Tax Abatement Ordinance Leads to De-Coupling Difficulty

At their meeting Monday evening, the Board of Selectmen formally recommended that the Representative Town Meeting consider an ordinance that will provide the Town with authority to give tax abatements for low and middle-income housing projects. Selectmen insisted that approval of the ordinance was not tied to any particular project, but for the neighbors of Allen O’Neill, the board's decision made "de-coupling" difficult.

"We need to decouple this, because this is not contingent upon any particular project," said First Selectman Evonne Klein.

The tax exemption ordinance will enable detailed conversation over whether or not the Town should issue tax abatements for any particular affordable housing development in the future.

"The decision just gives us power to have that conversation; nothing more, nothing less," said Selectman David Bayne.

But that was not how some AON neighbors took it; some "smell a rat." It's the redevelopment project that has prompted the ordinance, they say, which makes "decoupling" Monday night's decision all but easy.

Monday night’s discussion over the prospect of providing tax abatement for the affordable housing quickly became tied to discussion over the redevelopment project, a plan to level the existing 53 homes and replace them with 107 units on the 11-acre site off Noroton Avenue. What followed was heated public comment about the project and its current developer, Arthur T. Anderson.

"This is a $30-million financial disaster and pretty soon it is going to explode and the neighbors are going to be left to pick it up," said Sandy Stoller of Fairfield Avenue.

Chairman of the Darien Housing Authority Jenny Schwartz told the BoS that the primary reason the DHA was proposing the tax abatement ordinance was to enhance its upcoming re-application to obtain tax credits from the Connecticut Finance Housing Project to fund the redevelopment. The DHA’s first application was rejected in August.

The latest development in the three-year saga over AON redevelopment has renewed vehement neighborhood opposition to the project.

In an interview following Monday’s meeting, Peter Rogers of Noroton Avenue said the best course for the town to take now would be to scrap the current plans and begin anew with "true community participation."

During Planning & Zoning Commission review in 2008, Rogers said, he and others collected 300 signatures from homeowners surrounding AON who opposed the redevelopment as proposed, he said.

"That’s five percent of the households in Darien; a substantial voting block," Rogers said. "Yes, there were P&Z hearings, and, yes, we gave significant input. But, no, we were not listened to, nor were other town agencies."

Rogers and his wife Kathi appealed the P&Z approval to the Superior Court, where the case has been proceeding on a court-ordered schedule. A hearing could take place before the end of the year, Rogers said.

He believes the neighborhood remains steadfast in its opposition to the project because of issues of density, drainage, sewage disposal, traffic and aesthetics.

For example, Rogers said, the Department of Public Works issued a report prior to the P&Z hearings requiring a downstream analysis of the existing sewer system by DHA. According to that report, the DHA will have to pay for any necessary upgrades.

"DHA has never bothered to look into this possible nightmare. It could be nothing or it could be several million dollars," Rogers said. "They are planning hundreds of bedrooms and bathrooms without even knowing if they will be able to flush the toilets."

Rogers said an environmental review had not been undertaken despite recommendations of other town agencies.

Rogers and his wife traveled recently to six different locations in the Hartford area to observe other public housing projects developed by Anderson.

"They are not the type you’d like to see in Darien," said Rogers, who grew up in the historic c. 1690 home on Noroton Avenue, one house removed from AON, where he now resides.

Rogers said the design resembles "afffordable housing projects of the ‘50s and ‘60s."

"The resultant urban blight from this type of thinking is evident everywhere including the present AON," Rogers wrote recently in a letter to an RTM member he preferred not to name. "Single-use projects with a distinct lack of architectural diversity laid out in symmetrical fashion has been a guaranteed recipe for stigma, leading to rapid urban decay."

Rogers said that where the DHA should have reached out to the local Architectural community for input, they have instead jumped on an overly simplistic design by Anderson.

For her part, Schwartz responded to neighborhood criticism in an email dated Oct. 27.

"We believe the site plan is attractive and the design for the homes was derived from home on Fairfield Avenue, Noroton Avenue, West Avenue and Elm Street," Schwartz wrote.

As to talk that switching developers at this point could subject the DHA to having to reimburse Anderson for his pre-development costs, which exceed $500,000 to date, Schwartz said that could occur based on the Term Sheet DHA executed March 7, 2008.

However, she noted, "The Developer Agreement has not yet been executed because we still don’t have a tax credit investor who would be party to the agreement."

Rogers and his attorney have met with town representatives once already to mediate the dispute. A second session is scheduled for Nov. 9.

As a gesture of "good faith," at Town Counsel's request, Rogers said he dropped an appeal he had filed with the state’s Freedom of Information Commission after he was unable to obtain a copy of the Connecticut Finance Housing Authority (CFHA) application at the DHA office at Town Hall in order to file his comments to CFHA within its 15-day comment period, because he was told the DHA did not have a copy of it. He and his wife traveled to Rocky Hill to review the original 1,000 plus page application and were thereby able to submit their comments within the CFHA deadline.

Other neighbors present at Monday's meeting echoed Rogers’ concerns.

"My awareness of a disturbing summary of an investigation by the Attorney General, and the subsequent settlement have further eroded my confidence level," said Catherine Beckmann of North Avenue. She referred to a state investigation of Arthur T. Anderson in 2000 that resulted in resolution by which he agreed to pay $200,000 to settle claims that he mishandled state funds.

Added Patti Dalessio of Fairfield Avenue:

"What the DHA is proposing is so wrong and will not only affect property values and the quality of life in our neighborhood, it will do the same for the entire town of Darien."

Jan Pierret of Fairfield Avenue who has given public comment on the issue at Board of Selectmen meetings in the past, spoke again at Monday's meeting.

"I would like to be supportive of the DHA and a redevelopment plan, but the proposed plan is not the right plan for this site," said Pierret. "I hope that the BoS, the RTM and the Board of Finance research this plan for redevelopment before approving the DHA’s request for financial assistance and take serious consideration of the community’s concerns."

First Selectwoman Evonne Klein reiterated the importance of "de-coupling" the tax exemption ordinance from the AON Redevelopment project, of which she said she "still has concerns." Klein advised the neighbors and concerned residents that they take up specific issues with P&Z and the DHA.

"It's been very clear, the direction of this board for the past few of years to support affordable housing, and to make the right thing to do easy. Our job as public officials is to identify options and make those options available," said Klein who will serve her final day in office, Nov. 2. "I see this as completing our work that we have begun."