Our Town

Members of the town’s newly created Housing Task Force held their first meeting yesterday morning (Monday, February 22). This is the first time in many years that Greenwich has a broad based community group looking at affordable housing.

The Board of Selectmen appointed the members of this task force in response to a recommendation in the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD). The POCD, which was approved by the RTM last June, also recommended that the First Selectman create task forces for the downtown, for parking and transportation, for town properties and for the implementation of the plan. All 5 task forces are now in place.

First Selectman Peter Tesei attended yesterday’s meeting to give task force members their marching orders. He expects the task force, chaired by the town’s retired Director of Community Development Nancy Brown, to provide him with an initial report by the end of May, and quarterly thereafter. Tesei, who chairs the Implementation Task Force, plans to give his first report on the implementation of the POCD at the RTM’s June meeting. His report will incorporate the information that he receives in reports from all the task forces. Tesei said he expects the duration of the task forces to be no longer than 2 years.

In welcoming the members of the task force and thanking them for agreeing to serve, Tesei said that, although diverse points of view are represented, he hopes everyone will come to the task with an open mind. Brown said she wants to be sure everyone understands the task force is starting with a clean slate and without preconceived agendas. She asked task force members to suspend their ideas about what they think the answer is pending research into “the multitude of information that is available.” Her expectation is that the task force will develop a profile of the town and its housing needs, and put forward various tools for addressing these needs.

Both Brown and Tesei asked members of the task force to familiarize themselves with the housing recommendations in the POCD, as this document provides the basis for what the task force is to report on.

Tesei said that one of the actions identified in the POCD is an action that can be taken right away. He wanted assurance there would be follow-up on a suggestion made in regard to this action item at the United Way Legislative Breakfast where our state legislators were asked to seek modification of Section 8-30g of the Connecticut General Statutes (CGS). Such modification would define affordable housing in terms of the Stamford-Norwalk Metropolitan Statistical Area median income rather than in terms of the state median income which is too low to be workable in Greenwich. Section 8-30g is the statute that allows a developer to use a fast track appeals procedure if a municipality turns down an application that includes affordable housing as defined in the statute. It exempts municipalities from this appeals procedure if 10% of the municipality’s housing is affordable according to the statutory definition.

The definition of affordable housing is one of the challenges the task force faces. This is not just a matter of the considerable difference between definitions in terms of the state median income as opposed to definitions that use a Metropolitan Statistical Area median. There are also differences in definition depending on funding sources for affordable housing. And definitions specifically geared to Greenwich’s affordable housing needs point to higher incomes than are generally considered eligible for affordable housing. The very terms ‘affordable housing’ and ‘moderate income housing’ call for better definition.

Peter Sweetser, a representative from Greenwich Hospital, said that the income of hospital employees “wouldn’t under anyone’s standard be considered low income.”

Depending on different definitions, the town currently has different amounts of affordable housing. The most recent United Way study has the number of affordable units in Greenwich at 1,100. Princess Erfe, who heads the Community Development office, said that in her reports to HUD the number of affordable units in Greenwich, by the definitions she uses, is 1,800. Erfe said that the matter of definition was complex, with different definitions. Brown suggested the task force also take a look at the various funding sources to see what definitions they use.

Erfe asked that at the next meeting the task force have basic information regarding definitions and the housing that currently exists in town. She said that members of the task force must first have a basic understanding of what the town has now and who is served.

Mark Schroeder, an RTM representative to the task force from District 2, suggested that the group limit itself to a definition that qualifies as affordable housing under state statutes. Bill Finger, the BET representative to the task force, disagreed, saying that the task force “should not be held to the state definition.”

Schroeder saw what he called “two buckets.” On the one hand there are housing needs unique to Greenwich, he said, and then there are the state requirements. He expressed concern that the task force could create its own definition of affordable housing to meet Greenwich needs, but that any such housing would not be counted by the state.

