Housing Headlines

FRAMINGHAM --- After changing zoning rules to encourage downtown development, voters at a special Town Meeting next month will be asked to vote on more than $9.1 million in tax breaks for two major housing projects - Mill Creek Residential's 270-unit proposal for 266 Waverly St. (called Modera) and Wood Partners' 197-unit plan for 75 Concord St.

BEVERLY --- The Beverly City Council is considering creating an affordable housing trust fund that would help pay for new housing projects as they come up, or with renovations to existing ones. "We have a sum of money that's been paid to the city, but it's time to put that into a specific and decided fund," said Mayor Michael Cahill, who backs the idea. The fund would have five trustees, including the mayor.

PROVINCETOWN --- Calling it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get move-in-ready apartments to jump-start the town's new Year Round Rental Housing Trust, the board has scheduled a special town meeting Feb. 6 and a vote the next day on raising money to bid on the bankrupt 26-unit Harbor Hill time-share property. The 1.2 acre site has been valued at $6.8 million.

BOSTON --- At a Boston Planning and Development Agency meeting before Christmas, developer Joseph Taylor asked to switch his 27-unit condo plan for River Street in Mattapan from condo to rental while the development team of POAH and Nuestra Comunidad provided an update on their plans to develop a Mattapan MBTA site into 135 apartments and 12,000 square feet of commercial space.

CONCORD --- Residents said at a public meeting that a town-affiliated housing corporation charged with facilitating the development of a state prison parcel conveyed to the town have not been up front in their planning of an 83-unit assisted living development that would be built by the Grantham Group. One selectman chirmed in, saying the public needs more information, especially since the developers are seeking local funding to help make the project affordable.

LUDLOW --- Selectmen minced few words in voicing their displeasure about HAPHousing's plans to build 43 affordable apartments on a five-acre site it recently purchased, saying it's too close to a school, a swamp and a busy intersection.