Hugh Bailey

@hughsbailey

Policy director, Open Communities Alliance, Connecticut

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Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· 29d

What is the point of all these studies on traffic and revenue that developers have to pay for if the town can just say "Nuh-uh" and that's the end of it? www.courant.com/2026/07/15/c...

The Goman+York consulting firm put out a report concluding that the development would generate about $1.6 million a year in new tax revenue for the town, even after accounting for new expenses for community services, snow clearing, extra school enrollments, road paving and more.

But numerous speakers discounted that, saying the enrollment impact was just a formula based on the number of overall bedrooms. At least one challenged that idea, warning there would be substantially more new students if tenants and buyers used unassigned rooms such as a den to provide sleeping room for additional children.

Several other speakers criticized a consultant’s traffic study, saying it didn’t measure the actual impact on residents along side roads who already have extensive waits to turn onto Route 4. Joyce Bettencourt told commissioners that she and other Edgewood Estates residents along Worthington Drive already face too much traffic.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Jun 24

This, by the way, is an excellent point. Shopping centers will bring far more traffic than homes. Yet somehow the traffic concerns disappear under those circumstances.

“I do want to point out that this is on a state highway, next to another state highway, near an interstate highway,” said Olson, referring to Interstate 84. “It is important to keep in mind that the permitted uses on the property as it is currently zoned are [business related]. We could put a commercial shopping center here and I guarantee that is going to have significantly more traffic trips in the peak hours.”

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Jun 24

If this stupid exchange doesn't sum up housing in the Connecticut suburbs. Put it where it's zoned for! There is no place it's zoned for. Exactly. www.newstimes.com/news/article...

“I don’t understand why something like this can’t be put where it’s already zoned to be put,” said Janet McKeown.

Planning and Zoning Commission member Barbara Manville agreed.

“Create your project, but in a current zone,” Manville said.

“There are no current zones that would allow our project,” Olson repeated. “That’s why we had to come up with a new zone.”

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Mar 11

Conspicuously absent from this piece: A way to get affordable housing that the writer would in fact support theorangetimes.com/housing-law-...

I want to make one thing crystal clear: neither I nor anyone else opposes truly affordable housing. We all want families in Orange and across Connecticut to have access to decent, attainable homes. However, the new housing law mirrors past affordable housing regulations that sound promising but often fail in practice. The state bureaucracy expands and well-connected developers and contractors profit, while those who need help most get lost in red tape and mismatched outcomes.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Feb 20

Hi, apparently my name is Jim now. In any event, large minimum lot sizes are in fact the definition of exclusionary zoning and a major driver of our housing affordability crisis. ctexaminer.com/2026/02/19/a...

Jim Bailey, policy director of the Hartford-based Open Communities Alliance, concurred that local zoning laws are largely to blame. “The number-one driver of housing unaffordability in most of the state is the cost of land, and mandating large lots is by definition exclusionary,” he said.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Feb 19

Easy answer here. They should go where there's water and sewer!

Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo said Greenwich had spent millions of dollars since 2020 to mitigate flooding in certain areas of town where there is a lot of congestion with houses very close to each other.

“This bill would add impervious surfaces to areas that can’t take it any more, he said. “My concern is going forward, as well-intentioned as a bill like this may be, is if the authors could work with the towns and environmental and conservation groups to pinpoint where these housing proposals could go.”

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Feb 19

Democrats as well as Republicans, because this is Greenwich. Unanswered question here: If "zoning is not the major leading factor in advancing housing diversity" then there shouldn't be a problem changing it, right?

State Rep Arzeno said, “We have heard repeatedly from people of all political stripes that zoning is not the major leading factor in advancing housing diversity. We know that cost and infrastructure challenges are key issues. Yet this bill ignores both.”

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Feb 10

Small towns love to use sewage capacity as an excuse to do nothing on housing, as if whatever they have at this precise moment is etched in time, never to be changed CT housing needs assessment required under H.B. 8002 underway ctmirror.org/2026/02/09/c...

Betsy Gara, executive director of the Connecticut Council of Small Towns, said one of the issues for municipal leaders with the original fair share proposal was that it didn’t consider sewage and wastewater capacity.

“We’re hopeful that this new methodology will fairly consider water and wastewater capacity. I know that the [sewage needs] study is not going to be done,” Gara said. “However, municipalities themselves are acutely aware of their limitations on wastewater and water capacity.”

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Feb 5

That's right, Rob Sampson, it's the people on the left who are shooting themselves on the streets. Dan Haar: A tense and colorful day of politics as the CT Capitol opens during campaign season www.ctpost.com/politics/art...

Sen. Rob Sampson, R-North Haven, told me his exit was a protest over Lamont and Democrats "trying to inject national politics into our state legislative battles, and I think it's inappropriate."

