Planning commission asks state to correct Housing 2030 baseline after apparent data error

At its May 14 meeting the Charlestown Planning Commission voted unanimously to ask the authors of the state Housing 2030 plan to correct a discrepancy the commission identified in Charlestown's housing-production baseline and to accept formal comments ahead of the plan's May 23 comment deadline.

Commissioners said the draft Housing 2030 assigns Charlestown a five-year production baseline that appears inflated because the state data used building permits rather than net new dwelling units. Planning staff told the commission the state document lists a production figure of about 160 for Charlestown over the 2019–2023 period; the town's building-inspector data show 103 new units in that period. "We asked Joe Warner how many have been produced during those 4 years, and it was actually a hundred and 3," a commissioner said at the meeting.

Commission members said the discrepancy matters because the state's draft plan uses recent production to set targets for the coming decade and ties incentives or consequences to whether communities meet their targets. Commissioners worried an inflated baseline could produce an unachievable target or subject the town to penalties tied to plan compliance.

The commission directed staff to prepare and send a concise letter documenting the error and requesting the state agency review its data source and methodology. Commissioners noted individuals and organizations may submit comments during the public-comment period, but they preferred a formal submittal from the commission to correct the town's baseline numbers. The motion to instruct staff to send the letter passed unanimously.