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Planning board asks Affordable Housing Trust to add development commitments to Housing Production Plan
Summary
West Stockbridge's planning board said the AHT's draft Housing Production Plan is too modest and, by consensus, will ask the trust to include language signaling intent to undertake development work before the board will support filing for state certification.
The West Stockbridge Planning Board told the Affordable Housing Trust on Jan. 5 that the draft Housing Production Plan presented last November should be more ambitious and include explicit intent to undertake development work, and the board agreed to draft a letter requesting those changes.
The chair said the current draft is insufficient on affordable senior housing and lacks specific processes for achieving unit targets. Andrew Fudge said a goal of 15 units over five years (three per year) is inadequate for town needs. Chris Powell, chair of the Affordable Housing Trust, responded that the plan's production schedule allows for the potential of up to 35 units over five years and was written to align with state guidance, noting the town would ultimately need about 66 units to reach a 10% affordable housing threshold.
"The production schedule actually allows for the potential of up to 35 units over that period," Powell said. He explained that the plan was intended as a foundation to guide future AHT work and described it as a living document that can be updated.
Planning board member Ryan Beattie said the town's priority is protection from unfriendly Chapter 40B development; Powell said that filing the plan and achieving state certification through the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities should provide that protection once the planning board and select board approve it. Kathleen Kersey, the select board representative to the AHT, said she favored filing a baseline plan to obtain some protection while the trust refines the document, and she suggested the AHT could return to the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission for further technical assistance.
Board members discussed a two-tier approach that would combine small-scale assistance for individuals with larger-scale development projects. By consensus, members agreed to draft a response letter asking the AHT to include language indicating an intention to undertake development work and to clarify how the plan could achieve higher unit totals.
The planning board did not vote to approve the plan at the meeting; instead it requested the AHT revise or supplement the draft to address the board's concerns before the board will move to approval and support filing for certification.
