Housing Plan Aired at Board Meeting

Concord's Housing Planned Production Plan needs to be certified by the state Department of Housing and Community Development every five years, and the current one expires Aug. 15.

To that end, Lara Kritzer from the planning office reported to the selectmen that a new plan is done and ready for submission to the state.

Kritzer said the 2009 Town Meeting approved the use of Community Preservation funds to hire a consultant to update the plan which was done, in part, via a questionnaire that got 104 responses. The consultant also facilitated a workshop on the town's housing needs.

"Concord is a high-cost town and there is a need for affordable housing," said Kritzer. She said there is a 77-person waiting list for subsidized housing.

Kritzer said the town has made "huge progress" over the last 10 years, doubling the affordable units in town. Under the state's Chapter 40B law, a town must have 10 percent of its housing "affordable," or available to low-income buyers, to be able to turn down developments with higher density than is normally permitted.

Concord needs only a few more units of affordable housing to satisfy the specifics of 40B. There is a new development by Trammel Crow in the works that "will satisfy" the law, she said.

Overall strategies for housing production include the need to preserve smaller houses, and create village centers. The town used 20o0 census data to assess zoning, demographics, existing bylaws and challenges to preserving a mix of housing.

The final plan includes a needs assessment, an affordable housing goal, and the implementation strategies towards the new five-year production plan.