Committee begins public scoring of two Affirmative Investments proposals for Orange Street, Vesper Lane and Bartlett Road

Members of the Nantucket Affordable Housing Trust evaluation committee met in public to begin scoring two development proposals from Affirmative Investments for three town-owned sites: Orange Street, Vesper Lane and Bartlett Road. Committee members said the two submissions must be evaluated and scored separately, and they asked Affirmative Investments to return with a focused presentation on Proposal 2 at a follow-up meeting.

The two proposals would deliver rental units across the three sites: Affirmative’s materials submitted 28 units (47 bedrooms) for Orange Street, 17 age‑restricted units (55+) for Vesper Lane and 12 units for Bartlett Road. Committee members praised the design work, site landscaping and efforts to retain a large elm at the Orange Street site but repeatedly raised concerns about parking waivers, permitting constraints and the projects’ financing.

Why it matters: the committee emphasized that units that qualify under the town’s subsidized housing inventory (referred to in the meeting as the “shy list”) would count toward the town’s SHI goals. Committee members said adding these units would be significant for the town’s affordable‑housing targets and that financing questions will likely determine which…