Brown, however, pointed out that there is no state housing requirement for municipalities. There is nothing that the state requires, and there are no state penalties for municipalities that do not have affordable housing.

While Section 8-30g of the CGS exempts from the fast track appeal municipalities that have 10% of their housing affordable by the statutory definition, the statute does not require non-exempt towns to have 10% of their housing affordable by this definition.There is no such state mandate.

This exemption from the fast track appeals procedure came about because legislators at the time felt municipalities such as Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport already had more than their fair share of low income housing. Although some have since interpreted it this way, the 10% threshold was not originally intended as a standard that all municipalities should attain.

Margarita Alban, a task force member who serves on the Planning and Zoning Commission, suggested that the task force look at affordable housing definitions in terms of local needs.

Schroeder asked that the task force not just look at the town’s housing needs, but at the same time take into consideration the effect of additional housing on neighborhoods, the effect on the town in terms of density and the cost to the town, both direct and indirect. He also suggested ‘swapping out’ affordable housing by locating it in surrounding communities.

Bea Walko, from the Byram community, suggested the task force look rather at surrounding communities in order to see what other communities have done, particularly with regard to housing for teachers. It would be helpful to the task force to know what has been successful elsewhere, she said. Stuart Adelberg of the United Way echoed this suggestion, saying that members of the task force could learn by looking at examples from other communities, and seeing what works and what doesn’t work.

Brown said that, although a very different community from Greenwich, Stamford has a considerable variety of affordable housing that might be worth looking at.

Brown said she would like to establish a sub-committee to look at 6 -110 (g) of the local zoning regulations and perhaps tweak this provision for affordable housing to provide more of an incentive for developers to use it. According to Brown, this regulation has worked well in Greenwich, resulting in 7 affordable units in the housing development at the former Clam Box site and 4 units on Prospect Street. This zoning provision is intended to encourage moderate income units as part of market rate housing developments.

Seeing this as one type of subsidy, Bernadette Settlemeyer, a representative from the Housing Authority, suggested the task force identify all possible types of subsidy, as well as ways in which zoning regulations can encourage affordable housing development.

Town planner Diane Fox emphasized that all such development needs to take place where there is adequate infrastructure, which is why the POCD looks to the Post Road for additional density.

Sam Romeo, however, seemed disinclined to limit the scope of task force research to multifamily development, noting that many town employees and teachers want a house with a backyard.

The task force adjourned its first meeting after an hour an a half of discussion with the understanding that the group will meet every other week on Mondays, alternating between an 8 a.m. morning meeting and a 7 p.m. evening meeting.

NOTE: This is the fourth of a series of postings from Israel, a journal account of the Temple Sholom/Christ Church interfaith trip.

Yesterday (Wednesday, February 17) was Ash Wednesday. We marked this first day of Lent with a service in a mountain forest about 3 miles north of the city of Tzfat (Safed) in the Upper Galilee. It was already evening when we arrived for dinner at Bat Ya’ar, an American style ranch in the middle of the woods. It had been a long day that began with morning jeep rides over muddy, bumpy trails from which we could see the streams that flow from the Golan into Lake Kenneret (the Sea of Galilee), an important source of water for Israel. In the afternoon we had gone to the Golan Heights on the Syrian border, a place of strategic importance for Israel, and then to the Golan Heights Winery in Katzrin. By sunset, we were in Tzfat, the seat of Jewish mysticism, a mystical place in the mountains where the 16th Kabbalists lived.

We assembled before dinner to mark Ash Wednesday in an open area outside the Bat Ya’ar restaurant. The Reverend Lemler led the service, first explaining for the Jews in the group that Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a 40 day period culminating in Easter. He noted the significance of the number 40 in both Jewish and Christian traditions as a number associated with the theme of  ’purification.’ The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years until they were spiritually ready to enter the land that God had promised to the patriarch Abraham. Jesus spent 40 days in the Wilderness until he was spiritually prepared to undertake the task for which he had been called. The 40 days of Lent are a period of spiritual preparation for receiving the Easter message.

