Housing Headlines

NORTHAMPTON - With the aid of a $1.1 million acquisition loan from the state's Community Economic Development Assistance Corp. (CEDAC), the Valley Community Development Corp. is hoping to build some 60 units of affordable housing at the site of the former Northampton Lumber on Pleasant Street.

BOSTON --- The New England Center for Investigative Reporting takes a close look at the practice of towns limiting three-bedroom units and encouraging senior housing for multi-family development proposals so as to limit the fiscal impacts of adding families and children to the town's population.

BRIDGEWATER --- A developer's plan to pursue a "friendly 40B" permit to replace a vacant downtown building with a new mixed-use building with 25 units and three commercial spaces has received a cold shoulder from town officials. Town councilors say they want to factor in the impacts before deciding whether to support developer Jim Paskell's application through the Local Initiative Program (LIP).

AMHERST --- Town Meeting next month may be asked to establish a new program that would offer tax credits to property owners who keep rents low enough to accommodate families with federal Section 8 vouchers.

STONEHAM --- An affordable housing legal specialist has advised the town to stop efforts to block an apartment complex on Weiss Farm until developer John M. Corcoran and Company has an opportunity to present its plans to build 300 units. Lawyer Jon Witten, hired by the town to represent it in negotiations, warned the town at a special forum that it not "prejudge anything just because of the nature of the (Ch. 40B) law. You have courts that will treat a community very poorly, if it prejudges an application before it gets across the threshold."

BRIDGEWATER --- The Bridgewater Town Council unanimously approved a set of zoning amendments aimed at jumpstarting downtown revitalization, the most significant a measure that will allow residences in the central business district around the town common.