Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Small Town Housing Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Town manager says CHIP could unlock 60–80 homes on town-owned land but small towns need technical assistance
Summary
Chester Town Manager Julie Hans told the committee that her town’s 139-acre parcel could support roughly 60–80 homes but lacks the technical staff and financing tools needed to deliver development; she urged the committee to preserve municipal technical assistance and flexible municipal uses of the CHIP program.
Julie Hans, town manager of the Town of Chester, told the House General & Housing Committee that a CHIP-style tool could make a town-owned site feasible for housing but that small municipalities lack in-house engineering, legal and permitting capacity to use the program without help.
"Chester is a town of about 3,200 people," Hans said. "This land is town owned . . . we're finding through that study that this land is very promising for a potential development of approximately 60 to 80 homes, primarily multifamily townhouse type structure."
Hans said Chester acquired the parcel in 2016 and carved out part of it for a backup water tank because of the elevation. The site already sits near municipal sewer and water infrastructure at an access road, she said; the missing link is the access and on-site infrastructure that would let a developer build housing. She urged the committee to preserve or allow municipal portions of CHIP funds to be used for technical assistance (engineers, architects, attorneys) because "small towns like Chester don't have engineers and architects and attorneys on staff."
Hans said the town is working with its regional planning commission to secure a Tier 1 designation so the parcel will qualify under the program's locational rules. She described broad local support for housing on the parcel but said towns of Chester’s size need funding flexibility and tools other than a full traditional TIF.
Committee members asked about possible tax stabilization or tax-abatement alternatives that would lower developer carrying costs. Hans said Chester has used stabilization in the past by voter approval for particular projects and that selling or writing down land price and timing town payments are additional local tools.
No formal committee action was taken; members and some witnesses discussed additional drafting on tax-stabilization options, smaller carve-outs and thresholds that could make CHIP useful to small towns.
"This type of program could make a lot of these projects achievable," Hans said. "It is a tool that smaller towns really need access to."
