CT Municipal Development Authority opens door to new housing

The Connecticut Municipal Development Authority plans to formalize its first local relationship later this month with the borough of Naugatuck, where it will offer support for building more affordable housing close to a train station, the authority’s director said in a press briefing Wednesday.

CMDA, formerly called the Municipal Redevelopment Authority, was established in 2019 as an unfunded entity; Last year, it officially received funding and launched operations. The authority is tasked with offering financial and technical assistance to towns looking to increase density near train and bus rapid transit stations and in downtowns.

Since it launched, 26 towns have agreed to partner with the agency. About five are likely to have their contracts with the agency approved later this month.

Naugatuck was the first municipality to join up with CMDA. Authority director David Kooris said he anticipates his board will approve that contract in the coming days. Other towns have a few more details to iron out, but Kooris said he hopes they’ll be ready.

For Naugatuck, this means developers working on projects will soon be eligible to apply for funding through CMDA. The agency has $90 million in bonding — $60 million that’s already available and another $30 million for the next fiscal year. Much of the funding will be doled out in loans, which the authority will then use to fund more projects once the loans are repaid.

“They’re all across the state. They’re all different sizes,” Kooris said of the towns he’s working with. “I think it is a testament to the fact that CMDA is a robust and diverse toolkit that can be tailored to meet the needs of our municipal partners, even if they have very different challenges and opportunities within their borders.”

Naugatuck is in the process of relocating its train station, which will be across the street from a new housing development and near some old commercial space that could be converted into apartments. Local officials say they hope this will encourage people to walk to the train station and to some of the borough’s nearby shops.

“We want vibrancy,” said Mayor Pete Hess, on a walking tour of the area where CMDA will work. “We want people walking, eating, drinking, shopping using the train.”

That effort is paired with another project aimed at improving walkability in the nearby downtown, where workers were putting in new brick sidewalks late last month. It’s an expensive project, and the town will need improved infrastructure, Hess said in the spring.

But just as he was worrying over the small town being unable to afford the cost, “Out of nowhere, an angel came from above, and it was CMDA,” he said.

CMDA’s work is based on a land use concept known as transit-oriented development, which seeks to build walkable communities where people can easily access businesses, housing and public transit. It often requires higher density, which increases the housing stock.

Municipalities opt in to work with CMDA. After meetings, analysis and public comment, the town’s governing body can vote to join as a member municipality. The towns that join will likely need to agree to make certain zoning changes in the areas of town they want to work in. Then, a memorandum of understanding is developed between the agencies and approved by the CMDA board. That makes the town eligible for technical assistance and funding.

“We don’t have the authority to usurp zoning control,” Kooris said. “We don’t have the authority to override local decision making.” Still, he added, there’s been a “pronounced uptick in interest” from towns in the last six months.

Kooris said he’s gotten questions about whether the authority would decide on projects without the town’s input. He said CMDA works with projects that already have zoning approval from the town, and it won’t fund projects that come in through affordable housing developers suing towns under the 8-30g statute.

The legislature included a few measures in budget legislation earlier this year to make it easier for towns to opt in to working with CMDA. For towns that have a council and a representative town meeting, only the council will need to approve the opt-in as of Oct. 1, when the legislation goes into effect.

Public comment will also be allowed at meetings where the local legislative body votes on the measure; Previously, a separate public hearing was required.

Nearly every town in Connecticut is now eligible to participate. Under the original statute, towns in the Hartford area that were a part of the Capitol Region Development Authority weren’t eligible to join CMDA.

This year’s state budget legislation also allows for towns with a nearby transit station that’s not technically within their town boundaries to include property that’s near the neighboring town’s station in a designated CMDA project zone. For example, Bridgeport could include its land close to the Fairfield-Black Rock train station in a transit zone, even if Fairfield hadn’t opted to join CMDA.

Kooris said it’s likely more towns will join when these changes go into effect.

“We have a lot of flexibility in what we can support as long as there’s a direct nexus between either the infrastructure or the project funding and the creation of housing units within the context of vibrant, mixed use, walkable downtowns or transit oriented districts,” he said.