Housing Headlines

SPRINGFIELD --- The Urban Land Institute's unveiling of its recommendations as to how Springfield should develop the Connecticut River waterfront near the Basketball Hall of Fame triggered some lively reader feedback, some of it typical but some of it thoughtful as to where the city should focus its resources.

WORCESTER --- The city council has OK'd new building codes that will require future residential and commercial construction to adhere to higher energy-efficiency practices. The new codes, signed into law by Gov. Patrick in 2008, give communities the local option to adopt more stringent energy-efficient codes.

HINGHAM --- Without debate, Hingham voters at April's annual town meeting unanimously OK'd spending $250,000 in Community Preservation Act funds for a veteran's home. The home at 111-113 Fort Hill St. will house six veterans and will be managed and owned by Father Bill's Place and MainSpring, Quincy-based non-profit. Further funding for the $1.3 million project includes $825,000 in government grants and loans, a $90,000 mortgage with a private lender and $50,000 from Hingham's affordable housing trust. Father Bill's still needs to raise a little more than $135,000 for the project.

SOMERVILLE --- Governor Patrick recently announced that the state has issued $10 million in funding for the Assembly Square project. When the completed the "Assembly on the Mystic" project will revitalize a 66.5 acre neglected industrial site into a mixed-use, transit-orientated development with 18 buildings, 2,100 residential units, 1.8 million square feet of office space, 1.1 million square feet of retail space, and a 160-200 room hotel.

CHELMSFORD --- After two-and-a-half hours of questions and debate, Town Meeting last week overwhelmingly voted to partially fund a proposed home for eight veterans on a waiting list for affordable housing. The town awarded $400,000 in community preservation funds to build a duplex at 9 Manahan St., off Chelmsford Street, that will be managed by the Chelmsford Housing Authority. The CPA money would be matched by nearly $1 million in state and federal funding to make the project a reality.

MARLBOROUGH --- Developer Bob Moss told city council recently that he was surprised by the negative public reaction to a proposed zoning change that would allow him to build 70 houses on lots as small as 8,000 square feet, thereby preserving at least half of the 88-acre parcel as open space. Current zoning for developments over 50 acres requires that lots be no smaller than 15,000 feet.