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Dartmouth adopts five-year Housing Production Plan to guide infrastructure and zoning changes
Summary
Select Board voted July 13 to adopt a five-year Housing Production Plan prepared by SERPed; the plan sets four goals and eight strategies focused on infrastructure upgrades, zoning reforms to enable missing‑middle housing, and measures to sustain subsidized units and expand affordable options.
The Dartmouth Select Board voted July 13 to adopt a five‑year Housing Production Plan prepared by the Southeastern Regional Planning & Economic Development (SERPed) agency.
Taylor Perez, director of housing and research at SERPed, told the board the plan reflects roughly 18 months of stakeholder work, 411 community survey responses and multiple public outreach events. “We produced four goals and eight strategies to support infrastructure upgrades, enable additional housing choices, expand programs to support production and preservation, and continue producing SHI‑eligible units,” Perez said.
Key recommendations prioritize infrastructure improvements that would enable housing development, zoning changes such as a mixed‑use overlay and a starter‑home zoning district, and programmatic actions to preserve affordability. Perez emphasized that having a state‑approved housing production plan makes communities more competitive for state grants that fund infrastructure and housing creation.
Board members discussed local concerns — including whether increased housing would strain water, sewer and road infrastructure — and staff said the plan’s first strategy is to match housing targets with infrastructure planning. The board unanimously moved to adopt the plan and will transmit the adoption letter to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities to begin the plan’s five‑year lifespan.
What happens next: Adoption enables the town to pursue prioritized zoning and grant applications and makes Dartmouth’s housing goals an explicit part of capital and planning decision-making.
