To the Editor:
Picture yourself on the Branford Town Green, sitting on a bench on a warm summer day enjoying ice cream with your family. While you are relaxing, you probably don’t realize that you are gazing upon an economic powerhouse. Using publicly available data, I computed the assessed value per acre for every parcel of land in Branford and rendered it on the 3D map shown above. The taller the bar, the higher the assessed value per acre. The cluster of tall red parcels towards the right are Branford Town Center. The short light blue parcels on the left are big box stores and parking lots. There is a stark contrast between these districts.
The businesses around The Green may seem unassuming. They are a mix of small retail, offices, restaurants, and coffee shops. Each one may be small, but together they pack a serious economic punch. The parcels on Main St. and Montowese St. adjacent to The Green take up just 8 acres but their 2023 assessed value was $16,874,400 generating $514,331.71 per year in tax revenue at a mill rate of 30.48.
Not far from The Center there is a Walmart, an enormous nondescript windowless building surrounded by a vast moat of parking. It occupies a 16.6 acre parcel of which less than 0.5 acres is the building itself. The remaining 16 acres is dedicated to parking. As soon as you pull your car in, you know this is a place to spend as little time as possible. On a hot summer day, a sweltering expanse of asphalt is the last place anyone wants to be.
When a big box store like Walmart comes to town, it builds a huge building on a large lot and seemingly pays the town a large tax bill for the privilege. But surprisingly, Walmart generates less than half of the revenue generated around the Green on a parcel more than double the size. In Branford, Walmart had a total assessed value of $7,161,000 in 2023. That’s an annual tax bill of $218,267. A substantial bill for sure, but a small fraction of the revenue the land could generate if it were used more efficiently.
The eight acres adjacent to the Green have an assessed value per acre of $2,100,000 while Walmart has a value per acre of just $431,386. Even when including the 8.9 acres of The Green itself, these parcels are valued at $998,485 per acre, still more than double Walmart. Per acre, the single most valuable parcel in Branford Town Center is 978-1004 Main St. with a 2023 assessed value of $2,571,200 and a whopping $6,592,821 per acre.
If the 16.6 acres of land occupied by Walmart were as productive as this one building, it would have an assessed value of $109,440,828 and a tax bill of $3,335,756! While this is an unlikely outcome, dedicating so much land to parking guarantees it will never happen. Branford is a small town in a small state. We need to make better use of our limited land.
An easy first step is to eliminate parking mandates that require businesses to allot space for parking spots that are often greatly in excess of what is used. While huge corporations like Walmart can afford to waste land, this can be crippling to a small business. If Branford’s Main Street did not already exist, it would be illegal to build it today under current zoning regulations, partially due to strict minimum parking requirements. For example, a restaurant requires 1 parking space per 94 sq ft of floor area. That’s at least 162 sq ft of parking for every 94 sq ft of restaurant space! This would turn the Center into a sea of asphalt and gut its financial value, hardly a place to sit and enjoy your ice cream. We need to reform parking regulations for the good of the community and for the fiscal health of the town.
It’s not just true in Branford; the same pattern can be seen repeated throughout the state. This investigation can be performed for any town. I’ve written instructions on how to do it. I’d love to see your results.
Right now, House Bill 7061 would take this step. If you would prefer to see more developments like Main Street that foster community and small businesses, contact your state representatives and let them know you support HB 7061. Beyond parking reform, more work is needed to re-legalize development on small lots, allow for residential and retail mixed use buildings, simplify zoning, and streamline approval processes. Doing so will unlock the creativity and entrepreneurship of the community that is currently strangled by regulation.
Eric Steinlauf
Branford, CT