Sharon Housing Partnership

November 7, 2007- Approved February 6, 2008

Meeting Minutes DRAFT

In attendance: Jane Desberg, Mary Tobin, Warren Kirshenbaum, and Alan Lury

Voted to approve: Minutes of October 3, 2007

Meeting Minutes

The group discussed the need to send a hard copy of approved minutes to the Town Clerk. Mary Tobin will follow up and see that hard copies are supplied to Clerk’s office and that electronic copies are posted by the webmaster.

Inclusionary Housing

The IH Article was pulled by the proponents (Planning Board) on October 31, 2007 from the November Town Meeting. The reasons for this action were suggested to be due to the FinCom’s nonsupport of this Article and because late changes to the text of the Article specifically excluded Senior Living Overlay Districts from the provisions of the IH By-law. Jane Desberg spoke to Paul Lauenstein regarding this action. The SHP expressed concern that the Partnership was not made aware of the changes made to this Article and the reasons behind these changes prior to the action of the PB. Questions raised included: Why was language added to exempt the Brickstone SLOD from the By-law when the Brickstone project was already protected?  Who actually benefits from changing the language of this Article at the last minute resulting in the subsequent pulling of this By-law?

The group discussed how to move forward the issue of Inclusionary Housing. Several ideas were proposed for thought including changing the threshold from 6 to 8 units and adding language that specifically excludes existing SLODs. Alan Lury suggested the SHP should go before both the PB and the FinCom to discuss IH. Warren Kirshenbaum spoke of the new initiatives for “work force housing” now be promoted by the state. It was suggested that “work force housing” might be a better term to use then “affordable housing”.

Town Land for Affordable Housing

Jane Desberg reported that she met with the Selectmen for her reappointment interview for the SHP. During this meeting she recapped the work of the SHP over the last two years. One of the Selectmen appeared to be confused about the difference between the SHP and the Sharon Housing Trust. This points to the need to educate both Town officials and the general public about the SHP. At this interview Jane Desberg asked the Selectmen to identify Town owned land suitable for affordable housing.

The group discussed how the SHP might successfully work with the Town to find land suitable for the creation of affordable housing. It was decided that a formal presentation to the Selectmen to outline the goals of the SHP and to publicly request their support in identifying and donating Town owned land was needed. Projects where cooperative efforts resulted in successful projects, including Foxboro and Amherst, where the DHCD worked in partnership with the communities, would be included in this presentation. It was also suggested that April Forsman, GIS Coordinator, could help the group identify potential parcels. Jane Desberg will get in touch with Ben Purtiz regarding working with Ms. Forsman. Jane will also contact the Selectmen to get on the agenda.

9 Glenview

November Town Meeting approved the set up of a revolving account to pay for expenses related to this affordable property and for other affordable housing uses. The Town will take ownership of this property in January. Existing tenant’s lease expires in September 2008.

Publicity for SHP

The group discussed the continuing need to educate the community about affordable housing and the role of the SHP. Mary Tobin will resend the draft article from a few months back and Jane Desberg will send the two year summary of SHP activity to the group. With this material the group will try to put something together collaboratively for publication in the Advocate.

Old Business- Updates on Developments

Simpson Development -It is unclear to date if Brickstone will have any role in providing affordable units at this project.

Avalon is moving forward with building and plans to meet with the SHP in January regarding the lottery/marketing of affordable units.

Beacon Properties is nearing an agreement with the Town regarding the Wilbur School Project.

New Business

The Sharon Housing Trust is attempting to get someone in from the Massachusetts Housing Trust to meet with SHP and Sharon Housing Trust.

There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Sharon Community Center on November 19 at 9AM for state and town officials.