Republican gubernatorial nominee Sen. Ryan Fazio has put a Greenwich apartment project at the center of his campaign. The state senator cited a proposed 176-unit building at 7 and 9 Western Junior Highway as evidence that Connecticut's housing laws override local zoning decisions.

Putnam Green Holding LLC filed a pre-application to demolish the 66-unit Putnam Green apartment complex and replace it with a six-story development under Connecticut's affordable housing statute, known as 8-30g. The complex, built in 1976, sits on 2.7 acres. The proposed building would reach about 80 feet, double the 40-foot height limit under current zoning, and would more than double the four stories and 85 units the site currently allows.

At least 30 percent of the units would carry affordability restrictions. Under 8-30g, at least 15 percent must be reserved for households earning no more than 60 percent of the area median income, with additional units capped at 80 percent. Those restrictions would last at least 40 years.

The property sold for $20.7 million in June 2025. Town application records list Putnam Green Holding LLC as the current owner and applicant. Attorney John Tesei represents the developers, according to Greenwich Time. No public statement from Putnam Green Holding LLC or Tesei was available as of publication.

Fazio makes it a campaign issue

Fazio, 36, named the Western Junior Highway proposal in a Friday, Sept. 4, interview with the Greenwich Sentinel as a specific example of his central campaign argument: that state government has drifted too far from the people it governs.

"That is a policy that they support under the pretext that it creates more affordable housing … but it's been on the books for decades, and it hasn't made the state more affordable," Fazio said in the Sentinel interview, referring to 8-30g and the Democratic legislative majority.

Fazio has spent much of his five years in the Connecticut Senate opposing bills he says strip power from towns. In 2023, he joined Senate Republicans in a nine-hour debate over a housing bill on the session's final day. In 2024, he threatened to filibuster another zoning-related bill, halting other legislation until it was withdrawn.

At a July 27 press conference at Greenwich Town Hall, Fazio and officials from Darien and New Canaan called for a state moratorium on zoning mandates. First Selectman Fred Camillo called for the moratorium at the bipartisan event, which drew both Republican and Democratic state representatives who raised concerns about infrastructure capacity, Patch reported.

No response from the Lamont campaign or Democratic legislative leaders was available as of publication.

Neighbors push back on scale

Lin Lavery, a former Greenwich selectman who works in real estate, told Greenwich Time the building's size was out of proportion. "Six stories? That doesn't make any sense. … That's huge, too much," Lavery said, adding that the state law encouraged oversized development.

What 8-30g does

Connecticut enacted 8-30g in 1989 to encourage affordable housing construction. The law applies in municipalities where less than 10 percent of the housing stock qualifies as affordable. Greenwich sits at 5.93 percent, according to the state's 2025 Affordable Housing Appeals List.

The statute does not automatically approve developments that conflict with local zoning. It creates a special appeals procedure that shifts much of the legal burden to a municipality if its zoning commission denies or significantly restricts a qualifying application. A commission can defend a denial based on substantial public interests, including health and safety, when those interests clearly outweigh the need for affordable housing.

What happens next

The proposal remains in the pre-application stage, listed as PLPZ202600320. No public hearing has been scheduled. The Greenwich Planning and Zoning Commission has not set a date for formal review. Residents can track the application on the town's planning and zoning portal.

The Sentinel said it is preparing a similar interview with Gov. Ned Lamont, expected after Labor Day, covering affordability, local control and other issues.