He added, "The violence that's going on is being stoked by people on the left" and said Lamont should be toning down the rhetoric, not inflaming it.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Feb 4

Wow, voters didn't respond to a fake message about something that's not happening? That's a shame GOP's Tony Hwang loses to Fairfield First Selectwoman Christine Vitale ctmirror.org/2026/02/03/g...

Laura Devlin, the Republican town chair and a former state representative, called the loss “disappointing” as voters did not respond to GOP messaging about higher taxes and the urbanization of some parts of town.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Feb 3

I'm going to need to see a citation on this one What comes next after Connecticut's big housing law? Here are some possibilities www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/...

“I actually kind of think the opposite because I think quite a bit of leadership in the legislature, and even the governor particularly, are really motivated and have deep dived on this issue and understand the scale of it so much that I do think there’s just general momentum for continuing to do more each session,” Harrison said.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Feb 2

You know what else denies the right of the property owner to use their property the way they would choose to? Zoning. Looking forward to Rob Sampson, anti-zoning crusader

“That legislation ultimately denies the right of the property owner to use their property the way they would choose to,” said Housing Committee ranking member Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott. Sampson is also a landlord and said regulations like this would make it harder for people in his industry.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Feb 2

Just Cause has been debated for years, and yet it's still crazy to see just how callous its opponents sound, in on-the-record comments. That's someone's home you're talking about CT eviction reform to anchor housing debate in 2026 session ctmirror.org/2026/02/02/c...

At a press briefing Wednesday, members of the Connecticut Apartment Association said they’ll support legislation to build more housing and to create a statewide landlord registry to ensure accountability. They said the registry would make it easier to contact problem landlords.

“The easiest thing is to say ‘We’re at the end of the lease. We made a commitment to lease to you for a year. That commitment does not have to continue,’” said Greg Konover, president of the Konover Residential Corporation.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Jan 30

No, they didn't. What in God's name are you talking about

Congratulations, Fairfield liberals. You just proved Trump right and handed him a nice victory. Turns out McMahon's visit was a Trojan horse and you fell for it. Plus, it was just plain rude. Don't agree to host her if you're going to rescind.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Jan 28

Also, what is this argument? "I vote no" on growth, after writing an entire column about why we need it? Sprawl and congestion are a result of bad planning, not a natural outgrowth of new people.

But do we want all that growth? I vote no if it means sprawl and congestion, which is exactly what it would mean, Bottom line: We're losing people to other states but not as many as before. And if we can somehow avoid a sharp drop in foreign immigration, we'll be in a population sweet spot.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Jan 23

About a week ago Matt Ritter sat on a stage with Candelora and buddied around with him to make clear this isn't personal, just politics. I don't think Candelora feels the same way www.msn.com/en-us/news/p...

“I share the attorney general’s concern about dehumanizing language in politics and on social media,” Candelora said Wednesday. “But a 20-minute speech attacking President Trump and lecturing Republicans isn’t a serious effort to bring people together — it’s more of the same. We can all do better. But until the attorney general and Democrats acknowledge their own role in poisoning our political discourse — stoking the flames since day one of Donald Trump’s first presidency — these calls for unity will ring hollow.”

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Jan 13

I know things get confusing with streaming and whatnot but this is one of those things where "turn on your TV" would suffice

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Dec 9

Last paragraph in a long story on the latest in a 40-year-old school desegregation case in Hartford. One remedy is to regionalize the school systems. What a good idea! www.courant.com/2025/12/09/c...

Carol Gale, president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, said that Harford Public Schools has worked hard to deliver high quality education to its students “despite the lack of resources that our school district gets and despite in many ways the false competition that the Sheff case has set up between our district schools and magnet schools.”

“The Sheff case over time has taken more and more resources from Hartford Public Schools and brought those resources to magnet schools oftentimes in other districts,” Gale said.

Gale added that “every time we place a child in another magnet school the money follows the child and Hartford gets that much less.”

One remedy, Gale said, is to regionalize the school systems.

“Instead of some two hundred school districts across the state relying on property taxes,” Gale explained, a regional system would result in a regionalized structure, comparing it to other states that have a country structure that oversees schools.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Dec 9

It's good to hear Rudy Marconi say this. And he's right. But if he wants to see diversity in his town's school, there's a city right next door. He could propose a school integration plan that would work a lot faster than the housing law. I don't think he's going to ctnewsjunkie.com/2025/12/09/b...

“Having grown up there (in Ridgefield), and having seen the changes, we lost our social, we lost our economic and we lost our racial diversity over the last 50 years. It’s gone,” he said. “The cost of housing exceeded my wildest dreams. The demand continues to be there. But we need to get our diversity back.”

In losing its diverse population, Marconi said, Ridgefield students have lost a key segment of their education.

