Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 12/19/2022
PELHAM – Megan McDonough, Executive Director of Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity (Habitat), appeared before the Planning Board on Dec. 14 to relay good news for the town, mixed with praise.
“We just finished two homes in Pelham that we sold over the summer,” McDonough said. “They were the first in Pelham…[and] we greatly appreciate the town’s support, the Planning Board and Housing Committee, in making that project happen.”
The two single family homes at 8 Amherst Rd. are not the last projects for Habitat in Pelham. The second piece of good news for the town was that a friendly sale is in the works that will secure building lots for two more single family homes in the town center district.
“We signed a purchase and sale agreement to purchase these two lots,” McDonough said, “and put in an application to the Community Preservation Committee (CPC) to request funds to help us purchase these lots, which are below market price. It’s a friendly sale from a local person.”
McDonough told Planning Board members last week the landowner at 51 Amherst Rd., a bit east from Pelham Elementary School, subdivided the property into three lots. That property runs several hundred feet south along Cadwell Street. Two of those lots will be sold to Habitat for $100,000, below market price, while the property owner’s house occupies the corner of Amherst Road and Cadwell Street.
Before the subdivision of the property could be accomplished the landowner had to connect to town sewer and water services on Amherst Road. The discussion clarified that water services already extend along Cadwell Street while sewer lines do not.
“The town [of Pelham] is working with the town of Amherst to actually create a loop down South Valley, Jones Road and Cadwell Street, for water and sewer,” said Tilman Lukas, chair of the Housing Committee. “Once that’s constructed Habitat will build [the projects] and hook into water and sewer. That’s critical because otherwise you’re adding a significant cost, which is the well and septic system.”
The proposed new loop of sewer and water service has not been started and is years away from completion. The new Habitat projects will not be an option for the nonprofit until then. McDonough commented that projects in development elsewhere preclude the group from working on the newly proposed homes anyway.
Some of the monies for the purchase of the lots will come from Habitat, which will contribute $30,000. Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds, provided by the town, will cover the remaining $70,000. CPA funds originate from a surcharge on local real estate and are managed by the Community Preservation Committee. The CPA funds will need to be authorized by Town Meeting voters in the spring.
Affordable housing initiatives, such as Habitat houses, have great utility for the town. The commonwealth’s Chapter 40B laws pressure municipalities to increase affordable housing or risk losing local control over housing projects. Developers are able to sidestep some local zoning regulations if a town does not have 10 percent affordable housing.
The town needs more affordable housing, according to Lukas, because it is nowhere near the threshold necessary to maintain local control.
“A couple years ago [the town] had .5 percent,” Lukas said. “We had three units, which was a group home. The two Habitat houses were recently added…which brought us up to…1.5 percent. But now, with the 34 units in Amethyst Brook Apartments…we’ll be at almost seven percent.”
Lukas clarified how properties qualify for affordable status, which he acknowledged can be confusing. The monthly rental charge or property sale price are not the determining factors. In order to be considered affordable a unit must have a deed restriction and a public subsidy.
McDonough described for Planning Board members how affordable status will be set up for the newly proposed projects by describing a hypothetical example.
“We sell someone a house for $150,000…and the neighbor’s house is $400,000,” McDonough said. “The smart thing would be for [the buyer] to sell it the next day and make a good profit. So we put a deed restriction on that limits the resale price. That means the market price is reduced, so it also gets assessed at that restricted value. If we sold it at $200,000 and it is assessed at $400,000, it would be taxed at the [lower] level.”
Lukas offered that maintaining local control is not the only important reason to build affordable housing. When the town reaches 10 percent affordable housing “we’ve met a legal obligation, in one sense, but not a moral obligation” to promote diversity and equal access. Lukas is confident the town will support the new projects.
“We’ve had CPA funding for both 8 Amherst Rd. and Amethyst Brook Apartments,” Lukas said. “At Town Meeting we have almost unanimous support for affordable housing…99.9 percent of the community in town has been supportive of affordable housing.”