TOWN OF SHARON

PLANNING BOARD

Minutes of a Meeting of the Planning Board held on Wednesday, December 17, 2003, at 7:30 p.m., in the Town Offices.

            PRESENT:                   JOEL TRAN, CHAIR

                                                SAMUEL SOLOMON, VICE CHAIR

REGINA MANISCALCO, CLERK

                                                NADINE OSTROW

                                                ELI HAUSER

                                                PETER O’CAIN, ASST. TOWN ENGINEER

Business transacted:

I. Meeting called to order.  The Minutes of the December 3, 2003, and December 8, 2003, were reviewed and accepted with corrections.

FORM A PLANS

Old Post Road and So. Walpole Street, Jacqueline Gobbi, owner, AGM Construction of Hyde Park, applicant.  Six new lots were being created from one 12.69 acre lot.  All being in order, Mr. Solomon moved approval, seconded by Ms. Maniscalco and unanimously voted.

SIGN REVIEW

None.

I. EO418 DISCUSSION

Ms. Maniscalco reported that an extension of time to finish this project had been obtained until June, 2004. 

                                                                  ______________________________

Administrative Assistant

Minutes of Meeting                              Page Two               December 17, 2003

One of the issues the discussions should include is what kinds of things the Town can do to obtain affordable housing.   Mr. Tran said that the Board should look into some land in the Town designated to be developed as affordable, which would go towards the 10% State requirement.   He didn’t know if there would be a conflict with land that had been acquired for conservation purposes and then used for this type of housing.   Mr. Bailey, the Town’s representative to the MAPC, explained that to change the designation of conservation land, you needed to get a 2/3 vote from the State Legislature, which is not an easy thing to do.

Ms. Koval suggested that the Board work on an affordable housing plan for the Town that could be approved by the Town with housing being phased in.  That way, if another 40B comes along, it could be denied as an unfriendly 40B. 

(Mr. Hauser arrived).

Mr. Solomon raised the issue of whether the Town should be pursuing the development of affordable housing;  what type of housing stock is the Town looking for?  The need for age qualified housing has come up many times.  There should be some type of housing plan in place as guidance. 

Ms. Cheyer, a Town resident, asked the Board to keep in mind that age qualified housing should also be affordable.  The sentiment in the Town was that there should be some place for the seniors to move that would be affordable to them.  Approving age qualified housing that was as expensive as regular houses in Sharon wouldn’t do any good for the seniors.

Larissa Brown, the Town’s consultant for the EO418 process, arrived.

Ms. Brown said that she first would like to talk about what the existing housing conditions in the Town are and then about how to diversify housing options.  Her goal for this evening is to show how other communities have been successful in creating affordable housing; how the legislature works with the 40B’s.

Minutes of Meeting                   Page Three            December 17, 2003

Ninety percent of the homes in Sharon are single family, owner occupied homes.  The Town’s costs are going up significantly, as are the taxes to cover those costs.  The community is still relatively affluent.  There is a constituency in the Town looking for different types of housing, such as empty nesters. 

There are two goals the Town should be working towards.  One is that the Town needs to diversify its housing options to include more rental units, more multifamily homes, more homes for people over 55 years of age.    If you do this, you are beginning to open up more opportunities for certain segments of the community, i.e., town employees, young families. 

The other issue is to develop an affordable housing strategy that the Town feels makes sense in terms of the Town character that could be found acceptable.  This should be done in a way that you are able to make some of the 40B’s part of the 10% so that you have more control of the Town. 

Ms. Cheyer stated that in terms of rentals and the character of the Town, she does not see the character being upheld in terms of rental units.  If people move in and move out continuously, they do not have a stake in the Town. 

Mr. Solomon said that you could use more rentals for a variety of reasons:  very few people in their 20’s can afford to buy a house in Sharon; people who grew up in Sharon want to stay and work here without a commute; you are less likely to have families moving into rentals; having more rental units can help diversify the housing stock, which is good for the Town.

Ms. Brown added that you could double the amount of rental units in Sharon and still only have 20% of the housing stock as rentals.  She said it might be a good idea to survey surrounding towns to see how many rental units they have.

(Ms. Ziaugra left the meeting and further discussion continued on this topic).

III.        Meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m.