Housing Headlines

NANTUCKET --- The Community Preservation Committee accepted 18 requests totaling $5 million for the FY09 funding cycle, including 10 requests for affordable housing initiatives.

NATICK --- The first of 48 affordable units to result from a 215-unit condo tower at the Natick Collection commercial development effort will soon become available, with one-bedroom units costing as little as $138,900. Applications are due by Nov. 2, and an information session will be held at the local library at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17.

EDGARTOWN --- Though zoning regulation typically prohibit building on lots less than three acres, the Massachusetts Appeals Court recently upheld a land court decision in favor of the Edgartown zoning board of appeals' (ZBA) issuance of a special permit to build three affordable homes on three smaller, one-acre lots.

HOPKINTON --- HOPKINTON - The Zoning Board of Appeals will continue to mull the request of a builder who wants to lift an over-55 age restriction that would allow him to market his development to younger buyers. As part of the request, developer Miraj Ahmed also wants to reduce the number of units he has planned for Peppercorn Village from 56 to 44. The board did vote to have the developer pay a $4,000 consultant fee since the revised plans for Peppercorn Village would have to be reviewed again by multiple boards and committees.

WORCESTER --- Former members of the Green Island/Vernon Hill Community Development Corporation (CDC) held a meeting this summer to discuss the possibility of regrouping. Inactive since 2004, the meeting was held in part to discuss public comments that the nearby Oak Hill CDC was considering expansion into the neighborhood.

BOURNE --- The Great Lakes Hotel Co. for the second time in nine years is expressing interest in developing a 400-room destination facility with a conference center at the CanalSide Commons tract above the Bourne rotary. If the project proves feasible, the developer will talk with CanalSide Commons developer Len Cubellis and see if he is interested in abandoning his proposed Chapter 40B complex of 300 dwellings now being reviewed by the Bourne Board of Appeals.