Housing Headlines

FITCHBURG --- Officials recently gathered to celebrate the renovation of a formerly blighted property into seven units of affordable family housing. Twin Cities Community Development Corporation, a local non-profit developer, acquired the 1900s-era building in June 2010 and began rehabilitating the structure in January. The units rent for $600 to $750 per month for two and three-bedroom apartments.

HOPKINTON --- Selectmen delayed taking a vote on whether to support a proposal by Mill Creek Residential to build 280 apartments, some commercial space and a parking lot for the town's buses on land near Rt. 495. The parking lot would enable the town to stop renting space for its buses in nearby Ashland and developers said the savings would offset the cost of the estimated 35 children that would be added to the school system.

BRIGHTON --- A proposal was recently submitted to the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) to raze an existing bank, office and retail building, greenhouse and parking lot to build 60 rental units at the corner of Washington and Parson Street. The proposed development would also include 10,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor and 106 parking spaces. The proposal will require approval through the BRA's large project public review process.

NORTON - Norton selectmen are urging other communities to join with them to pressure the state to change the way they calculate percentages of affordable housing units so that units that have been permitted but not yet built can be counted toward the state's 10 percent affordable housing supply threshold, thereby giving communities more say over applications for Ch. 40B comprehensive permits.

MILTON --- More than 130 residents came before selectmen in March to protest the 276-unit Milton Mews project on Brush Hill Road. Roughly half of the audience was made up of residents of Fuller Village, a 300-unit senior community across the street from the site of the proposed development brought before the town by Mill Creek Residential.

BOSTON (DORCHESTER) --- The city's Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) recently approved a plan to build 278 rental units on what is now a vacant lot on Morrissey Boulevard, adjacent to the JFK/UMass T station. The plan calls for 50 percent of the units to be studios, averaging around 450 square feet. The additional units will be made up of one, two and three-bedroom units. Work is slated to begin this summer and expected to last 18 months.