Housing Headlines

EASTHAMPTON --- Data showing that residents over the age of 60 will make up more than a third of Easthampton's population by 2035 has advocates and city officials worrying about seniors keeping up with the cost of living, especially housing. “We’re coming to a point where we will need more affordable housing,” said Brendan Rogers, director of the Council on Aging. “We are better off than some other communities, but in another 10 years, I don’t imagine state housing holding up.”

SOUTH DENNIS --- Despite resident concerns about water pollution and public safety, the Dennis Zoning Board of Appeals has approved a Ch. 40B comprehensive land use permit for Maritime Landing, a 28-unit condo project on Route 6A. To be developed by Mark Smith, Maritime Landing will offer 21 market-rate condos priced between $544,000 and $569,000 and seven affordable condos between $192,000 and $215,000.

HAMILTON --- After failing to convince the town to tie in its desire to develop a small site on Willow Street with another development on a larger site, Harborlight Community Partners' (HCP) has informed the town that it will not be able to move forward with the Willow Street site on its own due to an inability to secure funding. HCP was the lone respondent to a request for proposals on the Willow Street site in 2017.

PEABODY --- A proposal by owner William Skouras to convert the former Peabody Coffee House into eight efficiency units for low-income and homeless was voted down by City Council by one vote. Although the council voted in favor of the plan 7-4, Skouras needed eight votes or a two-thirds super majority to get the special zoning permit.

LAWRENCE --- The Eagle Tribune's Keith Eddings takes a comprehensive look at Lawrence's population growth - up 10,000 in the last decade - and the squeeze it's putting on housing supply, not just in the trendy renovated lofts that are filling up with young professionals but also in Lawrence's neighborhoods of one- and two-family homes that attract couples with children.

FRAMINGHAM --- The Planning Board's decision to OK 129 senior units on a former 67-acre golf course is not sitting well with neighbors, who have filed a lawsuit claiming the project does not have permission to use a stormwater system and that nearby residents will bear the brunt of anticipated problems, which they characterize as construction and traffic noise, changes to the local ecosystem and the “visual effects of the excessive density” behind their properties.