Housing Headlines

IPSWICH --- Longtime local reporter Dan Mac Alpine pens a tribute to Gerry Beauchamp, "the man everyone in Ipswich knows." After a life in various businesses, Beauchamp was executive director of the Ipswich YMCA for 14 years and was a driving force behind such achievements as the 48-unit Powder House Village and a $3.4 million Y expansion that included an outdoor pool. Mac Alpine published his story about Beauchamp, an avid distance runner, on May 1, a few weeks after Beauchamp became ill while preparing for an April 8 road race in Washington D.C. Beauchamp passed away on May 10.

NEWTON --- A developer's bid to build 68 apartments on a municipal parking lot within walking distance of a Newton commuter rail station may finally move forward after a second suit by residents has been dismissed. The second suit was brought by three residents who claimed the project has and will cause them harm. The suit was dismissed due in part to the plaintiffs failure to provide expert testimony and because they did not have legal standing as abutters because none of them owned property next to the site.

SHREWSBURY --- Town Meeting voted to consolidate the zoning of two sites into one 73-acre Route 20 overlay district and also amended the district to allow for residential, clearing the way for developers to redevelop the long-vacant Edgemere drive-in into a mixed-use development featuring a Market Basket Grocery store, other commercial space and 250 one- and two-bedroom apartments.

CHATHAM --- Once upon a time, dorms were the norm for seasonal workers, but most have been redeveloped into private residences or upscale condos. In a reversal of that trend, the Zoning Board of Appeals has OK'd a special permit so that the downstairs portion of the Colonial Building can be converted into 18-bed dorm for summer workers, the first dorm to be located downtown in decades.

GLOUCESTER --- The debate regarding the redevelopment of the Fuller School site into a mixed-use site with a new YMCA, retail space and 200 apartments continues to swirl around the issue of whether the developers should include 30 affordable units in the project or to pay $1.5 million into the town's Affordable Housing Trust.

BOSTON --- Somerville is to Boston what Brooklyn is to New York City, a much-desired location near a great city that is wrestling with how to grow while maintaining its base of affordable housing. Recently, the city boosted its inclusionary zoning bylaw and now asks developers to set aside 20 percent of its housing as affordable. One developer has asked for a waiver and some are worrying that the additional requirement will scare future development away while others think the city should hang tough and continue to insist on a percentage of housing at a variety of price ranges.