Housing Headlines

BOSTON --- At a recent community meeting, Jamaica Plain residents called for more affordability and more three-bedroom units at the proposed "Commons at Forest Hills Station" apartment project. The developers, John M. Corcoran & Co. and the Brennan Group, are planning to buy the property at 3593-3615 Washington St. and are proposing a 280-unit project with 10 three-bedroom units and 37 affordable units. Residents want at least 25 percent affordable units.

BRIDGEWATER --- The town is poised to approve zoning amendments that would allow housing in the central business district by special permit as long as it is confined to the upper stories of commercial buildings. The plan would allow up to five housing units per acre, or six to eight units if 25 percent of them were affordable. Town council was scheduled to discuss the matter on Sept. 3 and could OK the measure at that time.

WILLIAMSTOWN --- Sparked by the damage or loss of approximately 200 mobile homes due to Hurricane Irene, the town continues to discuss several less flood-prone sites for affordable housing, including the possibility of building a small-scale development on land owned by Williams College.

NORTH ATTLEBORO --- Residents are pushing to have the town rezone a property near Rt. 1 from commercial back to residential, while at the same time voicing concerns about a 45-unit apartment building proposed for the site. The developer, Great Bridge Properties, can proceed with its Ch. 40B application no matter how the property is zoned but residents fear that if housing is not built on the site, a commercial building will be built, eliminating the property as an effective buffer zone between the neighborhood and Rt. 1. The property was rezoned as part of the town's effort to eliminate properties that sat in two zoning districts and most residents did not discover the change until Great Bridge began the 40B application process.

NEW BEDFORD --- At a public hearing on the housing authority's five-year plan, Executive Director Steven Beauregard outlined priorities that included making more units handicapped accessible, converting 104 state public housing units into better-funded federal units, and turning the vacant Westwood public housing development into eight to 12 units for the handicapped.

NORTHAMPTON --- Substantial changes to residential zoning for the first time in three decades will give property owners more flexibility to add to their units and could lead to smaller, more affordable single-family homes, especially near downtown. The City Council adopted most of the changes before it - including a measure that will allow large lots to be split into smaller lots - but hedged on a proposal that would set new rules for develoopments of seven units or more, instead adopting a nine-month moratorium on such projects so they can consider the measure more.