SOUTH DEERFIELD — The developer of a proposed 72-condominium project for seniors at the base of Mount Sugarloaf has come up with a way to make some of them affordable.
He suggests Deerfield use some of its million dollars in Community Preservation Act money to subsidize some of the condos. And while Select Board Chairwoman Carolyn Shores Ness doesn’t think it’s a good idea, a regional housing official said it is.
Faced with criticism that the condos will be too much for local seniors to afford, developer Mark Wightman proposes involving the CPA money, which comes from a surcharge on local property taxes.
When asked at a September Planning Board meeting how much the condos would cost, Wightman made it clear the Sugarloaf Street project would not fall into the “affordable housing” category and has come under criticism by residents who say local seniors would not be able to afford to live there.
The CPA money is intended to help communities preserve open space and historic sites, create affordable housing, and develop outdoor recreational facilities. Town Meeting voters approved the optional program.
In an email, Wightman said he’s working “with several consultants” on a plan to “offer some senior housing units at a subsidized reduced price by loosely using a model created by the Town of Leverett.” Wightman said he would like to see about 20 percent of the senior housing project subsidized, but said the number of dwellings would depend on the amount of earmarked funding.
To make the subsidized condos cheaper, he said the interiors would be outfitted with less expensive materials.
The Leverett model that Wightman referred to is called the “Homeowners Assistance Program,” which, according to a 2016 document on the town’s website, “provides up to $50,000 to assist in the purchase of a house. Homes purchased through the program cannot exceed $250,000. A deed restriction is required on the property to preserve the long term affordability.”
MJ Adams, former community development director at the Franklin Regional Housing Authority and current administrator for the Greenfield Housing Authority, said Leverett’s “Buy Down Program” has successfully helped income-eligible residents — who apply for the program through a lottery system — to purchase housing at an affordable, subsidized rate.
Adams said affordable housing means families pay 30 percent or less “of their monthly gross income toward” either rent and utilities, or mortage, taxes, insurance and utilities. To be elegible for the program, applicants need to make equal to or less than the regional average income.
In light of the program’s success, Adams endorsed Wightman’s affordable housing initiative and said it is now Deerfield’s turn “to step up to the plate.”
It has been state policy for years to encourage communities to provide affordable housing.
The Leverett model “allows the community to use CPA funding to essentially underwrite market-rate housing,” Adams said Wednesday. “Seeing that Deerfield needs to do something to respond to the need for affordable housing in the community, this would be a quick way to do that.”
As of now, the town has significantly less than the state-mandated 10 percent affordable housing requirement required under the 1969 state law Chapter 40B, the Comprehensive Permit Act. Under that law, if a town does not have the required amount of subsidized housing, an affordable housing developer can bypass certain zoning procedures and build.
“Until Deerfield meets their ‘10 percent,’ we as a town are susceptible to a developer creating a major low-income project in town,” Wightman wrote, noting a housing project in Sunderland allowed by the state despite local protest.
“I have been approached by more than one developer asking me to sell the properties I own and have under deposit on Sugarloaf Street so they can pursue such a development,” Wightman added.
Deerfield’s Housing Production Plan, created with guidance from the state, outlines a way to avoid Chapter 40B by creating a certain amount of affordable housing dwellings. “For Deerfield,” the document states, “this equates to 11 units for a one-year exemption, and 22 units for a two-year exemption.”
According to Wightman, the town has not added one new affordable housing dwelling since the document was created in 2013.
In regard to Wightman’s proposal, Shores Ness, who said she was not speaking on behalf of the Select Board, said there is currently about $1 million in the town’s CPA fund, with about $300,000 added each year through taxes.
Shores Ness, who has not taken a stand on the condo development overall, said personally, she’s concerned the proposed development’s taxes and fees might be too high for someone who requires affordable housing, adding, “I’m not saying it’s not possible, maybe there’s some way to do it.”
Currently, the four parcels and about 22 acres at issue have an assessed value of roughly $818,000 — taking into account one two-family home, and two one-family homes currently on the property. Based on Deerfield’s $15.25 tax rate per $1,000 of assessed value, the town receives just under $12,500 in property taxes per year from the four parcels.
According to Wightman and based on estimates from the town assessor’s office, the proposed project could “increase the tax base in town by over $320,000 with minimal expenses to the town.”
“We definitely, definitely, need subsidized senior housing. We’ve been trying to work on that for years,” Shores Nesssaid. She added that there is “a difference between affordable and subsidized” housing.
Shores Ness said she would like to see the town “go through the Franklin Regional Housing Authority … invest its CPA money in truly subsidized housing, and take care of its most needful, vulnerable population.”
Wightman said he sees his affordable housing initiative as “best suited for those who currently have homes with substantial equity but minimum monthly income,” and “those with relatively good monthly income and modest or no equity.”
He added that he plans to bring the proposal to the Select Board.