Housing Headlines

WAREHAM --- In an effort to get the ball rolling on affordable housing production in town, selectmen voted to eliminate the Wareham Housing Partnership, a volunteer organization that often was the first contact between the town and a Chapter 40B developer. Selectmen Bruce Savageau said, "This is not working, and we need to start all over again, in my opinion." He added that housing partnership was created to be a liaison between the selectmen and the Zoning Board of Appeals to advise selectmen on 40B proposals, but selectmen have had little contact with the Housing Partnership during his time on the board. Furthermore, he said, the partnership has not produced affordable housing in town as it was charged to do.

DUXBURY --- A developer known for turning old prisons and water works into luxury apartments is promising to build a different kind of 40B in Duxbury.

SUDBURY --- Nearly two years after offering to pay a Sudbury family $600,000 to keep 35 acres from being developed, town officials have learned that AvalonBay has reached an agreement to buy the land and plans to build 200 units of rental housing.

SPENCER --- Officials in this town west of Worcester gathered on Friday August 22 to celebrate an agreement that will allow Mental Health Programs Inc. of Boston to transform the town's former high school into 35 units of affordable housing for low-income seniors.

DORCHESTER --- Earlier this month, the public got to see Corcoran Jennison's proposal to build 350 units of rental housing, 250,000 square feet of retail space and 200,000 square feet of office space on the current site of the Bayside Expo Center. The plan also includes a major reworking of the roads around Columbia Point.

CHICOPEE --- Ousted Community Development Department Director Jeanne M. Kidwell is preparing to sue the city for wrongful termination. Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette dismissed Kidwell from her duties on Aug. 1, citing federal audits that found that the city did not properly award and administer $8.4 million in block grant funding. Kidwell says the mayor is using the audits to fire her after she questioned the addition of Thomas Haberlin and Kathleen Lingenberg as part-time directors of economic development and housing respectively.