Joshua Caspi, the developer of two large 5- and 6-story 75-unit residential buildings on lower Mason Street and is suing Greenwich P&Z. The site is at 275-290 Mason Street off Bruce Park Avenue and was most recently a Honda dealership.
Why the lawsuit? The 8-30g State mandate allows developers of affordable housing to do as they want as long as there are no "health and public safety" issues. The lawsuit claims that the conditions imposed by Greenwich P&Z (eliminating retail space and requiring affordable units to be comparable in size to market-rate units), are not legal requirements under the 8-30g law.
According to the Connecticut Centinal, one of the many hidden costs to the community of the 8-30g Affordable Housing mandate is litigation. More than 35% of all rejected 8-30g proposals end up in court, imposing added costs to the taxpayers.
Between the Lines - 8-30g is a bad deal for CT and Greenwich.