Groton approves opting into Connecticut Municipal Development Authority

Groton — The town plans to join the Connecticut Municipal Development Authority (CMDA) in its latest effort to bolster economic development in the Route 1 downtown area.

CMDA is a quasi-public authority established by the state legislature and the governor's office to help towns and cities achieve their development goals, particularly creating housing near train stations or in downtowns, as part of a walkable mixed-use neighborhood, CMDA Executive Director David Kooris said Friday. CMDA provides technical assistance to communities and has $90 million authorized to invest in infrastructure or finance development to help meet those goals.

The Town Council unanimously voted on Aug. 5 to opt into CMDA, the first step in the process.

Kooris said Groton is inviting CMDA to potentially bring additional tools beyond those that the town has already deployed to help realize the vision of the Route 1 corridor as a mixed-use town center.

Jon Reiner, the town's director of planning and development services, said Thursday that the town has tried multiple efforts to spur development there, including zoning it as a Mixed-Use Town Center and creating a Tax Increment Financing District, but the area has faced challenges, including a tough market, high development costs, and supply chain issues.

Reiner said CMDA is an economic development tool that would help the town meet its goals, but it does not override the town's zoning regulations, nor does the town lose any control through its land-use permitting process.

Reiner said CMDA would review the town's zoning regulations and help identify aspects the town may not have addressed appropriately, but the town then decides whether to take those suggestions or not.

He said any applications submitted for development or redevelopment in the district still would need to be consistent with the town's zoning regulations and be approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission and any other applicable land-use boards.

He said that if the town is accepted into the CMDA, it would be eligible for technical assistance. The town and potential developers who want to develop or redevelop properties in the district also would be eligible for grants or loan programs.

Kooris said land-use decisions remain at the local level. He said that once a town opts in, CMDA reviews the zoning for the area the town wants to focus on and determines whether it is likely to increase the number of dwelling units in there. While CMDA has not yet reviewed the zoning for the Route 1 corridor, he expects Groton's Mixed-Use Town Center zoning likely fits that criterion or is very close.

If CMDA does have recommendations on a community's zoning, the local Planning and Zoning Commission then decides whether or not to implement those changes and move forward to the next step in the process with CMDA, or to not continue, Kooris said.

Kooris gave the hypothetical example of CMDA making a recommendation related to front-yard setbacks that it wants a town to change before moving on to the next step. The local Planning and Zoning Commission would then have to decide whether or not to make the change, and if it does, then move to the next step.

However, Kooris explained that some of CMDA's zoning recommendations could just be suggestions for best practices while others would be required for the community to move forward to the next step of establishing a development district with CMDA.

If the community moves forward, CMDA would enter into a memorandum of understanding with the town to establish the boundaries of the development district, Kooris said. CMDA can then entertain applications for funding in that district, such as an infrastructure application from the town to reconfigure a road or extend sidewalks or a private development financing application. He said that for private developments to be approved for funding, they would have to comply with the town's zoning.

In the region, New London and Norwich also have opted in, with CMDA expecting to reach its first tranche of agreements with communities this fall.

When asked whether CMDA could help Groton draw a train station to the downtown area, Kooris said that a new train station is expensive and a "heavy lift" with multiple factors in play at the state and federal level. But he said by partnering with CMDA and being proactive about land-use decisions that would support transit, Groton is making a stronger case for a train station.

During last week's Town Council meeting, Councilor Portia Bordelon asked questions about the process, including how developers would be selected.