Referring to Easter as a ‘Feast,’ the Reverend Lemler said that the crucifixion and resurrection are ultimately about life, even in death.

Rabbi Mitch told a story about two brothers, illustrating how caring for one another ultimately gives this life meaning.

Karen Halac, a member of Christ Church who has a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University, as well as a Masters in Sacred Theology, and who is now in the process of being ordained, read the 51st Psalm, a psalm of remorse and repentance that asks for cleansing and purification. Before she read, she asked us to stand in a circle, not in the amoeba-like form in which we had been standing. So, as has been our custom since we first arrived in Jerusalem, we were together in a circle as we stood in prayer before God. William Darling, a parishioner at Christ Church and a student at Brunswick, sang the 23rd Psalm … the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want… yea, ‘tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear… You are with me … I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever. William’s song was beautiful. Our Ash Wednesday service ended with the Reverend Lemler passing around a container of dirt for us to touch, or to take, as a reminder that we are dust and shall return to dust, even as we believe in eternal life.

After the service, as we sat down to dinner in the ranch dining room where Country and Western music was playing, David and George Darling of Christ Church, both students at Brunswick, recited the Lord’s Prayer and the Temple Sholom children sang Ha Motzi, the blessing over the bread.

It seemed to be the consensus of the group that the Ash Wednesday service had been a most lovely and moving way to close a long and tiring day.

It was also a good way to begin the next day, which from a Jewish perspective, had already begun, as the Jewish day goes from sundown to nightfall, based on the Genesis creation story in which there is evening first and then morning, one day. This was the day we would visit the sites where Jesus lived and taught in the Galilee.

Rabbi Mitch Leads Prayer Service at Masada

Yesterday (Monday) we went down from the mountains of Jerusalem into the Judean Desert.

On our way, we passed the oldest city on earth. Although smaller settlements elsewhere may have been this old, archaeologists have as yet found no walled city as old as Jericho. This oasis city, twelve thousand years old, dates back to 10,000 B.C.E.

Shortly after passing the oldest city on earth, we catch sight of the lowest place on earth. We are at the Dead Sea. We have descended to 1200 feet below sea level. The sea, which has been rapidly receding in recent years, is increasingly becoming dry desert land, just as the Jordan River is being reduced to a trickle. The Jordan River runs from Lake Kenneret, or the Sea of Galilee in the north, into the Dead Sea. However, over the years, water has been diverted from the Kenneret for human use, cutting off the water supply to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. David Keren, our guide, tells us that Israel is planning a joint project with Jordan and perhaps the Palestinian Authority to bring in water from the Red Sea, although this is not likely to happen in the near future.

To our right are the Judean Hills … desert hills. The Judean Desert stretches before us, the Dead Sea now to our left. It is hot, the sunlight hazy. The temperature outside the air conditioned bus is in the eighties, and it is still morning. As the day progresses, the temperature will climb into the nineties. We pass camels belonging to Bedouins. A group of wild Ibex stands by the roadside. Neatly cultivated groves of date palms can be seen from time to time.

Arriving at Qumran shortly after 9 a.m., we are only a half hour away from Jerusalem, a day’s walk in ancient times. Here two thousand years ago lived the community known as Essenes. It was here, in 1947, that a young Bedouin boy, tending to his goats, accidentally found the first of the Dead Sea scrolls to be recovered. He had stumbled upon a cave in the Judean Hills overlooking the Dead Sea and discovered earthen jars that contained scrolls. The lack of humidity in this hot, dry desert climate with a temperature that is constant throughout the year has allowed these scrolls to be preserved in caves for 2000 years.

