Government

For First Time in 22 Years, Challenger Emerges for Democratic Registrar of Voters

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For the first time in 22 years, a challenger has emerged for the elected seat of New Canaan’s Democratic Registrar of Voters. Bernard Simpkin, a member of the New Canaan Housing Authority and treasurer of the Democratic Town Committee, is seeking his party’s backing at Tuesday’s caucus. Citing his experience in civic and elected positions and his rapid involvement in New Canaan since moving here relatively recently, Simpkin is seeking to unseat George Cody, who has held the position since 1994. “While I do not have ancestors that have been in this town—I have been in this town a little less than five years—yet I have been able to become a part of it and I am known and respected by people in town,” said Simpkin, 72, a Millport Avenue resident, who sits on the New Canaan Housing Authority Board and serves as treasurer of the DTC. “I have a lifetime of management and organizational skills as well as people skills, which I think are important.

Government

Officials: Millport Building Project on Track, Relief from Developer Loophole in Sight

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The first phase of a large-scale plan to create more public housing at Mill Pond is underway and on track for completion by year’s end, officials say—a widely anticipated project that’s expected to trigger temporary relief for New Canaan from a state law that allows developers to skirt local planning decisions. Under the Affordable Housing Appeals Act, towns where less than 10 percent of the housing stock qualifies as “affordable” by the state’s definition (New Canaan’s is at about 2.4 percent), developers may bypass Planning & Zoning by designating a percentage of units within proposed new structures as affordable. Ten percent is a rigorous standard that towns such as New Canaan are unlikely to meet, mostly because the state in calculating “affordable” lumps the town into the sprawling geography of the “Norwalk-Stamford Metropolitan area.”

Yet there’s a way to get relief under a provision (a complicated provision) in the state law. Under the provision, types of housing are assigned a certain number of points based on variables such as how much they cost (in mortgage payments or rent) and whom they serve (seniors or families). If a town amasses enough “housing unit equivalent” points, it can earn a four-year exemption.

Government

Plan to Double Affordable Housing at Mill Pond Stalls

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A project that would more than double the number of affordable housing units at Millport Apartments hit a speed bump Tuesday night. Preliminary plans call for 60 to 70 additional units to be built on property located opposite Mill Pond. Pending more details, the Board of Finance at its regular meeting put off approving a measure that would see $500,000 made available to the New Canaan Housing Authority to pursue that plan. Those funds—collected through a 1 percent add-on fee in some building permit applications (ones that deal with exterior work only)—are held in trust for the purpose of boosting New Canaan’s affordable housing stock. Finance board members, including Mary Davis Cody and John Sheffield, questioned the prudence of signing off on the $500,000 without details on just how the funds would be used for pre-construction architectural and engineering studies.