“It’s not just academic education that we need for our children. We need the social, we need the diversity that gives them that rounded learning that allows them to go out into the world knowing how to be successful,” he said. “And that’s what we’re working toward with this bill.”

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Dec 8

Quick question for Rep. Tony Scott, R-Monroe. What are you talking about? ctmirror.org/2025/12/08/l...

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Nov 19

It's legitimately nice to see a story highlight people saying why this is a good idea and should be approved Attorney for 300-unit apartment plan in Newtown says CT law is on his side: ‘I win in court’ www.newstimes.com/news/article...

“Newtown is a good town, but it is desperately missing condos, starter homes for those who want to start here, and homes for seniors who want to stay here,” said Samuel Grummons. “We can partner with developers in good faith instead of fighting them in expensive litigation.”

Fellow Newtown resident Christine Updegraff agreed.

“I understand the frustration about mandates from Hartford, but the pressures are coming from within; there is a growing gap between what it costs to live here and what an ordinary person can afford,” Updegraff said. “If we are going to add 300 units, I think Mount Pleasant Road near I-84 makes sense.”

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Nov 17

Scary, Steven Harding? What are you scared of? www.courant.com/2025/11/16/h...

But Republicans sounded alarm bells, saying the legislation would take away local control.

“This is monumental,” said Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield. “This is statewide zoning. … It’s quite scary, frankly.”

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Nov 14

We should be so lucky, Stephen Harding.

“I truly believe that this is going to be a bill that we look back upon as a monumental step in the implementation of statewide zoning efforts,” said Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Nov 14

Now that's a ringing endorsement from a fellow party member if I've ever heard one. ctmirror.org/2025/11/14/c...

Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, said after the housing veto and discussions over spending in the wake of federal cuts, he wonders whether Lamont “is even in touch with the reality of what the people in the state of Connecticut are experiencing.

“I think the number of people who are experiencing unhoused status and homelessness is increasing in our state. For a state which is one of the richest per capita in the United States and also of the richest country in the world, to allow that to happen and not have an intervention, and despite multiple advocates, community members, reaching out to the governor, and his unwillingness to address this in a meaningful manner is painful to me,” Anwar said Thursday, of the veto.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Nov 10

A few things. One, the governor loves to say stuff that has been proven false. At this point, whatever. Two, how about those mayors that want to put it nowhere? What does this bill do about that? Unclear, at best. Towns have always been able to take the lead. They don't, which is why we're here

“We’re building more housing today than we have in the last five or 10 years, but not fast enough,” Lamont said. “This bill makes sure we build housing where mayors want to put it. Mayors take the lead, and the state will be their partner to make sure it gets built.”

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Nov 10

Voluntary participation! Man, I wish someone had thought of that before.

If approved, the measure would reestablish Connecticut’s housing agenda on voluntary participation, measurable incentives, and infrastructure support. It would direct the Department of Housing to coordinate regional assessments through councils of governments, create funding tiers for towns that expand zoning near transit, and streamline small-project permitting under 16 units.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Nov 10

A good example of small towns still, even in supporting the new bill, using infrastructure as a reason why their hands are tied. There's a lot you can do, in fact

A criticism of the earlier bill was that it was too prescriptive. Mary Calorio, regional town manager for Canterbury, Chaplin, and Pomfret, said the new version “balances statewide goals with local realities.”

“The original housing allotment didn’t fully consider infrastructure—water, sewer, transportation,” she said. “This bill supports a regional approach calling for a comprehensive housing-needs assessment for every region. Housing needs don’t stop at our town lines.”

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Nov 10

But what if the mandates were what we need? CT's New Housing Proposal Heads To Special Legislative Session ctnewsjunkie.com/2025/11/10/c...

With a special legislative session scheduled this week to pass a bill aimed at addressing the issue, Gov. Ned Lamont, legislative leaders, and a coalition of local officials gathered in East Hartford to unveil what they called a reset: a bipartisan housing proposal that replaces the mandates of the vetoed House Bill 5002 with incentives, infrastructure investment, and regional planning.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Nov 3

It's cool to work in the Ganim administration and make vague references to "Bridgeport's reputation" holding the city back. I wonder what that refers to? ctmirror.org/2025/11/03/m...

Bridgeport is moving in the right direction with balanced budgets, higher credit ratings, and exciting new development projects. But there’s no doubt that Bridgeport’s reputation has been a drag on its success. Understanding this reality, the Charter Revision Commission made ethics reform a centerpiece of charter revision, turning what is currently a single paragraph in the charter to an entire chapter.

Hugh Bailey@hughsbailey· Nov 3

A lot going on in this story, but I just want to focus on this quote from maybe the most anti-housing Democrat in the state. Four acres is a lot of space. You're trying to make it sound like it's being jammed in to a tiny lot, but it's just not true insideinvestigator.org/denials-and-...