Connecticut Land Use Laws
A basic familiarity of our state’s land use laws and key definitions they use can help to explain why we are where we are today. Local zoning powers are derived from the State Legislature. A century ago, the Legislature adopted the “Standard Zoning Enabling Act” (now Chapter 124 of the General Statutes) and the “Standard Planning Enabling Act” (now Chapter 126 of the General Statutes), which enable towns to zone and plan, under certain parameters. In addition, in 1989, Connecticut adopted an affordable housing bill (contained in Chapter 126a of the General Statutes and known as 8-30g) that creates a more cooperative partnership between the state government and municipalities. This page covers all 3 of these bodies of law.
While the laws have been modified here and there over the last century, the basic essence has remained the same. We must continue to build on the 2021 zoning reforms by working on both the statewide and local fronts to make long-overdue progress.
Zoning Laws
Chapter 124 of the Connecticut General Statutes contains the state’s zoning laws.
Broadly, Chapter 124 authorizes municipalities to write their own zoning codes. It identifies the criteria local zoning commissions may take into consideration when making decisions. It also outlines zoning procedures and provides for the membership of zoning authorities.
The zoning enabling act permits municipalities to enact zoning that sets controls for things like the height and size of buildings, lot size, open spaces, building and population density. Such controls can allow municipalities to use their zoning codes to restrict who is able to live in those towns because things like large minimum lot sizes, for instance, can make housing more expensive.
Chapter 124 contains several provisions related to affordable housing (such as Section 8-2g) and inclusionary zoning (such as Section 8-2i). It authorizes towns to enact provisions related to these aspects. With the 2021 zoning reforms, the enabling act now directs municipalities to provide for a variety of housing types and to “affirmatively further fair housing.” Still, municipalities will continue to enact zoning laws that maintain exclusivity, which often falls along racial lines, so we need to be vigilant.
For example, many towns in Connecticut do not allow any multifamily housing at all, or only allow multi-family housing in zones that are already densely built up. Other towns that do have zoning provisions for multi-family or affordable housing are simultaneously able to include mandates that inhibit construction, such as requirements that those developments be built on excessively large lots. Towns with high populations of white residents tend to have the fewest zones available for multi-family/affordable housing.
Planning Laws
Chapter 126 of the Connecticut General Statutes contains the state’s planning laws.
Chapter 126 authorizes municipalities to create planning commissions and requires those commissions to adopt and then revise a plan of conservation and development every ten years (Section 8-23(a)(1)). These plans spell out the way that municipalities intend to design for their futures, while zoning is how it makes that plan its laws and puts it into practice.
Chapter 126 includes various criteria that planning commissions must take into consideration when creating and updating their municipality’s plan of development. These include things like the need for affordable housing and creating a variety of housing opportunities, along with other factors like health, education, and recreation. Section 8-23(f) requires that a municipality explain how it intends to implement this plan, and Section 8-2(a) under Chapter 124 requires a municipality to take this plan into consideration when designing its zoning laws but provides little incentive or guidance on how to successfully diversify housing choice in their communities.
Affordable Housing Law (8-30g)
Chapter 126a of the Connecticut General Statutes enables developers to challenge denials of proposed new developments that contain affordable housing.
A key provision of Chapter 126a is Section 8-30g, which was enacted to promote building affordable housing with lasting protections. At least 30% of units in such a proposal must be restricted to low- and moderate-income households (half of that 30% must be available to incomes at or below 80% of area or state median income, whichever is lower, while the other half of that 30% must be affordable for incomes at or below 60% of area or state median income, whichever is lower) for at least 40 years. It does this by requiring that affordable or mixed-income housing proposals be accepted unless the zoning decision-making body can demonstrate certain criteria.
Section 8-30g puts appeals procedures into place that can override zoning decisions denying affordable housing proposals that were made without just cause. That means that if an affordable housing proposal is struck down by local zoning decision makers, it must be denied for a valid health or safety concern that cannot be protected even with reasonable changes to the proposed development. If such a decision is appealed by the developer under this statute, the municipal decision maker has the responsibility to prove to the court that it had legitimate reasons for denying the affordable housing proposal. Municipalities will be exempt from this requirement if the State Department of Housing has designated at least 10% of the municipality’s housing stock as affordable.
The statute also enables towns to qualify for four-year moratoriums on 8-30g’s applicability to their decisions if they encourage smaller numbers of eligible affordable housing to be developed. Farmington, Wilton, New Canaan, and Ridgefield have qualified for such moratoriums, and Darien, Berlin, and Trumbull have each qualified twice. 8-30g has helped build thousands of affordable and modestly priced apartments and homes in communities across Connecticut. Currently 31 towns and cities (out of 169 total) have met the 10% threshold.
The statute was enacted to equalize opportunities by enabling more people to live in communities they previously might have been priced out of, and it has been praised for achieving these goals in some communities, but there are still critiques that the statute has not been allowed to herald these achievements throughout the entire state. For one, towns are not mandated to achieve the 10% threshold the statute identifies. Despite its adoption, affordable housing still struggles to be built in many places across the state as proposals face fierce opposition from current residents. Municipalities have only won a third of all 8-30g appeals. Cash-strapped towns should consider whether the high cost of litigation is in the best interest of their residents. For more information, see this § 8-30(g) Fact Sheet.
The 2021 zoning reforms only affected 8-30g in a minor way relating to accessory apartments. For more on this, see our FAQs.
