Gov. Lamont vetoes housing bill, seeks better solution

Gov. Ned Lamont vetoed HB 5002, a bill proposed to address the state’s housing shortage and affordability, saying he took the action to remedy concerns by municipal officials that the legislation took too much local control away from the towns and their zoning commissions.

In meeting with reporters after the veto, Lamont expressed his desire to come up with a better plan to meet the vetoed housing bill’s objectives. “I don’t do a lot of vetoes,” Lamont told reporters at his Capitol office. “A veto doesn’t mean dead stop. A veto means we can do a lot better, and I hope we can do that.”

Lamont suggested he wanted a new housing bill addressing the municipal officials’ concerns on his desk after the special legislation session expected in the fall.

“It’s a really good start on a really important problem confronting our state,” Lamont said of the housing bill. “Again, when it comes to jobs, when it comes to economic growth, when it comes to opportunity, when it comes to affordability, a lot of that comes back to housing — the high price of housing, the cost of housing, how zoning and the approval process and the permitting process can drive up the cost of housing and the amount of time it takes to get the job done. And we pay a terrible price for that.”

The bill passed over opposition from Republicans and 18 House Democrats. Before the veto, local leaders from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and the Council of Small Towns urged him to veto the bill.              

Lamont said he was motivated by concerns the bill imposed mandates, rather than enabling the  towns to propose what they deemed the appropriate level of affordable housing should be for their towns. He also cited the legislation’s provision that would allow developers to construct as many as 24 units with no additional off-street parking. Opponents said parking is already difficult in many areas, and the bill would only make it worse. And, third, there was local opposition to the provision allowing developers to convert commercial property into as many as nine residential apartments without needing permission from local planning and zoning commissions.

“Show me what your town wants to look like … and we’ll be right there as your partner,” Lamont told reporters in his office.