| By Eva Patalas
Recently, an advertisement from a local real
estate agent proclaimed that this spring was a
great time in which to sell. According to the
ad, the average selling price of a single-family home in Belmont increased from
$397,027 in 1997 to $591,506 in 2000. This is
great news for someone who bought a home in
Belmont some years ago and is considering
selling. But it also means that many people
who grew up in town, as well as town employees, such as teachers, firemen, and police
officers, are being priced out of the
market.
Elderly residents who can no
longer afford to maintain their homes and
families who are renting and have children in
the Belmont school system may also be forced
to move. In this climate, the issue of
affordable housing takes on greater urgency.
State has set 10
percent goal
In an effort to increase the
supply of moderately priced housing and
prevent it from being concentrated all in one place, the state passed a law
in 1969 that encourages every town in
the Commonwealth to make 10 percent of its
housing stock affordable. The law defines
affordable housing as housing assisted through state or federal programs,
including technical assistance. Such housing is usually limited to households with incomes below
80 percent of the local median; rent or home
ownership costs must not exceed 30 percent of this
amount. To qualify for affordable housing in
the Boston area, a family of four may earn no
more than $56,000. (See chart on page 9.) The
maximum monthly housing cost for such a family under
these guidelines would be $1400.
In communities that have not met the 10 per cent
affordable housing goal, the law permits developers of such units to seek a
limited suspension of density and other zoning
restrictions through a comprehensive permit process. If a community
rejects the permit application, the developer
can appeal to the state, which can override
the rejection if it finds it
unreasonable.
Lincoln is an example of a nearby town that has
met the 10 percent requirement and, as a result,
now has full control over its development
decisions. In Belmont, on the other hand,
just 2.6 percent of the housing is considered
affordable.
To address this issue, Town
Meeting approved the creation of the Belmont
Housing Trust in 1999. This trust is eligible
to apply for state, federal, and private
funds to acquire real property and to develop, sell, and manage affordable and
mixed-income housing. The trust focuses on
assisting Belmont residents - to allow elderly people to remain in town,
to enable families who rent to become
homeowners, and to ease the way for employees
of the town or local businesses to live
here.
Inclusionary zoning
bylaw proposal
In April, the Belmont Housing Trust and the
Belmont League of Women Voters sponsored a
housing forum at the Winn Brook School. The
forum's keynote speaker was Karen Sonnarborg,
author of "An Affordable Housing Strategy for
the Town of Belmont." In this report, the
result of her work as a consultant for the
town during the previous year, Sonnarborg suggested both short- and
long-term strategies for increasing our stock
of affordable housing.
In the short term, she
recommended that the town's first priority be
to adopt an inclusionary zoning bylaw. This proposed bylaw is scheduled
to mixed-use properties consisting of five or
more units on a single site to provide 20
percent of the total units as affordable
housing units.
Alternatively, the developer
could make a cash payment to the town's Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
Developers of commercial business properties,
who are covered by the law if they require a
special permit, would also be allowed to contribute to the
Affordable Housing Trust Fund in lieu of
building housing units. (A similar bylaw in
Lexington has generated approximately $1
million, which the town has used to buy and
rehabilitate housing.) The Belmont bylaw
would apply to new developments as well as to redevelopment of existing
property. Sixty percent of the resulting affordable
 units would be reserved for Belmont residents. This
is defined as people who live or work in town,
have children attending Belmont public
schools, or have been qualified to register
in Belmont schools during the last 10 years.
The bylaw would not apply to the McLean
Hospital development, since it does not apply
to any development for which a complete application for site plan review has been submitted
to the Planning Board on or before February
5, 2001.
Some grant money
available
Money is also available from state and federal
sources. By joining a regional housing
consortium, Belmont will, starting in July
2002, receive $100,000 a year from the
federal Department of Housing and Urban
Development. This money, controlled by the
Board of Selectmen, will probably be used
initially to fund the development of 1.34 acres of affordable housing (about eight units) on
the McLean property at the intersection of
Trapelo Road and Mill Street.
The Belmont Housing Trust may
also participate in a home-improvement and
lead-paint-removal program in cooperation with a neighboring town.
In order to compete more effectively for affordable
housing grants from the state (as well as other
discretionary state funding, including money
for road improvements and land conservation),
Belmont has applied for housing certification
under the governor's Executive Order 418. This incentive program gives
preference for state funds to towns that make
a commitment to affordable housing. Adopting
an inclusionary zoning bylaw will help Belmont maintain its priority status under this
program.
Zoning changes could
affect supply
Karen Sonnarborg recommends that, when it
comes time to rewrite the town's zoning bylaw,
we promote mixed-use development (i.e., first
floor retail and upper floors affordable
housing) in neighborhood business districts like Cushing and
Waverley Squares. Another, more
controversial, recommendation is that the
town consider legalizing existing accessory
apartments and making it legal to create new
ones.
Adoption of the Community Preservation Act, of
course, would also generate money to buy or
build affordable housing. Under the
provisions of this act, the town could vote
to increase property taxes by up to 3 percent
in order to pay for open space conservation, historic preservation, and the
development of affordable housing. Matching
funds are provided by the state. (A more
complete description of this act appeared in
the May 2000 issue of the Belmont
Citizens
Forum.)
Working effectively
with developers
Other opportunities to expand the affordable
housing stock come, sometimes unexpectedly,
from developers. Roger Colton, chair of
Belmont's Fair Housing Committee, says that,
rather than be caught unaware by such
proposals, the town should try to use them to
its advantage.
The Massachusetts Comprehensive
Permit Law (the famous Chapter 40B) allows
developers of affordable housing units to
seek a limited suspension of density and other zoning restrictions in
towns that have not yet met the state's 10
percent goal. While this law is sometimes
used as a threat by landowners who want to
have their properties rezoned for commercial
use, Colton said the law can be used to the
town's advantage if we have an established process to deal with such proposals.
This would include specific guidelines for
what is or is not appropriate in a town of
our size and mandated reviews by the
Conservation Commission, the Fair Housing
Committee, the Historic District Commission,
and the Planning Board, as well as the Office
of Community Development.
Colton believes that Belmont would also benefit
by having a standardized process for reviewing
and disposing of properties owned by the
town. Some of these properties have the
potential to be developed or converted into moderately priced housing.
There is a firm in Jamaica Plain, for example,
that specializes in converting old fire
stations into affordable housing.
The development of affordable
housing in Belmont has many advantages,
advocates say, including the preservation of
a diverse community and the control of future
development in the town. They say Belmont
should choose the proposals it favors and
slowly build up the number of units to reach
the goal of 10 percent affordable housing.
Eva
Patalas is a resident of Belmont. |
