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HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MAY 29, 2023 27 FOCUS: MUNICIPAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT on motor vehicle taxes and a $200 increase in the town's senior citizen tax credit helped blunt some of the shifting tax burden on homeowners. "We felt pretty good we could roll it out in one swoop and make it fair and equitable, while at the same time enjoying a much lower mill rate to make the town more business friendly," Walsh said. East Hartford's mill rate reduction last year came amid a renaissance in development interest in the blue- collar town on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River. Developers hope to break ground this fall on a 300-plus unit apartment development off Silver Lane. Massa- chusetts-based National Development earlier this year began construction on 2.5 million square feet of logistics space at Rentschler Field. Other developers are looking to add hundreds of additional apartments, along with new retail and office space on sites near the Connecticut River. "The reduction in the mill rate certainly wasn't the only reason those things happened, but it certainly made the discussions (with developers and investors) a little bit easier," Walsh said. The shift in property values reflects growing housing demand and declining interest in commer- cial space, both spurred by the pandemic, said Chris DiPen- tima, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association. "Residential properties in suburban areas inflated in price because people were trying to get out of the bigger cities," DiPentima said of the pandemic's impact. "Fortunately, some of that migration was from New York to Connecticut suburbs, which gave the state economy much- needed population growth that has been otherwise stagnant since 2008." Unfortunately, businesses aren't flocking to Connecticut in similar proportion, DiPentima said, and a post-COVID shift to hybrid work has depressed demand for commercial office space. Michael Goman, co-founder and principal of East Hart- ford-based real estate consulting firm Goman+York Property Advisors, warned some commu- nities could face a "tsunami" of shrinking commercial property values due to shifts in post-pandemic work and shopping habits, especially for towns with big malls. Urban areas that have seen an exodus of office workers due to remote and hybrid work trends are most at risk, he said. Conversely, some suburban retail outlets could see higher values as people spend more time at, and shop closer to home. "We are seeing that in suburban retail properties with good anchors," Goman said. "Now they are seeing traffic they didn't see before." New Britain prioritizes growth New Britain also conducted its reevaluation in 2022, which caused single- to four-family residential properties, including condos, to climb in value by 53.6%, according to City Assessor Michael Konik. Commercial values rose 30.3%, while industrial property values climbed 26.2%, he said. Under Mayor Erin Stewart's proposed fiscal year 2024 budget, the city's tax rate will tumble from 49.5 mills to 38.28 mills. Even so, faster-rising residential values will cause taxes on an average single- family home to climb by $764, Konik said. Stewart said she's focused on economic development to help grow the grand list and relieve individual tax burdens. The city has hired Goman+York to ensure it's offering the right mix of incentives to spur new development. Stewart said New Britain saw a similar shift in property values in 2007, as residential values soared ahead of the subprime mortgage crisis and Great Recession. "This is a shift we have seen before," Stewart said. "It is a shift that is tough for many to accept right now because of the sticker shock, but I think in the long run, we will be a better community for it, a community poised for a better quality of life." Michael Goman One CT town adopts development moratorium; another lifts temporary ban By Hanna Snyder Gambini hgambini@hartfordbusiness.com S ome Connecticut municipalities are rethinking their zoning regu- lations as developers continue to propose new multifamily and industrial projects to sate sustained demand for housing and warehouse space. Cheshire recently placed a six-month moratorium on new commercial development proposals within its town center, in order to give land use officials time to review and possibly modify development regula- tions. Meanwhile, South Windsor has lifted a year-long moratorium on new warehouse and distribution centers after its Planning and Zoning Commission recently adopted new regulations related to the facilities. South Windsor's moratorium, put in place in April 2022, came at the request of some residents who raised concerns about the number of new large-scale warehouses being built in the town. It was enacted by the commission to give officials time to review and adjust zoning regulations. South Windsor's new regulations, which went into effect May 28, help better outline buffers for certain facil- ities. Warehouses more than 40,000 square feet in size, and all distribution centers must be at least 500 feet away from nearby residential areas. Fulfillment centers and all bus and truck storage facilities must be at least 750 feet away from residential areas, and freight terminals must be 1,000 feet away, the new regula- tions read. The commission was trying to look at use and intensity, how well a project fits in the community and how it will impact the surrounding area, said South Windsor Director of Planning Michele Lipe. "These changes help protect the community and the neighborhoods from larger facilities being built right next to them, in hopes of minimizing noise and activity levels," Lipe said. "But we also have an industrial Scannell Properties last year finished construction on this 182,000-square-foot warehouse at 240 Ellington Road, in South Windsor. HBJ FILE PHOTO corridor that's developable, so we still need opportunities for projects to occur," she added. Existing warehouses are exempted from the buffers and able to expand under the new regulations. Time to review Cheshire's "temporary and limited" moratorium was requested and approved for all developments within the town center commercial zoning districts, along with planned residen- tial developments and special devel- opment districts in the center of town. The moratorium took effect April 29, and will not apply to applications received before that date, or to appli- cations outside the central districts. Planning and Zoning Commission members said the moratorium will give them time to review proposed uses for those central commercial zones, which are scarce throughout Cheshire. In the last three to five years, several hundred apartment units have been approved throughout town. Planning board members said they want to ensure that future proj- ects are in line with the town's Plan of Conservation and Development, which was last updated eight years ago — before many recent develop- ments started taking shape. Median Greater Hartford home sales price rose $100K during pandemic The median sales price of a Greater Hartford single-family home sold in April 2023 was $331,625, according to the Greater Hartford Associa- tion of Realtors. In February 2020, a month before the pandemic led to nationwide economic shutdowns, the median sales price in Greater Hartford was $231,500. That means regional home prices increased 43% over the last approximately three years, according to GHAR data. Over the previous three-year period — from February 2017 to February 2020 — Greater Hartford's median home sales price rose only about 3%, from $225,000 to $231,500, GHAR data shows.