Dear Editor:
In April 2013 the Town of Norton was close to reaching its mandated 10 percent goal for Affordable Housing as defined by the state’s Chapter 40B (affordable housing) law. Seemingly all at once, proposals for 40B projects were submitted by builders for more than 500 additional units.
This would have brought the percentage of qualified affordable units in Norton to more than 16 percent, and the town protested that these additional projects would cause serious infrastructure problems, especially since Norton had already approved 40B projects that were not yet included on their official count of affordable housing. They sought support and help from other cities and towns in Massachusetts to change the law so that 40B projects that had been approved but for which no building or other construction permits had yet been issued would be counted in the town’s official affordable housing inventory.
In Westford, the Affordable Housing Committee, the Zoning Board, and the Planning Board voiced support for the changes Norton was proposing, but when it went to the Board of Selectmen, who were ultimately responsible for delivering support for Norton’s proposed changes, they neither held any meaningful discussion on it nor did they act to support the changes. They essentially did nothing.
Now Westford is in a similar situation. As Westford approaches the mandated 10 percent goal, the town has lost its temporary moratorium on 40Bs. In order not to be left out of constructing the 40B projects some builders have been privately planning, a few have filed, or announced plans to file, for 40B projects in Westford. The total number of residential units is reported to be nearly 500 – a hauntingly familiar number.
In spite of having the Norton situation to warn them and initiate a meaningful dialogue, Westford’s Board of Selectmen, assisted by the Town Manager and the Land Use Manager, who are cited in the WestfordCAT News Online as having decades of experience, did not act to prevent a repeat of the Norton experience happening in Westford. And now as Westford gets closer to its 10 percent goal, 40B projects, which the town is essentially powerless to influence, will be adding 500 or so residential units to the town.
It didn’t have to happen, though. If Westford town government, from the Board of Selectmen to the Planning Board, along with many others in town government, would have advocated and fostered appropriate projects, the town could have created a limited amount of qualified affordable housing units, working slowly over time to reach the 10 percent goal, and could have retained the town’s temporary moratorium against 40B projects. The town could have used the more than $3 million that legally must only be used for affordable housing, which they are unwilling to account for publicly, as incubation funding that would create smaller amounts of qualified affordable housing, compatible with, and blended into the fabric of, the rest of the town, and over which the town would have had control. Advocates for proactiveness were routinely ignored, silenced, or marginalized. Now that is no longer a viable option.
Instead the Board of Selectmen along with others in town government are whining and misinforming state agencies and the Westford public about the issue. At fault is not the 40B state law, but town government’s dogged resistance to, and collective misunderstanding of, affordable housing. Don’t be surprised if the Board of Selectmen waste hundreds of thousands more dollars fighting these latest 40B proposals – funds that could have been more productively used for creating affordable housing and avoiding the proposed massive increase in housing.
So Westford, get ready to welcome 500 or so more households, along with higher taxes and further defunding/degradation of the schools and services. Will you remember this next May when you don’t bother to go to the polls again?
–Paul Cully, 4 Patriot Lane
