I'm now going to call to order the meeting of the land use and urban redevelopment committee at 7.03 p.m.

It's uh December 17th, 2025.

Um present is co-chair price, uh Rep Gardner, uh Rep Adams, Rep Finkel, uh Rep Boudreau, and ex officio members present are Rep Camporelli.

I believe I've gotten everyone present.

Uh Appin is uh Rep Policia, uh he's excused, and uh Rep Field.

Uh but we do have a quorum at the moment.

Uh joining us is uh CMDA uh executive director David Corus, as well as director of economic development for the city of Stanford, Leah Kagan.

Uh so our first and only item today is item number LU 3201.

Resolution to opt into the Connecticut Municipal Redevelopment Authority, also known as CMDA.

As I mentioned with us, we have David Corus as well as I Kagan, who uh will speak a bit uh about CMDA and uh Stanford opting in.

So I want to turn it over to either uh David or Leah, whichever uh combo of you would like to go.

I'll start us off.

Thank you, everyone.

And for those of you I haven't met in person yet, I look forward to meeting you soon.

I am the director of economic development, and we've brought this resolution to you tonight as an opt-in resolution to for Stanford to join the Connecticut Municipal Development Authority.

I'll let David uh in a moment go through the details of what is what CDA is, but want to share at a high level that Stanford is interested in becoming uh part of this organization.

I guess maybe it are we called a member because overall the organization is was established to support transit-oriented development.

And Stanford is many of our existing zoning districts support transit-oriented development.

And David will outline the ways in which CMDA was established to support municipalities.

And if Stanford joins, we will be, I think the 33rd, uh, maybe 34th municipality in Connecticut to opt in.

So I'll turn it over to David, and then we can take questions and answer any anything from the members of the committee.

Thank you, David, for being here tonight.

Yeah, sure thing.

Thanks for the introduction, Leah, and thank you, uh members uh Price and Hughes for uh having us uh here today.

This is uh we're very honored to be the first item on your agenda of the uh committee with the current board.

Uh this is the first opportunity that I have had to present to a committee that I formerly co-chaired.

So very awesome to be uh back before you all.

And um I do still live in Stanford, so I look forward to meeting those of you around town who I haven't had the opportunity to meet yet.

Um so I'll give you just an overview of what CMD is, how we operate, and um how it could play out um in a partnership with Stanford if you so choose to uh to join us.

So we are a quasi-public authority, uh, which means we are a creature of the state, but we're not exactly the state.

So we're established by state legislation, um, but we are independent.

We are governed by a board.

I am an employee of the municipal development authority, not an employee of the state of Connecticut, but our powers and initially our funding are granted to us by the state.

And so every quasi public is set up with a particular purpose, and ours is to support member municipalities in their efforts towards economic and transit-oriented development, downtown vibrancy, housing, etc.

And so towards that end, we have a broad and diverse toolkit that we can mobilize in support of our member municipalities' objectives, and that includes technical assistance and capacity enhancement.

It includes funding for infrastructure, and it includes financing for private development.

We have a $90 million capital authorization from the state as of today.

We expect that that will be expanded in the future, and some of it will become a revolving loan fund, which will cycle back into projects.

Um, and we can fund um projects that fall into one of five categories.

And so we are statutorily enabled to fund technical assistance, transit-oriented development, which is defined in statute as being within a half a mile of a rail or bus rapid transit station and reinforcing ridership of that of that system, housing, building demolition or rehabilitation, or anything that falls under the heading of development or redevelopment.

So it's a very broad toolkit.

And our job is to roll up our sleeves with member municipalities and understand and learn about what it is that is holding you back from achieving your objectives and mobilize our resources to overcome those challenges.

And so in some communities, it's technical assistance and strategy and planning, in others, it's zoning, and some it's infrastructure, and some it's it's development finance, and in some it's it's all the above.

So the way in which municipalities gain access to that support is through a multi-step process.

The first of which is for a municipality to opt in by joining us through resolution of its local legislative body.

And so that's what's before you all and ultimately the full board.

It is important to note that that step comes with no commitments or obligations.

It is merely an indicator to us that there's enough local interest that we can start spending some time and energy working with you, having some confidence that we're heading down the same path together.

Before communities are members, we don't delve into the details with them.

Um, as Leah said, so far, 32 municipalities have signed up.

And so it's a way for us to gauge interest and allocate our resources.

Once a community opts in, our next step is to, I guess I should know, maybe I kind of glossed over this.

We can work with any of the 167 municipalities outside of Hartford or East Hartford, but a member community must have either an existing or planned rail or bus rapid transit station or a downtown.

So obviously Stanford is eligible for multiple reasons and in multiple locations, but those are the only areas within the municipality where we could work together.

So we cannot work in residential neighborhoods or you know, areas north of the merit, et cetera.

Um, and so if uh Stanford becomes a member, our next step is to take a look at the city's zoning within a half a mile of its rail stations, Stanford, Glenbrook, and Springdale, um, and within the downtown.

And downtown is defined in our statute, commercial core, mixed use, oriented around a main street or a town green, et cetera.

Our statutory obligation is to look at that zoning and certify whether or not it is likely to substantially increase the number of housing units.

Um, and I don't think I you know have to say this in Stanford, but say this in every community.

Don't get hung up on the word substantial.