Housing Headlines

LEXINGTON --- Selectmen have given their support to a propoal by the town's Lexington Housing Assistance Board to rehab one home and build a second home on the property that will add up to four two-bedroom affordable homes, one of which will be handicapped accessible. Residents in the Fairview Ave. neighborhood where the project is proposed have questioned the proposal's size and density but one selectmen noted that the new building is smaller than some of the mini-mansions that have gone up in the neighborhood recently.

CHELMSFORD --- The public has 30 days to offer comments on a proposed 120-unit affordable-housing proposal for 276 Mill Road, near Billerica Road. A non-profit affiliate of the Chelmsford Housing Authority is proposing to build the new rental development with a Ch. 40B comprehensive permit.

SOMERVILLE --- A proposed two-building, five-story housing development on Washington Street in Union Square cannot go forward until developers better respond to neighbors' concerns, the Somerville Planning Board decided on Thursday, July 11. Approximately 50 people attended to hear discussion on Somerville Community Corporation's plans to turn the former Boys & Girls Club into 40 affordable rental units and Cathartes Private Investments' plans to build 39 market-rate units and five affordable units where the Cota Funeral Home is now. The board, which appeared split between respecting abutters' wishes and honoring new zoning that allows five-story buildings, decided to continue its discussion at its next meeting on July 18.

MILTON --- Led by state Sen. Brian Joyce, the town is girding to fight Mill Creek Residential's plans to seek a Ch. 40B permit to build 276 apartments across the street from the 300-unit Fuller Village senior housing community. Recently, Fuller Village has retained a lawyer to represent its interests while neighboring Canton has also weighed in with similar concerns about traffic and the environment, given that a small portion of the project would be built within its borders.

CANTON --- Too much rental housing and traffic near downtown were among the reasons why selectmen have decided not to support a developer's proposal to clean up the contaminated former Plymouth Rubber Company site and replace it with 204 rental apartment units, 64 townhouse condos and 80 age-restricted units.

DEVENS --- MassDevelopment announced earlier this month that five development companies have expressed interest in bidding to develop 120 new housing units on 70 acres at Devens, the former military site off Rt. 2 near Ayer.