Dead Sea Scrolls Caves

The scrolls include pieces of the Bible, the oldest Biblical texts in existence. Until the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls, there were no original Bible scrolls in existence that were this old. The scrolls include a complete scroll of the prophet Isaiah. The oldest original Isaiah up until this discovery dates from a thousand years later. In addition to the Biblical works, the scrolls also include information about the people who lived in this community 2000 years ago. Scholarship seems to indicate that they were from families associated with the Temple in Jerusalem who had come into the desert to isolate themselves from the corruption at the Temple in order to live more pure lives. They brought the scrolls from Jerusalem, probably hiding them in the caves during the Jewish revolt against Rome, at the time of the destruction of the Temple. The Romans destroyed Qumran in 68 C.E.

This community may have had some connection to early Christianity. Although John the Baptist was probably not a member of the community, he lived and preached in this area, and performed baptisms in the Jordan River near to Jericho, where Jesus was baptized.

Spa on the Dead Sea

After leaving Qumran, we continue south along the Dead Sea to Masada, known as the last holdout in the Jewish Revolt against Rome. Here, high on a hill above the Dead Sea, King Herod built an impregnable palace refuge in the 1st century B.C.E. Herod, of non-Jewish, Idumean origin, reigned as King of the Jews with the support of Rome until his death in 4 C.E.

After the Jewish revolt against Rome that began in 66 C.E. and ended with the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E., a group of 1000 Jewish zealots, including women and children, continued to hold out against the Romans in this fortress that had originally been Herod’s palace. They held out for 3 years after the Temple was destroyed, until 73 C.E. when they all committed suicide rather than be captured by the Romans.

We arrived at Masada shortly before 11 a.m., and here, high above the Dead Sea, our interfaith group held a prayer service, the Jewish Shacharit, or Morning Service, with everyone, Christians as well as Jews, participating.

Saying that Masada is often called ‘the Jewish Alamo,’ Rabbi Mitch described those who in this spot held out against the Romans for three years as having faced the end of the Jewish world. For the next 2000 years, Jews would be exiled from the land, and for 2000 years would harbor the hope of return to this land that is so much a part of the Jewish people.

Our standing here is bringing this dream to life, Rabbi Mitch said. It is a powerful thing, giving life to this dream that the Jewish world has not ended and will continue in its service to God, betrothed to God. It is even more powerful that we stand here with our Christian brothers, Rabbi Mitch said. This coming together is the service that does honor to God.

The Reverend Lemler’s prayer invoked the One God before whom we stand knit together in faith.

The service, which included the traditional elements of the Jewish morning service such as songs of praise, the call to worship, the Shema, V’ahavta, Amidah and Kaddish, was inclusive of the Christians in our group. Rabbi Mitch – in Hebrew – and the Reverend Lemler – in English – recited the Priestly Blessing while all the adults held the Jewish prayer shawl, the tallit, over all the children.

Both Christians and Jews use the Priestly Blessing in their services. As Rabbi Mitch points out, it is the oldest continuously recited blessing in the world. On Sunday, when we were taking a tour of the ancient City of David, we learned that a woman’s necklace containing the Priestly Blessing had been found in the archaeological excavations. The necklace is 2800 years old.

There are 27 people in our interfaith group, 28 including our guide, David Keren. Ten of these are children and teenagers. The Christian children as well as the Jewish children participated in the service.

David Darling of Christ Church read the 145th psalm. His older brother, William Darling, read the 23rd psalm. And the youngest Darling brother, George, recited the Lord’s Prayer, which, although wholly identified with Christianity, is really a very Jewish form of expression.

It was a very moving service, and a very special time of togetherness.

After leaving Masada, we went to a spa for a swim in the Dead Sea, and then back to Jerusalem for a tour of the tunnels along the Western Wall of the Temple Mount.

It was a full day, a happy day, and a rewarding one. A good way to start the month of Adar, a joyous month on the Jewish calendar.

