Housing Headlines

FALL RIVER --- The City Council has adopted a resolution to reduce the proposed number of rebuilt, on-site units at Watuppa Heights, from an original "minimum 60 units" to 26 affordable single-family or rental units. All but two of the units will be made available to households with incomes below 30 percent of the area's median income. An unspecified number of additional units will be built with prices that stress affordability. The resolution also ensured a reduction in the city's financial commitment of grants funds to make off-site housing affordable, in addition to the elimination of their requirement to supply land for additional units.

FRAMINGHAM --- Advocates Inc. will soon begin construction to convert a former nursing home into eight affordable housing apartments with support for clients recovering from mental illnesses. The project has been in the planning stages for 12 years and is being financed with federal and state grant money. Advocates president and CEO William J. Taylor said residents will have an experience "in which they can have both privacy and a sense of community."

FALMOUTH --- At a recent selectmen's meeting, housing developer Bob Murray spoke against the local housing committee's support of a 15-unit project known as Webster Woods. Murray, whose non-profit Falmouth Housing Corporation has created over 130 units of rental housing, noted that the project would create only five or six affordable units and and added that's not worth "disturbing the woods."

EASTON --- Owners of the former Ames Shovel Company factory have proposed a 40B development of 182 units of housing with 30,000 square feet of office space on the 8-acre site. The construction plan requires the demolition of some of the original buildings and the expansion of others which has upset descendants of the original factory owners. The descendants are urging for the preservation of the historic buildings and are prepared to present alternative designs for the project to developers. The ZBA will discuss traffic concerns around the development site at a meeting on December 3, 2008.

WALTHAM --- A City Council subcommittee recently altered bid specifications for two proposals to lease, renovate and reuse the former Banks and Hardy schools for senior housing. Councilors requested changes in the potential developer requirements, language on the bid specification to ensure that the largest amount of affordable housing possible will be built, as well as a requirement that no additions or extensions be added to the Hardy school. All changes will be added to both requests for proposals by the city's legal department.

LOWELL --- The Coalition for a Better Acre recently announced plans to convert the former site of St. Joseph's High School into 22 affordable-housing units. The $4 million project will consist of one, two and three-bedroom units with renovations slated to begin in the summer of 2009. CBA Project Manager Jeff Fugate stated that they hope to preserve as much of the Merrimack Street building as possible.