Housing Headlines

DANVERS --- Reasoning that the local trust you know is better than the 40B you don't know, selectmen have voted to turn a vacant lot on Laurine Road over to the town's Affordable Housing Trust so it can be developed - most likely into an affordable owner-occupied homeownership opportunity.

BOSTON --- The Chinatown/South Cove Neighborhood Association heard details on a plan by GFI Partners to build 130 to 150 apartments and condos on a site that currently hosts a parking lot.

WELLESLEY --- Town Meeting is expected to consider a bylaw that would formalize a review process before historically-significant buildings can be torn down. Members of the historical commission are behind the effort as they have grown concerned as teardowns have increased in Wellesley. According to the town, there have been 772 teardowns since 2002 and 317 in the last four years.

MEDFIELD --- Residents recently got a chance to look at four options about what to do with the 134 acres the town owns in and around the Medfield State Hospital site, two of which included using part of the land for mixed-income homes and apartments. A committee tasked with coming up with a plan for the land hope to get residents to build consensus around two of the options.

NATICK --- Town Meeting this spring is likely to consider two zoning proposals that will create assisted living overlay districts in response to two proposals and a feeling in the community that there is a need for assisted living and memory care housing.

An editorial in the Salem News acknowledged progress on affordable housing in Salem and Beverly thanks in part to the nonprofit Harborlight Community Partners while chiding Peabody for rezoning a property so it wouldn't be used for affordable housing.