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Town staff seeks approval to buy 9 Goldfinch for department-head housing; discussion highlights lack of formal town housing plan
Summary
Town staff presented a contingent agreement to buy 9 Goldfinch for $1.9 million as part of employee housing efforts. Committee members debated the purchase price, HOA terms and the need for a broader town housing strategy; staff said the purchase has been accepted contingent on a town-meeting vote and that Finance Committee has already approved.
Town staff told the Capital Program Committee March 5 that the town has an accepted offer, contingent on town-meeting approval, to purchase 9 Goldfinch for $1,900,000 to add to the town's inventory of employee housing.
Rick Sears, a town staff presenter, said the three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath property would provide department-head-level housing for recruitment and retention. "We have proposed a purchase price of 1,900,000.0, which has been accepted contingent on town meeting vote," Sears told the committee. He said the town currently controls about 20 door fronts and houses roughly 30 town employees; a wait list for town employee housing runs about 25 people.
Committee members expressed divergent views. Some members said owning housing for key employees provides stability and helps attract qualified candidates; others questioned buying a unit that is part of a homeowners association with amenities and suggested rentals or lower-priced purchases instead. Committee members raised fairness concerns about perceived preferential treatment and asked for a clearer, comprehensive town housing policy that would define who qualifies, subsidy levels and how properties will be assigned over time.
Several members noted the Finance Committee and Select Board had already acted: members asked whether the decision had effectively been made; a member replied that Finance Committee had approved the item and that the Select Board supports it. The committee did not take a new vote on the purchase; staff said the item will be presented at town meeting for voters to approve the appropriation.
Sears described operational details: the town typically buys properties outright using previously appropriated funds rather than taking a mortgage; when the town provides a rental subsidy instead, amounts vary and are taxable to the employee. He said the town is working on a housing summit and a fuller policy to guide future decisions.
The committee treated the presentation as informational and spent much of the discussion probing policy and optics ahead of town meeting.
