Saugus Town Hall (Item file photo)
By Bridget Turcotte
SAUGUS — Next Thursday will be the final chance for residents to weigh in on a plan to fulfill the town’s housing needs.
Saugus is developing a housing production plan to meet the need for affordable and market rate housing, and reach the state’s mandatory 10 percent affordable housing goal.
Krista Leahy, town planner, said the goal is also to provide a greater variety of housing to a community primarily comprised of single detached one-family homes.
The initiative kicked off in February. Residents and officials are working with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) to draft a plan that will require Planning Board and Board of Selectmen approval. Once adopted, it will be submitted to the Department of Housing and Community Development. Saugus received a $20,000 state grant to design the plan.
“The MAPC compiled all of the notes and the feedback from the meeting in June,” Leahy said. “They took soundbites of ideas into a living document. This will be the last chance to respond to the proposals.”
At the first forum, Karina Milchman, regional planner and housing specialist for the MAPC, said providing 10 percent affordable housing is important to serve the needs of the town’s residents.
It also gives officials more control when developers propose construction of multi-family housing in town. If a town doesn’t meet the requirement, developers can override local zoning and build denser developments, she said.
As of June, there were 10,754 housing units in Saugus. Only 749, or 7 percent, were considered affordable by the state. Leahy said the number has remained nearly unchanged.
At the first forum, residents brainstormed what they thought Saugus’ housing goal should be over the next five years, and what barriers they might face to achieve it.
The MAPC will provide feedback on the ideas residents drafted and make its own recommendations, Leahy said.
“This will be the final one,” she said. “Because of that, this forum is more important than the last one. Everyone will get their final say and have their voices heard. They’ll get feedback on their recommendations that MAPC has created.”
Leahy said it will be the final opportunity to be a part of creating paperwork that developers will look to for the construction of housing and development in the future.
Stephen Cole, planning and development director, added that the forum will serve a dual purpose. It will also be educational for residents who want to learn more about the housing needs, regulations and what affordable housing really means.
“The housing production plan will play an important part of healthy economic growth within the town of Saugus,” said Town Manager Scott Crabtree. “It will give the town more input on potential developments, help identify the housing needs of the community, and it will help create more of a variety of new housing, such as apartments, condos and single- and double-bedroom units. With more options for housing, the town will, in turn, attract a variety of age ranges to live, work, have a family and retire in Saugus.”
He added that the housing production plan is part of the administration’s initiative to have a strategic plan based on the needs of the residents.
The meeting will be held at Saugus Town Hall on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 6:45 p.m.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.