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Though the commission seemed to like the application, entitled Marbledale Meadows, the four-person panel (member Liddy Adams recused herself) denied recommending the appropriation in a 3-to-1 vote because it lacked confidence in the state's willingness to provide further, and necessary, grant monies.
"The way the trust has this set up, it's dependent on a state grant," said commission Chairman Wayne Hileman. "No state grant, no project. We have to assess the likelihood of state funding."
When the housing trust presented this proposal late last winter, which calls for 11 affordable homes on the site of the former Myfield development-off Route 202 in the Marbledale section of town-it asked for $150,000 from the town. The hope then, as it is now, is that the state would contribute about $1 million toward the total cost, and that revenue from home sales would pay for the rest of the estimated $3.1 million project.
But given the state budget crisis, the state Department of Economic and Community Development [DECD] then imposed a six-month moratorium on grant money. The moratorium has since been lifted, but the DECD still only releases about $12 million per year, and according the housing trust, there are currently 18 Connecticut projects in queue.
"Do I have faith in the housing trust? I'll go on record-yes I do," Mr. Hileman continued. "But it boils down to how much faith I have in the state. And by the housing trust's own admission, without the state, this can't happen."
Richard Sears, the former first selectman who is the president of the Washington Community Housing Trust, said he was "rather stunned" by the denial, and would have liked the chance to allow Washington residents to vote on it.
"The Commission's praise in support of WCHT's ability to complete this project seemed drowned by a sea of distrust of the state and a fear that it would not, in the end, fund this excellent proposal," Mr. Sears said in a written statement. "Nothing good is ever accomplished without risk."
According to documents, the housing trust committed $35,000 of its own funds toward hiring a housing consultant, architect and engineer. It anticipated receiving $25,000 back from the town grant.
Currently, two homes, both built by the Myfield developers, stand on the property. The private development company had planned to create a larger affordable housing complex under the state's 8-30g program, which means at least 30 percent of the units would have met state affordable housing standards. The other houses would have been market-rate structures with asking prices approaching $1 million.
But Myfield's agreement with the housing trust earlier this year gave the charitable organization the option to buy the land, if not the two standing homes. The trust's proposal called for 100 percent of the units to be made affordable, and for each to have a market price of between $150,000 and $220,000.
After the meeting, Mr. Sears said he and the housing trust will soon reassess the situation.
