Norwalk Council passes resolution condemning Malloy’s bill, just to make sure

NORWALK, Conn. – Norwalk has been saved from Hartford’s hands by the fast action of the Common Council and the watchdog behavior of State Rep. Gail Lavielle (R-143), Councilman David McCarthy (R-District E) said.

The Council unanimously voted Tuesday to issue a resolution condemning House Bill 6581, even if state Sen. Cathy Osten (D-Sprague), Senate chairwoman of the Planning and Development Committee, issued a press release last week saying that the bill is already being rewritten to make it more palatable to municipalities by, in part, removing the state’s ability to take land within a half mile of a transit station.

“To be fair, I was sent this press release by Sen. Duff that I feel is probably a reaction to Norwalk’s resolution, as well as I have been contacted by other five or six different municipalities who are also moving in the same direction. So I think approving this resolution tonight is the right thing to do and they’re already reacting to our voice so it’s a great thing,” McCarthy said, in spending nine minutes to introduce the resolution.

The press release sent around Norwalk by Duff  said that changes to the governor’s preliminary Transit Corridor Development Authority bill will soon be made to “allow more local control and will eliminate the condemnation authority provision that concerned so many local officials and residents.”

Those changes include:

• TCDA’s condemnation authority has been removed from the bill.
• Deletes language requiring municipalities to cooperate with TCDA.  That will be handled in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).
• The host town’s chief elected official remains an ex officio member of the TCDA board for matters pertaining to the development in his or her community and has a vote. (The mayor would not have had a vote in the original version of the bill.)
• Language is added that clarifies that municipal zoning, subdivision or wetland regulations apply for developments on private or municipal land, just as under current law.
• The “host” town and TCDA will have to enter into a memorandum of agreement to delineate the parameters of the development district — so if a town doesn’t want TCDA development projects within its boundaries, it needn’t sign an agreement.
• The executive director of the host Regional Planning Organization (RPO) would be a non-voting, ex officio member.
• TCDA will be required to consider written statements submitted by the host RPO.

“Those are steps in the right direction for sure,” McCarthy said. “I don’t think I’m ready to give a judgement as to whether they are sufficient or not yet because this bill and I am sure others are going to speak to it, is plain simply scary. The fact that this was almost discovered by accident is what really, really frightens me, that if, and I’ll give her a shout out, if our own State Rep. Gail Lavielle hadn’t read this, realized what it was saying and raised the flag it might have sailed through attached to some other bill or without this level of scrutiny.”

Duff did not respond to an email asking for comment.

The original bill would have big-footed the towns and cities, giving the state control over land, buildings and development within a half-mile of all transit stations, former NBC News director and anchor Jim Cameron, who served for 19 years on the CT Metro-North Rail Commuter Council, said recently in an opinion piece that appeared on NoN slamming the bill and its intent.

There’s no word if Cameron consulted Lavielle before putting out his op-ed.

Councilman David Watts (D-District A) was right with McCarthy in condemning state government.

“I don’t know what’s going on in Hartford. They’re coming up with some whacky stuff lately. The Council of Governments, the registrar of voters, and now this. It’s really sad,” Watts said.

Majority Leader Doug Hempstead (R-At Large) also talked about the Council of Governments (COG), which replaced the South Western Regional Planning Agency (SWRPA) recently, to Norwalk’s chagrin.

“(HB 6581) certainly would have usurped our ability as Norwalkers to have a voice in our future,” Hempstead said. “That the process of why even add another layer of responsibility when we just created a Council of Governments that could have taken this on as part of the responsibility without all the eminent domain issues.”

He said he had heard from a member of the West Haven City Council.

“This thing scared the bejeesus, in plain English, out of any municipality that had any kind of bus stop,” Hempstead said. “… I am in favor of keeping this thing in because until this bill is either killed in committee and doesn’t go forward or voted down by the whole body, I think our voices need to be heard upstate to understand that we stand here in solidarity against them taking over Norwalk’s ability to make its own future.”

Councilman John Kydes (D-District C) suggested that perhaps Gov. Dannel Malloy had a specific place in mind when he submitted the bill to the General Assembly. He thanked Duff, saying it’s “nice to have friends in high places that are looking out for Norwalk.”

Councilman Bruce Kimmel (D-At Large) said he had also gotten emails from other municipalities, looking to emulate a resolution that hadn’t been passed yet. He had an interesting discussion with someone from Newington who also didn’t know what Malloy was thinking.

“She had heard what I had heard, some rumors about a squabble between the governor, something that happened in Stamford, one of those kinds of things. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail down the road,” Kimmel said. “… Nobody seems to give me a straight answer why we need this type of thing, especially in the context of the COG.”

McCarthy wrote the resolution while on vacation.

“I commend Mr. McCarthy, who I believe was probably on beach when he took the time … to do this. That raises the threshold to a point that I don’t think I could ever reach,” Kimmel said.

“I also had an opportunity to speak with our legislative delegation and, to a person, they are very, very concerned about this and I have no doubt in my mind that they are going to do everything they can to protect Norwalk’s interests,” Mayor Harry Rilling said.

He had done some math and figured that there are 502 acres around each of Norwalk’s transit hubs, he said. A lot of people live in those urban areas, he said.

“We risk uprooting them and not having the authority to stop what is going on. So I was very, very troubled when I read this,” Rilling said. “I know it was Rep. Lavielle that kind of put that forward for us to look at, but again, in speaking to all the delegates on both sides of the aisle – and I don’t like using that term but our state delegation – I too was assured that they are all very, very concerned about this and that they are going to look out for Norwalk’s best interests.”