Housing Headlines

WILLIAMSTOWN --- Despite the strong objections of one resident who understood the need for housing but was unhappy that the town did not meet with neighborhood to hear concerns, the Williamstown Planning Board voted 5-0 to OK a Ch. 40B permit for the redevelopment of the abandoned Photech Mill on Cole Ave. into 46 units of affordable rental housing.

CONCORD --- To compensate in part for starter homes being knocked down to make way for larger homes, the Concord Housing Foundation has proposed that a $35 fee be charged for each square foot of housing over 4,000 square feet. The fund would be used to buy homes that would be sold to affordable buyers and the fee would apply to new homes and existing homes with new additions that put the total square footage over 4,000 square feet. According to the foundation, 80 percent of the homes built since 2000 are over 4,000 square feet.

LYNN --- Quincy-based MG2 Group has reached an agreement with the City of Lynn that will provide developers with tax relief in exchange for the developers agreeing to make all 49 units in their redevelopment of the former Security Trust 'flatiron' building downtown market rate.

BOSTON --- In seeking permission to build 129 "workforce" units in Brighton, Cambridge-based Eden Properties is vowing not to market its housing to college undergraduates or lease more than an third of the units to them at any one time.

ARLINGTON --- The Zoning Board of Appeals has voted to appeal the state's ruling that the town has not met its burden in showing that 1.5 percent of its developable land is used for affordable housing. The town has claimed safe harbor from 40B in its consideration of Oaktree Development's efforts to use a Ch. 40B permit to build 219 units on the Mugar Property in East Arlington.

MARSHFIELD --- A developer's bid to receive a Ch. 40B permit from the town so he can build a mix of duplex and single-family homes totaling 40 rental units seems to have stalled, with the Zoning Board of Appeals hinting that it will seek to extend the 40B hearing to give the developer time to submit the information they have asked for.