[Added effective 6-27-2011]
It is the purpose of the Mixed Income Housing Development regulations
to encourage flexibility in site design and housing construction thereby
promoting housing choice, economic diversity and open space preservation.
Variety in housing types, including single-family cluster development,
will help meet community needs now and in the future, including the
need for lower cost residential housing. These regulations are intended
to ensure that lower cost housing developments are constructed in
full compliance with all of the requirements of this section as well
as other applicable town ordinances and regulations. A mixed income
housing development shall be consistent with soil types, terrain and
infrastructure capacity and shall be sensitive to maintaining the
rural character of the community and of the neighborhood in which
it is located.
A unit in a Mixed Income Housing Development conveyed by
a deed containing covenants or restrictions which shall require that,
for at least 40 years after the initial occupation of the proposed
development, such unit shall be sold at, or below, prices which will
preserve the unit as housing for persons and families whose income
is less than or equal to 80% or 60% of the median income.
The costs that are to be included when calculating maximum
allowed rents and sale prices for the affordable units. Maximum monthly
housing cost shall not be greater than 30% of income, where such income
is equal to or less than 80% or 60% of the median income, and which
cost shall include the costs for periodic mortgage payments, based
on a commercially reasonable down payment for housing buyers and prevailing
interest rates at the time of sale; taxes; insurance; common charges
in the case of ownership in a common interest community; heat; and
utility costs, including hot water and electricity, but excluding
cable television.
The lesser of the state median income or the area median
income of the Town of Newtown, as determined by the United States
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
A housing development in which not less than 30% of the dwelling
units will be conveyed by deeds containing covenants or restrictions
which shall require that, for at least 40 years after the initial
occupation of the proposed development, such dwelling units shall
be sold at, or below, prices which will preserve the units as housing
for persons and families whose income is less than or equal to 80%
or 60% of the median income. Of the units conveyed by deeds containing
deed restrictions, a number of dwelling units equal to not less than
15% of all dwelling units in the development shall be sold to persons
or families whose income is less than or equal to 60% of the median
income and the remainder of the dwelling units conveyed by deeds containing
deed restrictions shall be sold to persons or families whose income
is less than or equal to 80% of the median income.
A Mixed Income Housing Development shall be permitted as a principal use in the Mixed Income Housing Development Zone, subject to the site development plan approval provisions of Article X. The site development plan shall meet the standards, criteria, conditions and procedures which are set forth in Section 595-10.01.420 hereof, and the additional standards and criteria set forth below:
(a)
A Mixed Income Housing Development shall be located on parcels
of land having direct access to and frontage on an arterial or major
collector roadway as such roadways are identified in the Newtown Plan
of Development, as amended, so as to provide traffic access to such
Mixed Income Housing Developments without generating excessive traffic
on minor or local streets in residential areas.
(b)
Affordability plan. In conjunction with the submission of an
application for approval of a mixed income housing development the
applicant shall submit an affordability plan, which shall describe
in detail how the development will comply with the regulations regarding
maximum monthly housing costs and how the covenants and restrictions
will be administered as set forth in Section 595-3.03.200. Such affordability
Plan shall be consistent with the regulations set forth herein. An
affordability plan shall include at least the following:
1.
Designation of the person, entity or agency that will be responsible
for the duration of any maximum monthly housing cost restrictions,
for the administration of the affordability plan and its compliance
with the income limits and sale price set forth herein;
2.
An affirmative fair housing marketing plan governing the sale
of all dwelling units;
3.
A sample calculation of the maximum sales price of the intended
affordable units;
4.
A description of the projected sequence in which the affordable
units will be built and offered for occupancy and the specific location
of such units within the proposed development;
5.
Conditions of approvals, deeds, or restrictive covenants that
will govern the affordable units;
6.
The mechanism for maintaining common recreational facilities
and open space areas within the development.
3.04.310
Minimum lot area. The lot
containing a Mixed Income Housing Development shall be at least 4 1/2
acres of contiguous land owned or controlled by the applicant.
3.04.311
Street frontage. Each Mixed Income Housing
Development shall have a minimum frontage of 100 feet.
3.04.312
Front yard setback. Where the lot has the
required minimum street frontage, the minimum setback from the street
shall be 25 feet from the street line or 50 feet from the centerline
of the street, whichever is greater. In establishing front, side and
rear yards for any lot without the required minimum street frontage,
the front yard of any such lot shall be located on that portion of
the rear lot nearest to the street to which access is provided.
3.04.313
Side and rear setbacks. The minimum side and
rear yards shall be 20 feet.
3.04.314
Density.
(a)
The overall number of dwelling units permitted
shall not exceed 5.75 units per gross acre.
(b)
The number of dwelling units shall not exceed eight
units per usable acre based upon deduction of area as follows: Acreage
having slopes of 25% or more shall be calculated using 50% of such
area. Acreage having wetlands, watercourses or area within the base
flood elevation as determined by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency shall be calculated as usable using 25% of such areas. All
other acreage is considered usable site area and density shall be
calculated at 100%. In no case, regardless of acreage, shall an MIHD
project exceed 100 units.
