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Draft Plan Raises Questions About Property Selections
The Sudbury Housing Trust met on Monday, April 29, to discuss a draft of Sudbury’s Housing Production Plan (HPP).
According to the Town website:
“An HPP in Massachusetts is a plan that helps municipalities better understand local housing needs and demand, development constraints and opportunities, and their vision for the future preservation of housing and the creation of new housing opportunities.”
The Town has engaged a consultant to facilitate plan development. So far the process included the formation of a working group, multiple information sessions/forums, and a digital survey of residents, among other activities. The draft plan arrived in April, and was sent to the Sudbury Housing Trust for review and comment.
On Monday morning the Housing Trust voiced concerns that they have not been provided sufficient time to review the draft and formulate comments before an early May deadline. The plan was expected to go to the Select Board and Planning Board after Housing Trust review, with an ultimate goal of adopting the plan by the end of June, 2024.
Several members of the Housing Trust also voiced concerns that certain properties were left out of the draft plan, and wanted to understand how the working group decided which properties to include. Housing Trust Chair and Sudbury’s State Representative, Carmine Gentile, noted the Town-owned Sewataro/Liberty Ledge property was not included in the draft plan, despite the fact the Planning Board has previously approved detailed plans for development of the land.
Member Janie Dretler noted that there are already five housing units on the Sewataro property, and juxtaposed that with the working group’s selection of Town-owned land in Sudbury’s historic town center, which has no housing currently. Just a few years back the town fought a proposed development (Sudbury Station) on that land, resulting in a land-swap and eventually the construction of Cold Brook Crossing in north Sudbury. Member Dretler pointed out that there’s already a house on one of the Broadacres Farm parcels on Morse Rd, yet that property also did not make the final list in the draft HPP.
The Housing Trust members did not explicitly indicate a desire to see these properties added to the Housing Production Plan, but instead wanted further details on the decision-making process and considerations of the Working Group so they could understand the recommendations.
Planning Department staff indicated a willingness to extend the timeline, though some consideration would need to be given to the cost of extending the contract with the Town’s consultant on the project. No decisions were made, but an extension could push the completion date for the HPP by 120-140 days according to comments in the meeting.
The draft Housing Production Plan is not currently available on the Town of Sudbury website, but the Housing Trust asked for it to be added to their page following the Monday meeting.
Housing is a hot topic in Sudbury lately. The town will consider an article to bring the town into compliance with Massachusetts’ MBTA Communities legislation at Annual Town Meeting next week. There are also articles on the warrant for the Sudbury Housing Trust and the Sudbury Housing Authority. The article for the Housing Trust would provide Community Preservation Act funds for the acquisition of housing units through the Trust’s usual programs. The article for the Sudbury Housing Authority would provide $450,000 in Community Preservation Act funds to demolish two of their single-family homes in the Pine Lakes neighborhood and build two new duplexes. The Sudbury Housing Authority is conducting a “special hybrid meeting” tonight and will be presenting to neighbors and abutters.