During a Board of Representatives meeting this week, Democratic city Rep. Megan Cottrell laid out a view of the development that has earned Stamford the moniker “fastest-growing city in Connecticut.” “The goal, for many, is to turn Stamford into a luxury place,” Cottrell said. “We are attracting affluent people from New York and surrounding areas, and pushing people out of Stamford. It’s a massive giveaway to the real estate industry, and we have to recognize that.” Development is at the core of a controversy that began last month, when Democratic Mayor Caroline Simmons, a former state representative, quietly launched a bill in Hartford to block Stamford from changing consequential zoning regulations in the city charter. The bill has been signed into law so, from now on, Stamford and all other Connecticut towns governed by charters, about 110 of them, cannot revise significant zoning regulations in their charters. They have to ask the state legislature to do it.
Stamford Democrats Question the Public Benefit of ‘Luxury’ Development