Swampscott Elm Place Project Draws Ire Of Neighbors At Forum

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — The latest public forum on the proposed Elm Place apartment complex project Tuesday night appeared to do little to ease neighbors' concerns about the size of the building and the traffic it could bring to their neighborhood.

WinnDevelopment, the company behind the proposed 120-unit building of mixed market-rate and affordable housing, presented a plan to neighbors at Swampscott High School that was similar to the revised plan it presented during a virtual public meeting on June 10. Developers lowered the average height of the building from 60 to 45 feet, added parking spaces and changed the design from "modern" to a "New England coastal" in hopes of giving it a softer feel in the neighborhood near the commuter rail station.

But while WinnDevelopment added 11 more parking spaces to the plan — increasing the number of spots to 135 from the original 108 — officials said the complex must remain in the range of 120 overall units to stay financially sustainable.

"Putting 50 or 60 units here would be a waste of space," WinnDevelopment Chief Operating Officer Gilbert Winn said during the forum that got contentious at several points. "If we cut from 120 to 100 that really hurts our financing. I'll be honest. When you're losing the ones that pay (full market-rate) rent instead of the ones that are subsidized, it makes it very hard to finance."

Forty-nine of the units will be considered "affordable" with all 120 units counting toward the town's inventory of affordable housing — which is currently 3.7 percent and would move to 5.4 percent with the Elm project at this scope. As long as the town remains below the state's threshold of 10 percent affordable housing, developers can use flexible zoning regulations to build affordable housing on property within the town.

This is the third public forum in recent months where developers have looked to address resident concerns, but they made it clear on Tuesday there are limits to where they are willing to make changes in the proposal.

"We do listen to the town and we're going to continue to listen to the town," WinnDevelopment Executive Vice President Adam Stein said. "But there is a breaking point we can't go below. We can't do a 99-unit development.

"If the answer is (neighbors) will only support 88 units, we're not going to get there. It has to be in the world of reality."

The proposal revised in early June called for a reduction from 128 to 120 units.

The new allotment would be 77 one-bedroom apartments, 24 two-bedroom apartments, 13 three-bedroom apartments and seven studio apartments. The original plan called for 64 "affordable" units.

While the parking space allotment was raised further in Tuesday's proposal, developers said that has also maxed out for the project they hope will draw many residents without cars based on proximity to the commuter rail and ride-sharing services such as Zip Cars and bicycle rental stations that will be made available to them.

"The more parking spaces you have the more cars you have," Stein said. "The more cars you have the more traffic you have."

Neighbors who spoke repeatedly expressed concerns that Elm Place renters will bring cars — and attract visitors with cars — that will clog the already-congested neighborhood regardless of the other transportation options.

The full meeting can be viewed here.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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