Penelope Tambis, a Woodbridge resident, teared up when arguing for reversing the town’s December 2024 zoning changes. New Havener Dan Robinson: “In what scenario does tightening regulations create opportunity for Woodbridge and those that wish to call it home?” A rendering of the 96-u nit apartment building approved for 804 Fountain St. in December 2025. Credit: File photo A month after approving plans for a 96-unit, mixed-income apartment complex on the border of Woodbridge and New Haven, Woodbridge zoning commissioners voted Monday to amend the town’s zoning rules to prohibit similar projects in the future. The 6-0 decision took place during a spirited meeting of the Woodbridge Town Plan Zoning (TPZ) Commission at 4 Meetinghouse Ln., where over 150 residents gathered to chastise the commission for approving the zoning rules that allowed a four-story apartment complex to move forward. Monday’s meeting took place 13 months after the commission voted in December 2024 to amend Woodbridge’s zoning rules. According to Chair Jeff Kennedy, those changes were intended to encourage more housing development and help the town reach the 10 percent housing affordability goal set by state law. The meeting also took place one month after the commission approved plans for a 96-unit complex at 804 Fountain St., a project made possible by the December 2024 zoning change. Monday’s vote undoes the pro-development changes made to the town’s zoning regulations a year and a month ago. (The reversal goes into effect on Jan. 19.) With the reversal, in low-density residential zones (Residence A Districts), maximum units per acre will decrease from 18.0 to 15.0, maximum lot coverage from 30 percent to 22.5 percent, and maximum number of stories from four to 2.5. It will also increase the affordability requirements on multi-family developments that seek approvals under the town’s “Opportunity Housing” rules by mandating that they set aside at least 20 percent of units to families earning 60 percent of the area median income. During Monday’s public hearing, Cathy Wick, president of the Woodbridge Park Association and former Republican candidate for first selectman, acknowledged that the town’s pre-December 2024 zoning rules are “far from ideal.” Still, she argued, reversing the changes would be a crucial “first step” to crafting regulations that serve the interests of the town, not those of “profit-seeing developers.” Several subsequent speakers echoed Wick’s criticism, arguing that the December 2024 zoning amendments were intended to enrich developers — especially Fountain Ridge LLC, which advocated for the changes. The amendments, which were approved in a “clandestine” manner, have created “fodder for pillaging Woodbridge,” declared McKenzie Granata, a Woodbridge resident. She argued that development will increase the town’s property taxes, displacing the existing, “hard-working residents.” “What’s gonna happen to the people who live here, who now have to spend more on taxes to build up the infrastructure so that we can grow Woodbridge?” asked Granata. “I chose to move to Woodbridge because of the school system,” said Songnian Liu, a father of two children at Beecher Road School. More housing, he argued, will “ruin” schools by forcing them “to accept a lot more students.” Andrea Urbano, a member of Woodbridge’s Board of Selectmen and a nominee of the Republican Town Committee, told the commission, “You are for the people. You are by the people. Please be so.” She described reversion as the first step towards “collaborative and creative problem-solving” that improves the town’s housing stock. In an interview with the Independent, First Selectman Mica Cardozo, a Democrat, said he agreed with the call to adjust the town’s zoning rules, given the level of concern voiced by engineers, firefighters, and the public. He emphasized that officials hear residents and are already consulting experts and nearby towns to come up with new zoning regulations. On Monday night, the only opposition to increasing zoning restrictions on new housing in Woodbridge came from two New Haven residents. When Dan Robinson, an assistant town planner for Branford, said he lived in New Haven, the audience jeered. “Go back to New Haven!” exclaimed one man. After TPZ Chair Jeff Kennedy calmed the room, Robinson explained that detached single-family homes, which make up more than 90 percent of Woodbridge’s housing, would “not be enough” to address affordability issues in the region. “In what scenario does tightening regulations create opportunity for Woodbridge and those that wish to call it home?” asked Robinson. Fellow New Havener Miles Lasater — an entrepreneur who co-founded Higher One, SeeClickFix, and OneUni — argued that Woodbridge has an obligation, “morally and legally,” to build more homes. In an interview with the Independent, Lasater said he attended Monday’s meeting to advocate for the people who can’t afford to live in Woodbridge. Given that housing markets are interconnected, he added, the “housing shortage means we have a desperate need to build” throughout the region. After public testimony concluded, Commissioner Paul Schatz called the December 2024 zoning changes “flawed, misguided, and ridiculous.” He said he voted against them in 2024 and supports undoing them now. Commissioners Benjamin Cherry and James Horwitz, while in favor of the reversal, pointed out that the pre-December-2024 regulations discouraged affordable development. In 2023, only 1.2 percent of Woodbridge’s housing stock was considered affordable. That has led housing advocates to pursue an ongoing court case against Woodbridge for prohibiting multi-family housing in 98.4 percent of the town, which, they argue, restricts affordable development. “There’s not a huge number of ways that we can force development,” pointed out Aaron Hoffmann, a commission member. He encouraged the TPZ to ask private homebuilders about the zoning relief they need to build affordable housing. Michael D’Amato, a town planning consultant for Woodbridge, said the reversal would restore a zoning scheme that makes it too expensive to build affordable housing. According to D’Amato, for 22 units to be built on a 65,000-square-foot lot, each apartment would need to be sized at 630 square feet, and setbacks and parking would have to cover 80 percent of the parcel. Given construction costs, he argued, that’s “not viable.” D’Amato urged the commission to “consider the alternative.” Unless they come up with a zoning scheme that enables more affordable development, Woodbridge will likely see more affordable housing developers use 8-30g, a state law, to override the town’s zoning regulations, leaving the commission with less influence over the location, aesthetics, and overall nature of new developments. Citing a developer’s efforts to use 8-30g to build an apartment complex on Beecher Road, the commission agreed on the urgency of amending the town’s zoning rules to enable more affordable development. At the end of their discussion, they added an agenda item to consider new zoning rules in February. Songnian Liu: “Do you want to ruin” the school system? Cathy Wick: Argued that the December 2024 zoning changes put the interests of “profit-seeking developers” ahead of the town. The post After Housing Approval, Suburb Reverses Course appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less