Stepping Stones Housing Reduced; Number Of Units Cut By Two

CHATHAM – The number of units to be built in the planned affordable and attainable housing development on Stepping Stones Road has dropped from 14 to 12.

 Twelve units “fit more comfortably” on the two-acre parcel adjacent to the Monomoy Regional Middle School, housing and sustainability director Gloria McPherson said. Six buildings will house the units in the project to be built by the Housing Assistance Corp (HAC).

 “The reduction was basically to make a better site,” said Select Board member Cory Metters, who helped negotiate a land disposition agreement between the town and HAC. One of the buildings was very close to the bike trail which loops around the property, so eliminating one structure allowed a better layout of the site, officials said.

 The select board approved the land disposition agreement (LDA) at its July 14 meeting. The town-owned land is being sold to HAC for $1. The town will contribute $750,000 in affordable housing trust funds and $2.1 million from the town’s attainable housing fund to help cover pre-development and construction costs. All of the project’s funding will come from the town and grants.

 The town also received a $175,000 seasonal communities grant from the state that will go toward initial development costs as well as adding solar panels to the units, said McPherson.

 The development will include two one-bedroom, six two-bedroom and four three-bedroom units which will be sold to qualified buyers. Three will be restricted to buyers who earn up to 80 percent of the area median income (AMI), while nine will be “attainable” units told to buyers who make up to 200 percent of AMI. 

 Half of the units will be reserved for year-round residents who are municipal or school employees. The town’s seasonal communities designation, which was approved by voters at the 2025 annual town meeting, allows the town to set aside affordable and attainable units for municipal workers and artists and creators; the town has also petitioned the legislature to allow commercial fishermen to be added as a preferred group.

The seasonal communities designation allows the town to restrict certain housing to year-round residency. The ability to do so was a major topic during the planning board’s discussions about the West Chatham village center, McPherson said.

 “That was a big win, in my opinion, for seasonal communities,” she said in reference to the year-round restriction.

In order to maintain the designation, the town has to pass two zoning bylaw amendments, she added. One allows “tiny houses” by right in zoning districts that allow single-family homes; this is already allowed, she said. The second bylaw would allow attainable homes to be built on undersized residential lots with a minimum lot size of 10,000 square feet. Currently there are many homes on lots that size or even smaller, she noted, so this change is not likely to impact the town’s character.

 “It’s almost like an in-fill thing,” she said. Development of undersized lots must still conform with sewer and septic regulations as well as setbacks and other requirements, which will impose some limitations, McPherson said. The bylaw would also apply only to existing lots and not newly created undersized lots.

The bylaws must be adopted within two years of last February. Unless the town holds a special town meeting in the fall, the bylaws would go before voters at next May’s annual town meeting.

The select board also approved a letter of support for the project’s eligibility submission to the state Local Initiative Program, a prerequisite before application to the zoning board for a comprehensive permit.

 According to a memo from McPherson and Town Manager Jill Goldsmith, if the state approves the project’s eligibility, it will go before the zoning board for comprehensive permit review between November and March. If the project is approved by the zoning board, the town will transfer the title to HAC in May or June or next year, with construction beginning in July. A lottery for the sale of the homes would tentatively be held in spring 2029.