SOUTH DEERFIELD — The South County Senior Center director does not support a recently proposed senior housing condominium project near Mount Sugarloaf, if it is not affordable to local residents.
The 72-apartment, 22-acre project was proposed preliminarily by developer Mark Wightman during a recent town Planning Board meeting.
Senior Center Director Marlene Johnson said that while many local seniors have expressed a desire to see a senior community development in town, it needs to be affordable.
At the center on North Main Street Friday afternoon, Fran York, longtime resident of the town, supported Johnson’s view, saying she believes the condos will be too expensive for the majority of the town’s seniors to afford.
“I would say that most of the units would be sold to seniors outside of town,” York continued. “That’s not really helping seniors in town.”
According to the developer, the senior housing proposal “certainly isn’t going to be under the terms of low-income or affordable housing the state requires.”
Johnson, who was not at the Planning Board meeting, said she did not attend because she has not supported an unsubsidized development from the start.
“Instead of non-subsidized housing that doesn’t benefit town seniors, they need affordable, federally funded, sliding scale housing, and a new senior center attached,” Johnson said.
Town records value the land, which is split into four parcels, at around $800,000.
Wightman’s proposal drew heated controversy during and after the meeting from residents both for and against the project.
Supporters said it would bring much-needed cash into the town through taxes. Opponents cited safety and flooding concerns.
The Planning Board will inspect the property Monday, before another meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 3 in the town office.