Rabbi Mitch and The Reverend Lemler with Jerusalem in Background

An hour before sunset, as Shabbat was about to descend upon Jerusalem, the members of our group stood in a circle and held hands as we prepared to welcome Shabbat Shekalim, our first of two Sabbaths together in the land of Israel. The city lay before us, an awesome sight. The Reverend Jim Lemler of Christ Episcopal Church led us in prayer, asking for God’s guidance in our interfaith endeavor while Rabbi Mitchell “Mitch” Hurvitz commented on the Torah portion for Shabbat Shekalim saying that the commandment for each person to bring a half shekel to the Temple signifies that all are equal in God’s eyes. We were standing on the hill where, in all likelihood, Abraham once stood and looked toward the place that God would show him, Mount Moriah in the distance, where he sacrificed a ram instead of his beloved son Isaac in the place where many years later Solomon would build the Holy Temple. In all likelihood, Jesus too looked from this hill toward Mount Moriah in the days when the Temple was still standing in the place where now we see the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, holy to Moslems.

It was a special Shabbat in Jerusalem, if an unusual one for the Jewish members of our group. Saturday was beautiful, warm and sunny. I attended Shabbat Shacharit services, the Jewish morning services, with Rabbi Mitch and Temple Sholom youth director, Josh Altman. We went to an Orthodox Shul, the name of which can be more or less translated as the community of new song. The services were full of joyous song. And women’s participation was much greater than is the case in more traditional Orthodox synagogues. It was an uplifting experience.

We spent Shabbat afternoon following Jesus through his last hours. We began at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City. According to tradition, this church marks the spot where Jesus was crucified. In the chamber commemorating the actual place of crucifixion, Jim Lemler offered a prayer, again in the spirit of understanding and sharing, a transcendence in our interfaith endeavor. Church bells were ringing out as we prayed. Rabbi Mitch, taking note of the bells, remarked on Jerusalem’s cacophony of sounds where church bells blend with the chants of the muezzin from the minarets, calling Moslems to prayer five times a day, and with the Hebrew sounds of  Jewish prayer, the chanting at the Western Wall. We recalled the welcoming of the Sabbath there at the Kotel, the throngs of worshippers after sundown, the joyous sounds of song and dance.

Rabbi Mitch expressed the hope that our coming together in this interfaith endeavor might in some small way contribute to a healing of the world, the tikkun olam that is central to Jewish belief.

As we left the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we walked the Via Dolorosa in reverse, stopping last at the first stations of the cross. Then we walked out of the Old City through the Damascus Gate into all-Arab East Jerusalem where we went to the Garden Tomb, an alternate site for the crucifixion of Jesus, frequented by Protestants, who, of course, have no place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is dominated by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The Ethiopians and the Copts also have places at the Holy Sepulchre, with the Copts relegated to a roof space. These different denominations are not at peace with one another, and a Moslem family has held the keys to the church for generations.

We ended Shabbat with Havdalah, the Jewish service performed every Saturday after nightfall, the ritual that separates the sacred space in time that is Shabbat from the ordinary time of the rest of the week. We ended the Shabbat in a circle just as we had before Shabbat when we overlooked Jerusalem. This time we had our arms about one another as we sang Eliyahu Hanavi, a song to Elijah the Prophet, the harbinger of the messianic age, the song that is always sung after Havdalah.

The traditional greeting then is Shavua Tov – a good week. May this indeed be a good week for all. Shavua Tov.

I am on an interfaith trip to Israel with a group of 28 people led by Rabbi Mitchell “Mitch” Hurvitz of Temple Sholom and the Reverend Jim Lemler of Christ Episcopal Church. This is the first of what will be a series of postings from Israel over the next ten days.

The day we left for Israel – Thursday February 11 – was a picture perfect day in Greenwich. Wednesday’s snowstorm had brought a beautiful winter scene that was clear with blue skies and a bright sun on the day of our departure.

The group gathered at gate 31B in the departures terminal at JFK, prepared to board El Al flight 002 for Tel Aviv. We assembled for the first time as a group around 5 p.m., the blinding oblique rays of the setting winter sun creating sharp contrasts of brightness and dark in the terminal.

