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Committee hears RFP approval and new conservation and wastewater conditions for Forest Road site
Summary
Committee members reported the Forest Road affordable‑housing RFP has HLC approval, added requirements to place undeveloped land into conservation trust in perpetuity, and a mandatory advanced wastewater (IA) treatment system; the trust also described regional office participation and a Route 28 RFP due July 15.
Under reports, committee members said an RFP for the Forest Road affordable‑housing site has been approved by the Historic Land Commission and will be issued shortly; the Housing Trust and staff described two substantive changes in the RFP conditions.
The first change is a requirement that land not built upon be placed into a conservation trust in perpetuity, which members said is an innovation the trust proposed to preserve open space. The second is a mandatory secondary or alternative wastewater treatment system (IA) for the project; committee members said the IA system removes more nutrients than a regular septic system and that developers will be expected to include treatment specifications in proposals.
Committee members discussed scale and phasing: the Forest Road property is about 19 acres, but members said considerably less than half may be developed in initial phases to preserve trees and open space. Planning staff referenced a sewer/septic feasibility study and said a planning figure of 90 bedrooms was used to estimate capacity (which could translate to roughly 45–50 units depending on unit sizes).
The Affordable Housing Trust also reported it signed a contract to participate in a shared regional housing office with the county and will review expiring Plymouth Road units and a senior housing needs study. The trust noted an RFP for Route 28 redevelopment (mixed‑use with affordable units) is due July 15; the committee asked staff to watch for responses.
No formal approvals or binding developer selections were made at this meeting; the committee asked staff to continue coordinating RFP issuance and to make any technical RFP clarifications available to the committee.
