Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- In his regular Talking Points roundup, Boston Globe business writer Jon Chesto speculates that the developers of Washington Place do not have the necessary votes to gain approval to knock down several old buildings and replace it with a mixed-use development with 160 mixed-income apartments. Because of a challenge from abutters, developer Robert Korff needs to get the OK from 18 of 24 city council members to move forward with his plan to remake the Washington-Walnut Street intersection in Newtonville near the MassPike and the commuter rail.

The number of low-income children in many affluent communities is rising at a much faster rate than it is statewide, in some cases doubling over the past decade, according to an analysis of state data by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. The Globe reported that Sudbury, Winchester, Hopkinton, Hingham and Littleton have at least twice as many needy students as they did 10 years ago and significant increases were also found in Wellesley, Duxbury, Lexington, Needham, Belmont, and Westwood.

MILTON --- Connelly Construction's plans to turn the former Hendries' Ice Cream factory site into housing cleared its final hurdle recently as the Conservation Commission OK'd the project, clearing the way for the company to knock down the building and replace it with a four-story condominium with 36 units.

BOSTON --- Using federal and local funds - including $8 million from the city's housing trust - the City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development has announced $22 million in funding to support 10 developments and 602 apartments. Awards went to proposals in Dorchester (4), Jamaica Plain (2), Mattapan (1), Roxbury (1), Fenway (1) and downtown.

LUDLOW --- Concerns that a proposed 43-unit affordable housing development is too near wetlands, a school and may not be accessible to public safety vehicles has caused the town to consider hiring legal help on how to fight HAPHousing's plan to apply to the town for a Ch. 40B comprehensive permit. "I'm going to contact town counsel to come up with some names of experts in 40B," said Ludlow Town Administrator Ellie Villano, acting at the behest of selectmen. According to the state, 2.2 percent of the town's housing is considered affordable.

NEWTON --- The city's legal department has ruled that a petition signed by more than two dozen residents is enough to trigger a provision in the state zoning law that will require developers of the controversial Washington Place project to get a three-quarters majority vote from the City Council. Mark Investments is seeking to rezone the intersection of Washington and Walnut streets alongside the commuter rail and the Mass Pike so it can demolish several old buildings and replace it with a series of mixed-use apartment buildings that would total 160 units.The developers now need 18 councilors to vote in favor instead of 16.