Housing Headlines

WILLIAMSTOWN --- The town's Affordable Housing Committee will hold two public sessions in October to get input from the community on how to best develop two brownfield sites - the old town garage on Water St. and the Photech Mill on Cole Ave. Work to clean up both properties has been going on for years and the town has now reached the stage where it is seeking public input in order to put out a Request for Proposals to developers.

STONEHAM --- This past spring, the Stoneham Housing Authority celebrated the completion of four 100 percent accessible wheelchair units, three of which are now homes to disabled military vets. Another feature is that the development uses passive solar energy for heat. Since the opening, the project has received two awards: it won the 2013 HUD Secretary's Housing and Community Design Award and the architects - Abacus Architects - won the Public Architecture Award from the state's Architectural Access Board and the Boston Society of Architects.

PLAINVILLE --- Selectmen have made public plans that Rhode Island-based Picerne Real Estate Group has approached the town about building 240 rental apartments of Rt. 1 through the state's Locial Initiative Program. Twenty-fiver percent of the apartments would be affordable.

DANVERS --- By unanimous vote, selectmen voted recently to transfer an abandoned single-family home seized by the town for back taxes to the Danvers Affordable Housing Trust, which will use funds it received from the Danvers State Hospital development to pay the town $40,000 in back taxes and then find a developer to rebuild the property into a single-family home that will be sold at an affordable price.

AMHERST --- Even though Rolling Green Apartments has prepaid a mortgage that could end an affordability mandate, the company may be obligated to set aside a portion of its 204 units for low-income residents, 40 who have been paying rent with Section 8 vouchers.

WESTFORD --- Selectmen have delayed their decision on whether to support a town meeting warrant that would designate 3.2 acres of a 40-acre town site for affordable housing. Residents near the so-called Edwards Parcel are circulating a petition against the town's efforts to explore the feasibility of developing 25 units of affordable housing on the site.