Housing Headlines

WENHAM --- Haborlight Community Partners' bid to build 60 age-restricted units on a 3.5 acre site may soon be resolved as the state Superior Court is scheduled to review next month a challenge from 12 Wenham residents who have filed appeals to stop the project based on septic design flaws and the use of public funds to purchase private land.

SOMERVILLE --- City consultants say a citizens’ proposal to boost the required ercentage of affordable housing in new developments from 12.5 to 20 percent in Somerville would cost the city dearly if implemented.

ARLIINGTON --- Longtime land use activist John Belskis is asking selectmen to back an article that would transfer town land at 1 Gilboa Road to the housing authority so it can be used as affordable housing. Currently, the land is classified as open space, but if used for affordable housing, it would help Arlington move closer to satisfying the 40B land-use threshold, which gives towns greater control of 40Bs if 1.5 percent of its land is used for housing.

MELROSE --- With the planning board not ready to vote on developer Angus Bruce's plan to build 13 single-family homes on 8.7 rural acres near Mount Hood golf course, Bruce has brought in an alternative plan, proposing to apply to the town for a Ch. 40B permit so he can build 165 apartments.

BOSTON, March 15, 2016 --- A new in-depth study of a sample of Massachusetts housing developments finds that the state tax payments made by their residents more than offset any negative local fiscal impacts associated with these developments. Commissioned by the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, the UMass Dartmouth study suggests that state tax revenues from new housing are large enough to compensate communities for the negative local fiscal impacts of new housing.

MARSHFIELD --- The town's housing authority is seeking first-time homebuyers for two affordable condominiums, a three-bedroom priced at $130,000 and a two-bedroom at $90,400.