Please attend the 7 PM January 23 Planning Board meeting where the board will consider a zoning overlay for 25 Deforest that would allow for dense residential development.
On Friday, January 13, just before a long weekend, Summit published a “Housing Element and Fair Share Plan” that is going up for vote at the planning board on January 23rd. This plan:
- establishes “overlay zones” in eight locations that will allow for more or denser residential development
- proposes to amend existing zoning, to allow for “zoning enhancements” for residential developments
The "overlay zones" allow for multi-family residential development at a density of 12 units per acre with a 15-20% affordable housing set-aside. While 6 of the 8 targeted overlay zones are for properties that already allow residential development, 2 of the overlay zones are not currently zoned for residential development including 25 Deforest. The plan would establish a residential multi-family overlay zone at 25 Deforest that would allow for the construction of 50 residential units including 40 market priced and 10 affordable units. Separately, the “zoning enhancements” are proposed to “compensate” developers for the affordable housing requirement - which general requirement I believe already exists. These “enhancements” may include "additional density", a "monetary subsidy form the City’s affordable housing trust fund", "bulk design waivers” etc.
This plan was created by Summit to comply with a settlement agreement entered into in October 2016 between the city and the “Fair Share Housing Center.” The settlement agreement settles certain litigation regarding affordable housing requirements and obligates the city to satisfy 36 “realistic development potential” (RDP) affordable housing units and reasonably facilitate the construction of 50 new affordable units. The city has already met the required 36 unit RDP requirement based on existing “affordable housing credits” from previous developments. According to the plan, while the city is “obligated to affirmatively address its RDP", the additional “unmet need” beyond the 36 is “more aspirational”. To “facilitate” the 50 new affordable units, the City is pursuing various actions including the creation of the overlay zones. According to the City’s Plan, the overlay zones alone could result in 75 affordable units, 10 of which could come from 25 Deforest.
The City needs to facilitate affordable housing and comply with the settlement agreement. We are concerned, however, that the settlement agreement and the new plan are being used as a back door to once again change the zoning at 25 Deforest to allow for dense residential development. Once this threshold is crossed, additional incremental zoning changes could of course be requested. 25 Deforest is in a B zone with strict density restrictions, allowing only a 30% building lot coverage ratio. The B Zone is also a “transition zone” that must be sensitive to the scale of adjacent residential neighborhoods. The settlement agreement only requires that the city facilitate 50 new units, not 75, hence it would appear that a 25 Deforest overlay zone is not required.
It is curious that this zoning vote is planned so soon on the heels of the master plan reexamination that did not summarize any of these pending zoning modifications and that of all of the public and private land within the city’s 6 square miles, 25 Deforest appears on the list of sites for an overlay zone so soon after dense residential development on the property was unanimously rejected by the planning board.
