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Dear Editor,

This letter is regarding the old UConn Campus on Asylum Avenue (1700 and 1800 Asylum Avenue) also called Heritage Park.

The proposed 1800 Asylum Avenue (Heritage Park) under discussion includes 93 one- and two-bedroom apartments and will have 5% of the total apartments proposed as deed restricted to be Affordable for family income at or below the 80% Area Median Income.  The conventional way these apartment units are allocated to individuals meeting these deed-restricted requirements is that one individual qualifies for a one-bedroom apartment. Doing the math, one individual would pay approximately $1,000 a month for these Affordable one bedroom apartments including utilities.

I asked the owner in the spring of 2024 for the rental costs for these one- and two-bedroom apartments at the public hearing in which 1700 Asylum Avenue was approved (the current site of the former UConn parking lot). A one-bedroom apartment would be $1,000-$1,500 a month without utilities and a two bedroom apartment would be $2,000-$2,500 a month without utilities.

Eight percent (8%) of the 322 units at 1700 Asylum Avenue (Heritage Park) are deed-restricted Affordable housing units.

Five percent (5%) of the 93 units across the street at 1800 Asylum Avenue (Heritage Park where the  old UConn buildings currently stand) are being proposed to be deed-restricted Affordable housing units in the1800 Asylum Avenue development currently under discussion.

My proposition is that that these 93 units also be 8% deed restricted Affordable housing units, not the lower 5% number.

I will be present at the next Town Council meeting on this development to make this point in the January-early February 2025 timeframe. I am assuming that there will be 3-minute speech times for West Hartford taxpayers to comment on the western side of Heritage Park (1800 Asylum Avenue) before the Town Council votes on this development.

Respectfully,
Charlotte Gara
West Hartford