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During the November 12 meeting of the Sudbury Housing Trust, members discussed pursuing the conversion of an existing Town-owned single family home at 213 Haynes Road into an affordable ownership unit.
Discussion also covered the potential of immediately adjacent pieces of land for additional creation of affordable units. The conversation came on the heels of the Liberty Ledge/Sewataro Advisory Committee report, which recommended “exploring conversion of 213 Haynes Road into an affordable single-family residence while preserving property access and camp operations.”
There were a variety of perspectives expressed by the members, ranging from focusing on 213 Haynes Road, to restructuring the abutting parcels to allow for multiple housing units to be created. At the behest of Select Board Chair Janie Dretler, the Trust appeared to agree to slow down the discussion altogether.
The Housing Trust had previously discussed parcels on the other side of Liberty Ledge, with frontage on Greystone Lane. But those parcels were absent in this discussion. The Liberty Ledge/Sewataro Advisory Committee was not supportive of exploring housing opportunities on those parcels as of the time their work concluded, and the Housing Trust was focused on the area around 213 Haynes Road.
Member Jeff Levine encouraged the Trust to think more expansively about the parcels fronting Haynes Road.
“If we were to look at that whole area it’s probably is about four or five acres. At four or five acres, that’s a whole different scope for some kind of housing to be done. To invest in that existing house without thinking about the adjacent land, and what could be done with the adjacent land if you tore down that house, and used it for multiple units, it seems to me that we’re missing the boat here on a terrific opportunity, and without impacting camp operations.”
Chair Carmine Gentile tried to focus the Trust on the most politically feasible options: “I think what I’ve been able to hear and observe in the last couple of months, is that there’s a very vocal, and it seems like a majority, it seems like a majority because I don’t hear that many other people speaking up. There seems to be a consensus in the town now that we really like the camp, we want the camp continuing to operate, and we don’t want to be doing something otherwise with the land there.”
Gentile went on to offer his take on what’s possible. “So then the issue arises, well, what’s the likelihood of being able to obtain more land than 213 Haynes… I don’t know that there’s more space than would allow one house lot after Haynes. My understanding is there’s not enough to create two separate house lots next to the existing one. However, that house lot next to it and certainly the property at 213 does connect with land that’s vacant that’s to the west of the barn. And from what I’ve heard it’s not actively used by the camp. But the question is, quite frankly, I think getting Select Board approval for us using that land at this time is incredibly low. Low. And it would be good to actually move forward and get something done.”
Select Board Chair Janie Dretler later implored the Trust to slow things down. “Right now it doesn’t appear that the Housing Trust, all the members, have a sense of what we are actually talking about. I would just say that I think it is premature to make any definitive decisions about what could be there, what could happen. I would lean towards what we did with Hudson Road and that process, before getting ahead of ourselves.”
Dretler was encouraging the Trust to use the same process it used for a Town-owned parcel on Hudson Road, which is currently being studied, with the blessing of the Select Board, to determine what is possible and feasible before any decisions or proposals are made.
Dretler encouraged the Trust to speak with Town staff about an appropriate process for the Haynes property, and bring the topic back for a future discussion. Gentile agreed with that approach. No formal decisions were made and no votes were taken at the conclusion of the discussion. You can watch the full exchange at the start of the meeting below.