Housing Headlines

SPENCER --- Concerned about the number of police calls that are being made to two of its properties, the Spencer Board of Selectmen issued a housing license to the South Middlesex Opportunity Council with the requirement that a SMOC representative meet quarterly with local police. The town stated they are sympathetic with SMOC's mission of helping the low-income - some with mental health or substance abuse issues - but want to monitor police activity. “You’re tying up my Police Department an awful lot of time,” Selectman Gary Woodbury said. “I don’t want you to think we’re not compassionate ... But we need a plan to make this start working better.”

FALMOUTH — A Westford development company has filed its zoning application for a 104-unit housing development on Main Street, the start of what promises to be a contentious process pitting the town's need for affordable housing against the wishes of neighbors and selectmen.

NEWTON --- With an accessory bylaw that has produced only 72 apartments since 1994 and makes only 13 percent of the city's one- and two-family lots eligible, Newton is discussing expanding its bylaw to permit more properties to add in-law apartments.

In the Sunday Globe, columnist Dante Ramos connects Rust Belt voters' decision to go with Donald Trump because their economic fortunes are stuck with high home prices in blue states, which prevents workers from moving to high-economic opportunity areas like New York, San Francisco and Boston.

SHREWSBURY --- A local developer has shelved plans to build a mixed-use project with 136 apartments and 700,000 square feet of commercial space along Rte. 9, and instead has proposed to build 626,500 feet of commercial space and two single-family homes. Residents objected to the earlier plan last year, focusing on the developer's decision to clear cut 19 acres of trees off the 30 acre site, a move that caused the state to write the developer had violated "the spirit" of state environmental laws.

BOSTON --- Winn Development and Lendlease Development Inc. have announced plans to replace the Boston Housing Authority's aging 20-unit Clippership Apartments in East Boston with 50 income-restricted apartments. Twenty low-income rental units will be in one-three story building, with 30 studio to three-bedroom condos in the other building.