We began with prayer. Josh Altman, Temple Sholom’s youth director, read a Hebrew prayer for safe travel, followed by the Reverend Lemler who recited an Episcopal prayer, also for safe travel.

Members of the group introduced themselves. For many this is a first trip to Israel. Others have been before, some of us many times. The Reverend Lemler has been on a previous interfaith trip. Rabbi Mitch, the immediate past president of the Greenwich Fellowship of the Clergy, has done much work in interfaith dialogue, but this is his first such interfaith trip.

I am traveling with my husband, Don Snyder. We both have been to Israel many times before. This is my tenth trip and my second interfaith trip. Exactly 20 years ago, on February 11, 1990, I arrived in Israel with an interfaith group led by Rabbi Rob Lennick of Greenwich Reform Synagogue, the Reverend Ed Deyton of Diamond Hill Methodist Church and the Reverend Art Kauffman of the Methodist Church across from the Greenwich YMCA.

How will the interfaith dialogue on this trip compare with that of 20 years ago, I am wondering as I board the plane.

We arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport at 12:40 p.m. on Friday, February 12, an hour later than scheduled due to a departure delay. My watch is still set to New York time, 5:40 in the morning. As we come in for a landing everything below looks green. It is a sunny day, if a bit hazy, and warm, almost summer-like, in sharp contrast to the winter scene we left behind in Greenwich.

We depart for Jerusalem, stopping at the lookout point in Talpiot, with its magnificent view of this ancient city that is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Looking out over Jerusalem, an hour before sunset and the start of Shabbat, we stand together in a circle, holding hands while Rabbi Mitch gives a short Torah commentary and the Reverend Lemler offers a prayer.

And the we return to the bus, rushing to get to the David Citadel Hotel in time to prepare for Shabbat.

The Board of Selectmen’s creation of a Housing Task Force this past January means that, for the first time in many years, Greenwich will have a group of community members focused on strategies for meeting our town’s affordable housing needs. While this newly created Housing Task Force is a creature of our town government,  private non-profit groups with a similar focus have existed in the past, notably Greenwich Moderate Housing, Inc., active in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s, and the Greenwich Housing Coalition, active in the 1980′s and early 1990′s.

These advocacy groups were repositories of information about affordable housing. They took action in support of various housing initiatives as well as initiating proposals of their own. They were prepared to oppose proposals with a negative impact on affordable housing. While organizations such as the United Way have consistently documented the need for affordable housing and advocated for more such housing in town, unfortunately there has been no broadly-based advocacy group in Greenwich for almost two decades that is specifically focused on affordable housing. Much institutional memory has been lost.

Only the Greenwich Housing Authority has retained a continuous institutional memory that reflects the history of subsidized housing in Greenwich since World War II. And over the years, the Housing Authority has been the only  developer of significant amounts of affordable housing in town. However, it is not the role of the Housing Authority, as landlord and housing developer, to put forth a town plan for meeting the community’s affordable housing needs. A broader outlook is needed.

The creation of a Housing Task Force was the result of a recommendation in the 2009 Town Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) that was approved by the RTM last June. Acting on the recommendations of the POCD, First Selectman Peter Tesei  has formed a Plan Implementation Committee (PIC) as well as task forces in areas recommended for further study. Housing is one of these areas. The other areas for which the POCD recommended task forces, or special committees, are the Greenwich downtown, town properties and transportation, which includes parking. The members of the PIC and the four task forces were chosen from names recommended by a five-person working committee that included the Town Planner, chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, vice-chair of the RTM Appointments Committee, the chairman of the Selectmen’s Nominations Advisory Committee and the town’s special counsel for the land use agencies.

Only the membership of the Housing Task Force required a vote by the full Board of Selectmen. This is because of the POCD recommendation that “the Board of Selectmen establish a Housing Taskforce to define affordable housing, build community agreement and develop a plan with strategies.”  The POCD calls for the membership of this housing task force to reflect a wide range of opinions.

