Housing Headlines

SOUTHBOROUGH - The developer of a proposed 140-apartment affordable housing complex on Rte. 9 has offered to pay the town $300,000 to reduce the project's impact - $120,000 less than the Zoning Board of Appeals wanted. Developer Robert Moss wants to build the complex on 17 acres at the intersection of Rte. 9 and Crystal Pond Road. ZBA chairman Matthew Hurley said the board initially asked Moss for $420,000 - $3,000 per condo - after some informal research of similar projects in surrounding towns. In a letter dated April 18, which Hurley said the ZBA hasn't discussed, Moss countered with an offer for $300,000 in three $100,000 installments spread over the construction of the buildings.

BILLERICA --- A group of local and state leaders that included Cardinal Sean O'Malley and the state's Undersecretary for Housing Aaron Gornstein were on hand recently to celebrate the completion of Rose Hill Manor, a 41-unit affordable rental apartment building developed by the Planning Office of Urban Affairs. The 40B development was built on a 3.2 acre site behind St. Theresa of Lisieux Parish.

NATICK - The Natick Housing Authority has launched a new website to show the public how the public housing process works and what its board is doing. The website, www.natickha.org, has minutes reaching back into 2010, public housing applications and other information about the housing authority.

SALEM --- The city's historic preservation group is continuing the six-year battle to stop the Planning Office of Urban Affairs (POUA) from demolishing St. Joseph's Church to make way for 51 affordable apartments. Historic Salem Inc. is threatening legal action and urging the developer to reconsider its request to remodel the church into an apartment building, something the devloper has said is uneconomic.

BRIDGEWATER - Bridgewater's newly hired town planner hopes to have a housing production plan in place soon to better deal with large affordable-housing projects. Town Planner Greg Guimond explained that if the town can create a plan and produce a certain number of affordable housing units per year, it will gain more control over larger projects proposed under the state law known as Chapter 40B.

In an effort to spark economic development in the state's so-called Gateway Cities, the Patrick Administration is putting the final touches on the Housing Development Incentive Program, a tax credit program designed to support the development of market-rate housing.