Housing Headlines

LOWELL --- Hoping to gain more control over unwanted Ch. 40B housing developments, the town's affordable housing committee has drafted a 100-page plan that calls for the production of 69 units of affordable housing per year. If the town can develop at this pace for six years, it would boost its percentage of affordable housing to above 10 percent (from 995 to 1,374 units) and would gain more control over 40B developments.

CANTON --- After seven years of legal challenges that also resulted in a change of developers, the so-called Roseland 40B development is set to move forward, with Avalon Bay preparing to build 196 units of rental housing.

YARMOUTH --- Members of the town's Community Preservation Committee had lots of questions for a developer who proposes to buy two financially troubled Rt. 28 motels and develop them into affordable housing. Developer Brian Braginton-Smith has asked the town for $640,000 in Community Preservation Act funds to support his plan. The motels reportedly had been renting rooms on a long-term basis, which is against town bylaws.

AYER --- Renovations totaling $1.8 million are set to begin on the historic Fletcher Building on Main Street. The top three floors of the building will be converted into six apartments, with two single-bedroom apartments on each floor. Four of the six apartments will be designated as affordable, with rents fixed at $650 per month. The project received a $325,000 loan from North Middlesex Savings Bank, a $200,000 loan from the Ayer Industrial Development Finance Agency, $750,000 in state grants, and $250,000 from the town's Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds.

BOSTON --- Aaron Gornstein, executive director of the Citizens' Housing and Planning Association since 1990 has been appointed undersecretary of the state Department of Housing and Community Development. The pick was announced on Thurs., Dec. 22 by Greg Bialecki, Gov. Deval Patrick's secretary of housing and economic development.

WESTPORT - On Dec. 1, The Community Builders, Inc. made a public presentation on their offer to purchase 31 acres of town-owned land and construct 50 rental apartments on 7.5 acres. The Boston-based nonprofit, one of the nation's top affordable housing developers, have offered to work with Westport's Housing Partnership Committee (HPC) and Affordable Housing Trust, who have been working for years to develop part of the property and preserve the rest as open space.