“The collective membership of these five committees represents tremendous knowledge,” Tesei told me in an interview. He went on to emphasize that the newly appointed members bring the historical knowledge that is needed as well as newer perspectives and specialized expertise.

Yesterday (Tuesday, February 9, 2010), Tesei, who is chairman of the PIC, met with the chairs of the newly appointed task forces. These task force chairs are Heidi Smith for the Downtown Task Force, Nancy Brown for the Housing Task Force, Paul Settlemeyer for the Parking and Transportation Task Force and John Lucarelli for the Town Properties Task Force.

Tesei will attend the first meeting of each task force. He emphasized that, while task force members represent divergent views, the goal is to come to a consensus. He said he will ask that members “come to the task with an open mind.”

Tesei expects each task force to meet and present an initial report to the PIC before April. As chairman of the PIC, he will be reporting to the RTM 3 or 4 times a year on the status of POCD implementation. Using schedules based on the POCD Implementation Action Plan, the PIC will be able to continually update the status of each of the action recommendations in the POCD. Tesei plans to give his first report to the RTM in April. He expects the duration of each of the task forces to be no more than two years.

The establishment of these task forces allows for the gathering of additional information and further examination of critical issues affecting the town’s future.  The PIC helps coordinate the task forces and helps to ensure that the POCD is a living document, not simply a plan that stays on the shelf for the next 10 years.The PIC is intended to make implementation of the POCD recommendations an ongoing process. Tesei sees his role as chairman of the PIC as one of “master coordinator.” One area in which Tesei sees a need for coordination is between the Housing Task Force and the Town Properties Task Force insofar as the POCD calls for the evaluation of opportunities for housing development on town-owned land in the downtown and along the Post Road.

The need to establish priorities is embedded in the PIC mission as well as in its approach to action. This includes involvement in the establishment of  priorities for projects in the town’s long-term Capital Improvement Plan.

Tesei sees an intimate connection between the town’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) and POCD implementation. The rationale for most of the items in the CIP can be found in the POCD, according to Tesei.

Of course, there is no money for housing in the CIP. The town has not historically funded affordable housing development. The town’s contribution has traditionally been in the form of a land subsidy. The newly formed Housing and Town Properties Task Forces should make every effort to identify town-owned properties that might be suitable for affordable housing development.

The POCD puts forth many proposals for action in the area of housing including the encouragement of subsidized housing in areas served by transit and owned by the Housing Authority; encouragement of utilization of existing affordable accessory apartment regulations; the consideration of zoning regulations that would require a percentage of multi-family units to be moderate income housing; and working with state legislators to modify the affordable housing appeals procedure (8-30g of the Connecticut General Statutes) to use the median income of the Stamford-Norwalk Metropolitan Statistical Area rather than the state median income which is too low to be workable in Greenwich.

One POCD recommendation in the area of housing is that the Board of Selectmen consider establishing a housing section in the current Community Development Office. This deserves serious consideration. The newly appointed Housing Task Force is of limited duration. It is important that there be some entity focused on the town’s affordable housing needs in an ongoing way. The Community Development Office may, or may not, be the right place for such and entity, but it should be somewhere.

Hopefully the need for an entity focused on affordable housing will be a long-term recommendation of the Housing Task Force. Nancy Brown, our town’s retired Director of Community Development, is the Housing Task Force chair. There is no individual in town with greater historical and practical knowledge of all things related to affordable housing than Nancy Brown. And, although her task force includes at least one person who Selectman Drew Marzullo objected to as someone opposed to affordable housing, which is in keeping with the POCD recommendation for task force membership that reflects a wide range of opinion, most of the members of the Housing Task Force are highly knowledgeable people who bring a lot to the table.

This newly appointed Housing Task Force is a good sign for the future of affordable housing in Greenwich.