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Date: 11/3/2022
BELCHERTOWN – The town of Belchertown recently conducted a survey to gather input from residents so the Planning Department can create a local housing production plan.
The plan can help the board identify locations for new housing types and additional residential development.
The survey’s first page asked questions about the current home structure a resident may be living in like how many people live there, the type of house, how long they have been living there and if they are either a college student or adult who is a part-time or full-time employee who owns or rents the house.
The second page looked for more feedback from residents and asked, “Do you think there are enough of the following types of homes in Belchertown?” and “Where would you like to see new houses, condominiums and apartments in Belchertown?”
Town Planner Doug Albertson mentioned that making a housing production plan is basically a requirement from the state but added how important he thinks it is.
He said the state wants each town to have a plan for creating enough housing units to provide for people of all incomes.
Albertson added, “It is going to a part of a bigger master plan we are about to start on which will include the housing production plan, but we also want to include what kind of housing do we need, where do we need it and how should it be done to update our towns master plan.”
The plan needs to be approved and adopted by the Planning Board and Select Board, before it is accepted at the state level to help secure grants.
Once all the responses are looked at, Albertson and the Planning Department want to be able to put together the plan right away so that they can have a public hearing soon.
Albertson mentioned why it was important to hear back from residents.
He said, “It is important to get a sense of what are people thinking and what do they know that we may not know.”
Albertson added, “For the past several decades we have been rapidly growing as a town with large detached single houses. That leaves a lot of people out so we really have a shortage of different types of housing that other people might desire or need.”
With housing and everything else costing more nowadays and working home becoming more popular, Albertson thinks the town needs to prepare for that.
He said, “People may want to rent because they can’t afford a house or may not want to. Society is changing as well with households getting smaller. We need to have a variety of housing. I think since [COVID-19] and increased remote working, we could see more housing demand with people wanting to move here.”