AGENDA REQUEST
GENERAL DISCUSSION ITEM
Subject:
title
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Town of Ledyard will conduct a Hybrid Format Public Hearing (In-Person and Video Conference) by the Town Council on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Town Hall Annex located at 741 Colonel Ledyard Hwy, Ledyard, CT to discuss the Fiscal Year 2025 Community Development Block Grant program and to solicit citizen input.
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Background:
Habitat for Humanity of Southeastern Connecticut has been working through the process to construct 38 Affordable Housing Units on Colby Drive.
Habitat for Humanity has been working to build neighborhoods. The Colby Drive Plan has been laid out as a community, with sidewalks, bus stops, and green spaces. Habitat for Humanity has built 111 homes in Southeastern Connecticut.
The proposed 2025 Small Cities Community Development Grant would be a pass-thru from the Town to Habitat for Humanity to aid them with their project.
The $1 million CDBG Grant Funding would be used toward building the infrastructure (road, water, sewer and utilities) to support the construction of 38 homes at 8, 9 & 11 Colby Drive. There was already some infrastructure in the ground, which included some storm drains from when Conover was looking to develop multi-family housing on Colby Drive about 20-years ago. However, Conover abandoned the multi-family housing project and donated the property to Habitat for Humanity.
The road had been roughed-in Conover; however, the road and infrastructure was never completed. This project would build out Colby Drive and its infrastructure (water, sewer, utilities) to connect the cul-de-sac to Colonel Ledyard Highway and it would come out by the Salty Hefer Restaurant on Colonel Ledyard Highway.
The State’s Department of Housing (DOH) required that the CDBG Grant Application be submitted by a municipality. Therefore, the 2025 CDBG Grant would be a pass-through from the Town to Habitat to Humanity. Habitat for Humanity would assume the responsibility to get all the paperwork to the town for the Mayor to sign and to send to the Department of Housing; this responsibility also included handling the monthly and quarterly reporting; and the filing of the forms to request the funding.
Other than holding the Public Hearing and the paperwork associated with the Public Hearing that the Town would not have any other responsibilities. This pass-through program does not require any local matching funds from the town.
The Affordability Plan included a Qualifying Income and forty-year Deed Restriction, which meant that if the home was sold during the 40-year deed restriction it must be sold to persons that meet the income qualifications. The Qualification Income requires the buyers to be earning between 40% - 80% of the Southeastern Connecticut’s median income, which was currently $110,000.
Financing for Qualified Buyers included the following two lending mechanisms: (1) Habitat for Humanity; and (2) A third-party Affordable Mortgage Program. Financing through the Habitat for Humanity Program guaranteed that the buyer would not spend more than 30% of their gross income on their housing (i.e. mortgage, property taxes, and property insurance).
Department Comment/Recommendation:
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