixing 8-30g instead of undermining it. Darien, Wilton, and Greenwich all gave up any hope of a moratorium strategy like ours, proving that the unintended effect of an unachievable mandate will be that towns will spend more on litigation than solving the affordability problem. Rep. Dathan, Sen. Maher, and Gov. Lamont, whatever you do, don’t move the goalposts while we’re lining up the kick.

John Engel is a broker on The Engel Team at Douglas Elliman, and he is a member of the Planning & Zoning commission. He would much rather talk about luxury projects, like the cool car elevator we approved. While he can’t talk about pending applications, he’s proud of the progress New Canaan has made in the last ten years, more than any other Fairfield County town, and he sees first-hand the negative effect fear, litigation, and predatory applications have on our real estate market. He’d like to see the lawsuits settled, 8-30g reformed, and 5002 defeated, and he urges you to contact your representatives.

Check out John Engel’s Podcast, Boroughs & Burbs, the National Real Estate Conversation here.

Read this article on the New Canaan Sentinel website here.