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Auburn planning board approves 32-unit Hampshire Commons supportive housing project
Summary
The Auburn Planning Board unanimously approved the final site plan for Hampshire Commons, a 32-unit supportive housing project at 143 Hampshire Street, with conditions including recorded utility easements and perpetual landscaping maintenance. The city will transfer three parcels to the developer and construction is planned to begin later this year.
The Auburn Planning Board unanimously approved the final site plan for Hampshire Commons Apartments, a 32-unit supportive housing building at 143 Hampshire Street, after staff confirmed the applicant had provided permanent utility easement locations and a landscaping maintenance plan.
The approval, granted under chapter 60 site-plan review and associated special-exception and subdivision provisions, includes a condition that landscaping be maintained in perpetuity and requires recorded water and sewer easements before activation. Sam (planning coordinator) told the board the applicant had addressed the preliminary conditions and staff believed the project was ready for a final vote.
Marty Sidlowski, executive director of the Auburn Housing Authority and lead applicant representative, said the development will be an 8,700-square-foot, three-story building containing 32 supportive-housing units. He said the authority will be the manager and eventual owner through the tax-credit structure, with the city transferring three parcels and recording easement language at closing.
“The applicant has provided planting details with the maintenance plan for landscaping,” Sam said during his staff presentation. Steve Bushy (engineer, LJB Inc.) described pedestrian connections, transit access and proposed site lighting, and architect Jenny Stanley reviewed floor plans that emphasize community spaces and interior programming.
During public comment, Mike Thirsten, chairman of the Auburn Housing Authority board, said the project will use vouchers to ensure affordability and supportive services. “To ensure long-term stability, 100% of the units in the development will be supported by vouchers,” Thirsten said, urging the board to support the plan.
Board members asked for clarification about public access to the adjacent Chestnut Street Park and whether the landscaping warranty language constituted a perpetual maintenance obligation. The applicant clarified that public access through the site would be preserved via a concrete flatwork connection to a stone-dust path and that the planting warranty was the typical one-year installer warranty, after which owner responsibility continues; the board recorded landscaping maintenance as a condition.
A motion to approve the final site plan was made and seconded; the board voted unanimously to approve the plan with the recorded easement and landscaping conditions. Sam said next steps include recording the land-transfer plat, completing construction documents through late summer, contracting in the fall, and a potential construction start by year-end with completion targeted around the end of 2027.
The board’s approval does not change the requirement that all recorded easement language and specified conditions be satisfied before the development may activate.
