By Brandon T. Bisceglia
The Milford Planning and Zoning Board at a May 28 special meeting considered the possibility of adding housing to the corridor design development-3 zone.
The zone runs through the center of Milford, down the Boston Post Road at exit 34 off I-95 over to Bridgeport Avenue, terminating shortly before Milford Hospital. It currently does not allow for housing. City Planner David Sulkis noted that the new location for the Beth-El Center homeless shelter is being constructed in that zone, and the former K-Mart building is also being converted into apartments within the zone.
“It was cleverly-designed spot zoning,” Chair Jim Quish said of the K-Mart approval, which was granted under language that did not open housing to other parts of the zone. “I’m not sure we did the right thing, but we did what we did.”
The zone primarily consists of commercial properties currently. Commercial properties have struggled in recent years between the rise of internet shopping and pandemic-era remote work.
At the same time, Connecticut is facing a major housing shortage, with the General Assembly perennially mulling legislation to push municipalities to develop more housing of all types – especially denser affordable housing.
Milford has already been affected by this shift in property use beyond the K-Mart conversion. The city’s largest taxpayer, the Connecticut Post Mall, has been slowly losing commercial tenants and revenue, and dropped $80 million in market value since the city’s last revaluation in 2021. The city in late 2023 allowed for up to 750 apartments at the mall as part of a plan to turn it into a more sustainable mixed-use development.
Quish noted that there are now a number of blighted and vacant properties in the CDD-3 zone. He said that he thought the whole area should be opened up to other kinds of economic development – especially mixed-use housing. He imagined the Stop & Shop that recently closed in the zone could be turned into something of a small neighborhood.
“Without knocking that building down you could add village-like housing in the parking lot, and the actual retail space could be converted into restaurants, or recreation or little boutiques,” he said.
“I don’t know that we necessarily want to focus on any specific property,” City Planner David Sulkis said. “If we come up with the vision of what we want…we want to give them the tools to do something.”
“I think this is probably the most ripe for development. You have some really big properties,” Quish agreed.
The board members also discussed the possibility of creating bike lanes and other walkability features along the stretch of Bridgeport Avenue that falls in the zone. The state Department of Transportation would be involved in those decisions, but the DOT would be more likely to approve those features if there were residences along the road.
Another potential option would be to expand the Milford Center design district west to encompass more of Bridgeport Avenue past the hospital. That district includes the Milford Green and allows several types of housing already.
Not enough zoning board members joined the meeting to allow for a voting quorum, but those present agreed that they should add the matter to the agenda for a future meeting and invite public input.
“There’s really a huge amount of money that could be invested in this area,” Quish said. “Lots of jobs – local jobs. Anyway, I’m excited about it.”