Housing Headlines

PROVINCETOWN --- About 500 voters packed Town Hall on Monday, Feb. 6, and voted by the necessary two-thirds to move forward with a proposal to borrow $10.7 million in order to bid on the bankrupt Harbor Hill time share. The next step is a town-wide vote tonight, which would need a simple majority. The town is hoping to bid on Harbor Hill and use the 26 units for year-round affordable housing.

NORTON --- Robert Arista of Dakota Partners went before selectmen recently seeking support for Turtle Crossing, a 176-unit apartment Ch. 40B proposal the town supported back in 2008. The project was never built but Arista told the the town looking for support so his company could apply to the state for tax-credit financing.

GREENFIELD --- The town has issued a Request for Proposals in hopes of attracting a developer who will build seven mixed-income housing units on an acre of land that the town purchased with federal block grant funds. The project is part of a long-term plan to improve the Deerfield Street Corridor with sidewalk, park and housing investments.

BILLERICA --- Citing there would be numerous benefits such as increasing affordable housing, reusing a vacant office propertyand having apartments that would help the town attract business, the Billerica selectmen voted 4-1 to support Alliance Residential's Company's "friendly 40B" application to build 200 apartments.

DORCHESTER --- Neighbors will get a chance to weigh in on plans by Vietnamese American Initiative for Development, Inc. (Viet-AID) to turn two vacant Bowdoin St. lots into 41 apartments at a public meeting on Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Teen Center, 278 Bowdoin St.

WOBURN --- The Zoning Board of Appeals has asked National Development to revise parts of its Ch. 40B application before beginning to consider the developer's plan to build 200 units behind the Marriott Residence Inn. The site has been identified by the city as a suitable location for large-scale housng and the developer is referring to its permit bid as a "friendly 40B."