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Commissioners discuss density bonuses, deed restrictions and tax exemptions as tools to add affordable units
Summary
Commissioners and staff weighed market-driven tools such as density bonuses tied to deed restrictions, multifamily property tax exemptions, and fee waivers as lower-resource options to produce housing affordable to middle-income workers.
During the comprehensive-plan discussion Joshua outlined several policy tools the town could use to increase housing affordability: density bonuses tied to deed-restricted units at targeted AMI levels (for example, 60% or 80% of area median income), multifamily property tax exemptions and utility-fee waivers.
"There's some municipalities that try to reduce costs of development by contributing ... preapproved design plans," Joshua said, and he described deed restrictions that range from 5 to 99 years to guarantee resale price or buyer eligibility. Commissioners emphasized that these approaches shift much of the cost to developers or use limited town resources as incentives rather than direct town construction, and noted administrative capacity and enforcement questions remain.
Commissioner Evan said market-driven density bonuses with deed restrictions could be "low-hanging fruit" that would not require lengthy multi-year partnerships or large town outlays, while noting enforcement and oversight issues would need to be solved.
