The Brookfield zoning commission met Tuesday to talk about rezoning a section of town to create a “village center.” For more details, read my article here.
One change they are considering is zoning the buildings have a two-floor limit with commercial space on the first floor and residential space on the second floor. When I heard that, I thought, wow, that would be a great place for young professionals to live. Being in the center of town, there would be lots of restaurants nearby for the days they work late and don’t have time to cook dinner. They may hit up a bar later, and hang out and catch up on work at the local coffee shop. It would really get young people involved in the community. It would certainly beat living in a sterile apartment complex, especially with the rents that they charge.
But if Hal Kurfehs, the chairman of the Brookfield Economic Development Commission has his way, the regulations will change to allow for three-story buildings. Then the apartments will be two stories, and allow for more “upscale” tenants.
When I interviewed him on Wednesday, this is what he said:
[Single story apartments] are not going to attract good tenants. I couldn’t characterize what kind of tenants. It’s going to attract people who want cheaper. Its an argument I really don’t want to get into because it would sound like, because it just wouldn’t sound right.
Mr. Kurfehs has some good visions for Brookfield and I can tell he really cares about the town, but it’s this kind of thinking that makes Connecticut a difficult place to live if you are just starting your career in an industry other than, say, finance, and don’t have a trust fund to get you through your fledgling years. I think Brookfield should zone in favor of the affordable housing so that young professionals have a place to live.
EDIT: I got the following email from Mr. Kurfehs and I wanted to share his comments:
Hi Vinti, Saw your blog. Thanks for saying that I care about the Town—I really do. On the question of a third story I guess I didn’t explain my position right. If there is only one extra floor it would be a walk-up. It would not be attractive to an investor to build such a building in the first place because it would be hard to rent—walk-ups are not attractive and an investor would want more square footage to spread his expense. It is not really a question of rate on the two story if it never gets built. Three stories would justify an elevator thus providing better living conditions plus a better incentive to the investor. Potentially these improved conditions along with competition could provide an affordable rent for young professionals, perhaps even more affordable than the investor trying to recoup costs on a less economical package.
