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Danvers Planning Board reviews draft Housing Production Plan as residents warn of density changes
Summary
The Planning Board on March 10 heard a consultant's presentation of a draft five-year Housing Production Plan designed to preserve Danvers's narrow SHI 'safe harbor' (10.06%), align zoning with housing needs and outline 18 optional strategies; board members and residents raised concerns about costs, ADUs and neighborhood character.
The Town of Danvers Planning Board heard a presentation on March 10 from consultant Jenn Goldson on a draft five-year Housing Production Plan (HPP) intended to preserve the town's position above the Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI) threshold and guide local zoning and housing strategies. Goldson said Danvers is "just over the 10% SHI threshold (10.06%)," and framed the HPP as a voluntary, menu-based plan to provide "safe harbor" against unfriendly 40B proposals while giving the town greater local control.
The plan's housing needs assessment identified several pressures: housing costs rising faster than local incomes, roughly 30% of households cost-burdened, and 78% of residential parcels not conforming to current zoning (lot size/frontage). Goldson said needs include deeper rental affordability (30%'50% AMI), senior and accessible units, starter homes for young families and "missing-middle" housing types such as duplexes, townhomes and accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
Board member Jim Sears raised feasibility concerns, saying current construction costs (cited at $300'$350 per square foot) and high fees make deeply affordable development financially difficult and that the town's Affordable Housing Trust cannot subsidize projects at the necessary scale. Director of Land Use and Community Services Aaron Henry responded that the Trust holds roughly $500,000 in total, with about $100,000 from a pilot payment-in-lieu program, and that land contributions often represent the most useful subsidy. Henry also cautioned that SHI units can be lost unpredictably, citing group-home closures as an example.
Goldson said zoning reforms must be tested with pro formas to ensure feasibility and that land contributions can enable deeper affordability. She noted ADUs generally do not count toward the SHI except through burdensome 40B comprehensive permit routes homeowners rarely use, and warned that adding ADUs could raise the total housing denominator and thus lower the percentage of qualifying affordable units unless qualifying units are also added.
During public comment several residents — including Karen Nastek, Bill Bradstreet and Mark Zuberek — expressed concern that ADUs and MBTA-style zoning would "alter neighborhood character," create creeping density "by stealth," and called for better abutter notification and transparency. Chair Louis George emphasized the HPP's strategies are considerations rather than mandates and said staff would return a revised draft to the Planning Board and Select Board in late April or May with the aim of pre-Town-Meeting adoption.
What happens next: staff will produce a revised draft for further Planning Board and Select Board review in late April or May; the plan remains advisory while the board evaluates zoning feasibility and potential subsidy approaches.
