Select Board, Trust Hears Presentation On Affordable Housing Projects

CHATHAM – Preliminary designs for affordable housing at 1533 Main St., the former Buckley property, are being vetted by town boards in advance of developer Pennrose filing a comprehensive permit application with the zoning board of appeals.

 Within the next few weeks, Pennrose officials are expected to visit the planning board and historic business district commission. Last week, members of the historical commission, select board and affordable housing trust board heard a rundown on the current plans for the 48-unit development.

 While the meetings are required, the informal presentations provide an opportunity for officials to comment before the plans are finalized for the comprehensive permit application, Housing and Sustainability Director Gloria McPherson wrote in a memo. Under Chapter 40B, the zoning board is empowered to grant a comprehensive permit for projects with a minimum of 25 percent of units designated as affordable. The boards Pennrose is meeting with would have reviewed the project had it not involved affordable units; the groups will also be able to comment during the comprehensive permit process, she wrote.

 Pennrose is also developing 42 units of affordable housing on town property off Meetinghouse Road and will be meeting with the same boards and commissions about that project when it is farther along. Pennrose anticipates submitting separate comprehensive permit applications for each project, starting with the 1533 Main St. development in January and the Meetinghouse Road project in February.

 There are four buildings currently on the 1533 Main St. property: the main house, built in 1940, and three small cottages. All will be torn down to make way for the development, said Pennrose Senior Developer Rio Sacchetti. The buildings fall under the jurisdiction of the historic business district commission, but at a presentation to the historical commission Dec. 17, members asked that efforts be made to either move or salvage material from the structures. Sacchetti said the buildings are not in very good condition, but agreed to look into the request. Because the project will seek federal and state tax credits, it must be reviewed by the Massachusetts Historical Commission, which recommended that it be reviewed by local historical boards.

Later that day Sacchetti and Paul Attemann, principal of project architect Union Studios, met with the select board and affordable housing trust board.

 “We want to get as much input to further along our design before we come up with a more final set of plans to submit for comprehensive permits,” Sacchetti said. “We want to get as much input before it hits the public hearing process. It’s better to work things out prior to that.”

 Some modifications have been made to the plans that were initially presented as part of the initial proposal. The project will include nine residential buildings and a community center. Additional parking has been added and an area identified where six spots could be added in the future if needed, Attemann said. Buildings were repositioned so that those with three stories are farther away from buildings on neighboring properties. The width of the development’s road was increased from 24 to 28 feet, and roof locations suitable for solar panels were identified.

 A survey of the Meetinghouse Road property was only recently completed and test borings and environmental reports were being finalized.

 Pennrose plans to apply for low-income housing tax credits from the state for the February round of awards, but because the comprehensive permits may not have been approved yet, the timeframe is a placeholder so that the projects could be considered in the fall if a “mini-round” is held for the credits.

 “Mini-rounds are not guaranteed but have happened consistently over the past several years,” according to McPherson. The project may not end up being considered for the tax credits until the February 2026 round. Once permits and other requirements are in place, construction is expected to take about 16 months to complete. Both projects will be built concurrently to take advantage of economies of scale, with a final completion date projected at June 2028. Marketing and a lottery to choose tenants will take place during construction, and occupancy will likely be phased, Sacchetti said. The town will work with Pennrose to seek 70 percent local preference from the state, which he said was awarded in a recent Pennrose project in Orleans. There’s a “high likelihood” the state would approve that level of local preference for the Chatham projects, he said.

 Community housing partnership chair and affordable housing trust board member Karolyn McClelland said the group will have a “rigorous campaign” to publicize the availability of the affordable housing “so we get as many people in our community in the lottery as possible.” The lottery will be run by Pennrose’s management company. Full occupancy is expected by December 2028.

Select board and affordable housing trust chair Michael Schell said the presentation was helpful.

“Do it as fast as you can,” he said.