3.04.315
Building height. No dwelling, building or
other structure may exceed 42 feet to the highest point of the building
from any ground level point on any side of the building.
3.04.321
Any Mixed Income Housing Development
shall be served by and all units in an MIHD shall be connected to
a public water supply.
3.04.322
Any Mixed Income Housing Development shall
be served by and all units in an MIHD shall be connected to sanitary
sewers in accordance with the policies, procedures or regulations
established by the Newtown Water Pollution Control Authority, and
all wastewater discharges shall be directed thereto.
3.04.323
Adequate provision for storm drainage shall
be made as determined by the Town Engineer in accordance with Town
standards.
3.04.324
All utilities in a Mixed Income Housing Development
shall be underground.
3.04.325
Fire protection facilities shall be provided
and the water storage and rates of flow available to such shall be
adequate to fight any fire which could occur on the property.
3.04.331
All multifamily dwellings
included in a mixed income housing development shall be designed in
a townhouse or garden apartment type construction. There shall be
no more than one unit or portion thereof located above another unit.
3.04.332
Each unit shall have an entrance providing
direct access to the exterior, which access shall not be shared in
common with any other unit.
3.04.333
No building shall contain more than six units.
No building shall exceed 125 feet in a single dimension. No exterior
wall shall exceed 85 feet in length in an unbroken plane without an
offset of at least two feet.
3.04.334
The minimum distance between buildings shall
not be less than 30 feet, unless the unit in the building offers an
attached garage. In the latter case the distance shall not be less
than 20 feet.
3.04.335
Units shall contain no less than one bedroom
and no more than three bedrooms.
3.04.336
Affordable units shall be of a construction
quality that is comparable to market-rate units within the development,
and shall be dispersed throughout the development. The units designated
as affordable units shall contain at least 30% of the total bedrooms
proposed for the project.
3.04.337
If the development is to be built in phases,
the affordable units will be built on a pro rata basis as construction
proceeds.
3.04.341
Private roadways within the
development shall be at least 22 feet wide with a surface of bituminous
concrete or equivalent in accordance with Town standards, except for
emergency roadways which shall be at least 12 feet wide. Private roadways
shall be designed for easy circulation within the development and
safe intersections with public highways, which intersections shall
not be less than 75 feet from the center line of the nearest intersecting
street on the same side of the street as the access roadway.
3.04.342
Parking shall conform to the requirements
of Section 595-8.03.610. Off street parking spaces shall be provided
at a ratio of two spaces per unit. Eleven additional parking spaces
for visitors shall be provided for every 26 units and shall be located
with resident parking areas. Parking areas and garages shall be located
adjacent to the dwelling units they will serve and shall not be located
greater than 150 feet from unit entrances.
3.04.344
If parking areas and sidewalks
are proposed to be artificially illuminated, then such lighting shall
be arranged so that no direct rays from such lighting fall off the
lot or shine into the windows of any unit within the development.
All parking areas shall be suitably landscaped, using such techniques
as planted islands and preservation of existing large trees and natural
buffers. Adequate screening of such parking areas from adjacent properties
shall be provided utilizing natural contours and vegetation to the
greatest extent possible. No source of external illumination shall
be visible from offsite.
3.04.345
Parking areas shall not be permitted within
front, side or rear setbacks or within accessway areas. Such setback
areas shall be landscaped so as to maintain a residential character
and so as to provide a natural buffer from adjoining properties.
3.04.346
Landscaping. Existing vegetation and natural
changes in topography shall be maintained to the greatest extent possible
in designing site development. Screening from adjacent properties
shall be enhanced by maintaining existing vegetation and topography
and shall be supplemented with fences, walls, berms and dense landscaping
which will adequately screen a mixed income housing development from
adjacent properties year-round.
3.04.347
Excavation. All excavation, grading and placement of fill material shall be permitted as part of a site development plan approval in the Mixed Income Housing Development zone, provided that the information required by Article VIII, Section 3, of the Zoning Regulations and Article 2, Sections 1 and 2, of the Newtown sand and gravel regulations is submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission in connection with the site plan.
3.04.348
Aquifer impact review. In connection with
Planning and Zoning Commission consideration of a site development
plan for a Mixed Income Housing District, the Site Plan shall be referred
to the Conservation Commission and the Newtown Health District, which
shall provide an Aquifer Impact Assessment using the standards set
forth in Section 595-2.01.910.
3.04.411
The maximum monthly housing
cost for affordable units shall be established as defined in Connecticut
General Statutes § 8-30g.
3.04.412
Any affordable unit which is sold shall be
conveyed only by a deed which restricts the maximum price upon resale
to an amount that will maintain the unit as an affordable unit in
accordance with Connecticut General Statutes § 8-30g.
3.04.413
An affordable unit shall be occupied only
as the purchaser's primary residence. Leasing and subletting
shall be strictly and specifically prohibited for each affordable
unit.
3.04.414
The forty-year period during which 30% of
the units shall remain as affordable units shall begin on the date
of initial conveyance of title. During the forty-year period the designated
units within the development shall be maintained as affordable units
so as to maintain the minimum 30% set aside and the development as
a whole shall continue to comply with all requirements of this section.
