Housing Headlines

EASTON --- Residents in the Williams St. neighborhood say while they are for affordable housing and have supported nearby efforts, they will continue to fight with a property owner who bought a single-family home in 2005, split it into a two-family rental , was denied from building another home on the property in 2006 and, since 2008, has been pursuing a Ch. 40B permit to build 28 units on the 2.5 acre lot.

WILLIAMSTOWN --- The town's Affordable Housing Committee will hold two public sessions in October to get input from the community on how to best develop two brownfield sites - the old town garage on Water St. and the Photech Mill on Cole Ave. Work to clean up both properties has been going on for years and the town has now reached the stage where it is seeking public input in order to put out a Request for Proposals to developers.

LEE --- A restaurant, hotel, affordable housing and community center are among the potential re-uses for the Eagle Mill, according to the local developer seeking to revitalize the community's oldest factory.

PLAINVILLE --- Selectmen have made public plans that Rhode Island-based Picerne Real Estate Group has approached the town about building 240 rental apartments of Rt. 1 through the state's Locial Initiative Program. Twenty-fiver percent of the apartments would be affordable.

STONEHAM --- This past spring, the Stoneham Housing Authority celebrated the completion of four 100 percent accessible wheelchair units, three of which are now homes to disabled military vets. Another feature is that the development uses passive solar energy for heat. Since the opening, the project has received two awards: it won the 2013 HUD Secretary's Housing and Community Design Award and the architects - Abacus Architects - won the Public Architecture Award from the state's Architectural Access Board and the Boston Society of Architects.

DANVERS --- By unanimous vote, selectmen voted recently to transfer an abandoned single-family home seized by the town for back taxes to the Danvers Affordable Housing Trust, which will use funds it received from the Danvers State Hospital development to pay the town $40,000 in back taxes and then find a developer to rebuild the property into a single-family home that will be sold at an affordable price.