Resources for Developers

Smart Growth

Submit your project for review as a "Smart Growth" development. Does it reflect the best use of land and provide access to transportation, work, shopping and recreation? Does it compliment community character and existing development? If so, consider submitting your project proposal to 1000 friends to be scored. They will advocate on your behalf along with SECHA and testify in favor of high scoring proposals.

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HUD Releases 2011 Income Limits

HUD has released the Fiscal year 2011 estimated median family income and income limits. 2011 income limits for Connecticut are available at this link >> 2011 HUD Income Limits

Income limits for all areas in the U.S. and more materials related to the 2010 income limits can be found at www.huduser.org/datasets/portal/dataset/il.html.

Affordable Housing and School Costs

Higher school enrollments and the associated costs are a top concern of municipalities when considering affordable housing. Estimate the enrollment impact of each development with the multipliers provided in this Study. This exhaustive study estimates multipliers for the number of people living in the unit, number of school age children, and number of public school age children. These groups are broken out by the kind of housing unit (attached or detached single family home, 2-4 family building, 5+ family building, etc), the number of bedrooms, and the sale value of the unit.

Residential Demographic Multipliers: Estimates of the Occupants of New Housing - Robert Burchell, Ph.D., David Listokin, Ph.D., and William Dolphin, M.A. Rutgers University, Center for Urban Policy Research

One Free Cut

Act Concerning Subdivisions for Affordable Housing Developments allows for the initial subdivision of land by an owner — the so-called first cut — to be exempt from the usual planning and zoning approval process and subdivision rules, provided that at least one lot is donated or sold for use as affordable housing.

The landowner can subsequently divide the property, subject to local zoning regulations, a second time, without penalty or red tape. A landowner could sell or donate a piece of property to the town or a nonprofit organization but still retain the option of splitting off a second piece (the “free second cut”) later, for example, to construct a home for a family member.

The bill was sponsored by Assemblywoman Marilyn Giuliano, from Old Saybrook, and Senator Andrew Roraback, of northern Litchfield County.

Urban and Industrial Sites Reinvestment Tax Credit Program

The Urban and Industrial Sites Reinvestment Tax Credit Program was created under Public Act 00-170 and later modified by Public Acts: 05-276; 06-184;06-187 and 06-189. This program is a powerful economic development tool designed to drive investment to the state's urban centers and other economically distressed communities without depleting valuable state bond dollars. Click here to read more about this program at the State of CT, Department of Economic and Community Development's website.