(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any special act, any zoning commission existing pursuant to this chapter and any municipal agency exercising the powers of a zoning commission pursuant to any special act may provide by regulation for a special exemption from density limits established for any zoning district, or special exception use, in which multifamily dwellings are permitted, in accordance with the requirements contained in subsection (b) of this section. Such special exemption shall allow the construction of a designated number of such permitted multifamily dwelling units in excess of applicable density limits, in accordance with a contract entered into between a developer applying for the special exemption and the municipality. Any such contract shall provide: (1) For each dwelling unit constructed by the developer in excess of the number of such units permitted by applicable density limits, the developer shall construct in the municipality a unit of affordable housing, as defined in section 8-39a, which is of comparable size and workmanship; (2) for a period which shall not be less than thirty years from the date of completion of any units of affordable housing constructed pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection, such units of affordable housing shall be offered for sale or rent only to persons and families having such income as the agency created or designated under subsection (b) of this section may establish but which shall not exceed the area median income of the municipality as determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development; (3) the sale price or rent for any such unit of affordable housing shall not exceed an amount which shall be specified in such contract, provided such contract shall contain provisions concerning reasonable periodic increases of the specified sale price or rent; (4) such units of affordable housing shall be conveyed by deeds containing covenants incorporating the terms and conditions contained in such contract between the developer and the municipality, which covenants shall run with the land and be enforceable by the municipality until released by the municipality; and (5) the requirements of subdivisions (1) to (4), inclusive, of this subsection shall apply to (A) the resale, (B) the purchase and subsequent leasing and (C) the conversion to the common interest form of ownership and subsequent sale of any such unit of affordable housing during and for the remaining term of such period.

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(b) Upon the adoption of any regulation under subsection (a) of this section, the zoning commission or municipal agency exercising the powers of a zoning commission shall notify the legislative body of the municipality of such adoption and request that the municipality establish or designate an agency to implement a program designed to establish income criteria in accordance with said subsection (a) and oversee the sale or rental of any units of affordable housing constructed pursuant to said subsection (a) to persons and families satisfying such income criteria. Any municipality may, by ordinance, establish or designate a municipal agency to implement such program. If the legislative body does not enact such ordinance within one hundred twenty days following the date of such request, the zoning commission or municipal agency exercising the powers of a zoning commission may notify the housing authority of the municipality or, in any municipality which has not by resolution authorized its housing authority to transact business in accordance with the provisions of section 8-40, the municipal agency with responsibility for housing matters that it has adopted such regulation. Upon receiving such notice, the housing authority or municipal agency with responsibility for housing matters shall implement such program. Any such program shall provide for a method of selecting persons satisfying such income criteria to purchase or rent such units of affordable housing from among a pool of applicants which method shall not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, marital status, intellectual disability, physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness or deafness, place of residency, number of children or veterans’ status.

(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit any powers lawfully exercised by any municipality, any zoning commission existing pursuant to this chapter or any municipal agency exercising the powers of a zoning commission pursuant to any special act. Nothing in this section shall be construed to invalidate any ordinance of a municipality or any regulation of a zoning commission existing pursuant to this chapter or any municipal agency exercising the powers of a zoning commission pursuant to any special act, which ordinance or regulation was adopted before June 6, 1988. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any such municipality, zoning commission or municipal agency from changing the requirements contained in any ordinance or zoning regulation or to require any such municipality, zoning commission or municipal agency to change the requirements contained in any ordinance or zoning regulation.