Select Board Meeting
Affordable Housing
January 23, 2006 7:00pm
In attendance: Michele Miller, Select Board Chairperson, Michael Storch, Jonathan Sylbert, Brian Puntin, Peter Murkett, David Myers, Maggie Howard, Sarah Hudson, Dan Moriarty, Fred Chapman, and Ricardo Boehm
The monthly Select Board evening meeting was held in order to provide an opportunity for townspeople to address the issue of affordable housing and what solutions might be.
Various ideas have been presented to the Select Board regarding 40B housing/developments and the Planning Board is proposing to amend the zoning by-law to permit accessory dwelling units as a use by right.
In spite of anecdotal evidence, Fred Chapman stated that maybe there is no problem. Linda Hebert as a member of Construct stated there is a problem and one of the biggest issues is the lack of public transportation. There are people throughout South County who can’t find housing because they can’t find transportation to work or to local business such as the grocery stores, etc. A Select Board member suggested that public transportation is an issue that needs to be addressed separately from the affordable housing issue. Another Select Board member stated that while it is a separate issue it also impacts affordable housing as affordable housing units are often sited close to public transportation because residents often cannot afford automobiles.
There are state requirements that have to be followed for housing to be considered affordable and we need more information about that. The State requires that over time, towns have 10% of their housing stock designated as affordable according to their guidelines or face loss of funding.
A resident stated that affordable housing doesn’t mean that it has to be cheap housing just that it should be priced lower than the median house prices right now. It was generally agreed that the younger population is having difficulty affording land or houses or to build right now. Cluster housing was discussed as a possible solution. A census could be conducted to find out how many families are in the area, what the income levels are and what the needs are. A Select Board member stated that in Monterey we have the highest level of people in poverty in South County.
Another potential solution is to have people put a restriction on their deed that when they pass away the house can only be sold for a fixed amount. Riccardo Boehm stated a few factors in Monterey that causes the housing/land prices to rise: the SMA, restrictions for building near rivers or wetlands, state owned property, etc. Another suggestion that involved taking the land out of the equation, similar to a condo; you own the home but not the land it’s on. A landowner could donate land to a land trust, housing authority or municipality and then the property as a whole becomes less expensive and deed restrictions could be placed on it when the owner sells it.
There is funding and mortgage financing available to first time homebuyers locally. Select Board Chair Miller suggested enlisting the help of Construct to develop a town owned parcel behind the firehouse that is currently overgrown, to build an appealing, green oriented, sensible place to live. Chapman expressed resistance to any of these options, calling it a “Levittown North” and asked what is the point of this. A rebuttal was made that this would be a good thing as it would provide a lot more to the town, more resources. Boehm stated that a situation like Brookbend could be accomplished within 10 months.
The parcel would need to be evaluated for the best uses and then it would need to be presented to a town meeting. Available grant money will also be researched. A discussion needs to take place to consider what the town would be giving up and getting if affordable housing were to be put on town land, i.e.: municipal uses, a new kindergarten, a larger town hall, a larger ball park, etc. Zoning issues would need to be looked into to see if bylaw changes would need to be made.
A Select Board member noted some dollar figures from the program Monterey is currently using for Bally Gally on house prices that are affordable depending on income. The formula for maximum monthly expenditures for housing divides 30% of a family’s gross income by 12 and takes 30% of that. The reality is that new single family homes will be unaffordable even if the land were for free in this area and that some kind of unit is one option. There are also programs now that stretch mortgages to 40 years to make it more affordable.
A 40B development is really only feasible in a rural town if it’s done in an area near a town sewer line and water line. It becomes very expensive when you have to factor in a septic large enough to accommodate the unit/development and drilling enough wells.
Another option would be to zone for smaller lots in certain places or to extend the existing business district. A survey might be done to see where the most suitable land is for this kind of project, larger back acre lots should be considered as well as parcels near town center. The first object at hand is to develop the criteria necessary for this project. Planning Board member Brian Puntin stated that the Board intends to have another public meeting before going to the town meeting with a proposal that will be significantly revised from the original regarding accessory dwelling units. Miller stated that a completed master plan ought to be in place and a survey conducted of the public sentiment before allowing accessory dwelling units as it would fundamentally change the town’s 2 acre
zoning. The ADUs do not fulfill the state requirements for affordable housing and we would still be required to meet them.
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