Housing Headlines

NORTON - Norton selectmen are urging other communities to join with them to pressure the state to change the way they calculate percentages of affordable housing units so that units that have been permitted but not yet built can be counted toward the state's 10 percent affordable housing supply threshold, thereby giving communities more say over applications for Ch. 40B comprehensive permits.

BRIGHTON --- A proposal was recently submitted to the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) to raze an existing bank, office and retail building, greenhouse and parking lot to build 60 rental units at the corner of Washington and Parson Street. The proposed development would also include 10,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and 106 parking spaces. The proposal will require approval through the BRA's large project public review process.

MILTON --- More than 130 residents came before selectmen in March to protest the 276-unit Milton Mews project on Brush Hill Road. Roughly half of the audience was made up of residents of Fuller Village, a 300-unit senior community across the street from the site of the proposed development brought before the town by Mill Creek Residential.

BOSTON (DORCHESTER) --- The city's Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) recently approved a plan to build 278 rental units on what is now a vacant lot on Morrissey Boulevard, adjacent to the JFK/UMass T station. The plan calls for 50 percent of the units to be studios, averaging around 450 square feet. The additional units will be made up of one, two and three-bedroom units. Work is slated to begin this summer and expected to last 18 months.

HINGHAM --- Rather than continue to pursue a Ch. 40B permit so it can build 177 apartments in South Hingham, AvalonBay has reached a tentative agreement to sell the land to the town. The tentative agreement, which is subject to town meeting approval, is for the town to purchase approximately 18 acres for $3.7 million in order to build a wastewater treatment facility that will include a buffer from surrounding commercial operations for neighboring residential properties.

HINGHAM --- A Brighton-based developer has applied for a Ch. 40B comprehensive permit to build 20 homeownership units on 13 acres of land on Main St. between Constitution and Highfield roads, across from the House of Prayer Lutheran Church. The proposal comes one week after developer AvalonBay had agreed to allow the sale of an 18-acre parcel in South Hingham to the town instead of pursuing a controversial 177-unit housing project there. The town plans to build a water treatment plant on the site.