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Tag: executive office of housing and livable communities

  • Dracut zoning board’s draft decision downsizes Murphy’s Farm 40B

    DRACUT — The Zoning Board of Appeals has published a draft decision signaling it is ready to approve the contentious Murphy’s Farm Chapter 40B proposal for apartments in East Dracut. Final approval is expected at the board’s Dec. 4 meeting.

    As published, the number of apartments has been downsized from 268 units to 200. The original proposal called for 300 units.

    One of the goals of the decades-old 40B law is to increase the stock of affordable housing in the state. Murphy’s Farm will have 20 low-income units and 20 moderate-income units.

    Chapter 40B gives the ZBA power to issue comprehensive permits that supersede the normal permitting process.

    The draft document lists more than 90 conditions the developer, O’Brien Homes of Andover, must comply with to be granted a comprehensive permit.

    If approved by the ZBA and accepted by the developer, an agreement would bring to an end almost three years of public hearings, neighborhood meetings and property tours.

    But the developer can appeal to the state Housing Appeals Committee — which operates under the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities — if the proposal would make the project economically unviable.

    Asked about the prospect of an appeal, developer Kevin O’Brien said, “The town’s got to do what it’s got to do. And we have to do what we have to do.”

    Selectman Tony Archinski, who has attended most of the hearings, told The Sun, “I have spoken to the town manager and secured funding for legal issues should the builder appeal the decision.”

    Speaking for the Citizens Against Reckless Development in Dracut, Michelle Boermeester stated, “We appreciate that the ZBA recognized the project as far too dense and moved to condition the development at 200 units. This reduction helps alleviate some of the anticipated density and traffic impacts on direct abutters and on the broader Dracut community. While we would have preferred an outright denial of the permit, the Board’s conditions represent meaningful modifications and will leave it to the developer to decide whether to accept the terms or pursue an appeal.”

    She added, “Even so, we remain concerned that the project—despite the reduction—still is overly dense for this area. We also believe the ZBA did not fully address public safety considerations. The current layout includes extended roadways without cul-de-sacs, leaving no margin for error for emergency response vehicles to maneuver, compromising public safety.”

    Aside from reducing the number of units in the complex, the proposal would make the developer pay $7,500 for sewer connections for each market-rate apartment. Connection fees for affordable units would be waived. The developer would pay a total of $1.125 million for sewer connections.

    Connection to the Kenwood Water District will cost $5,500 for the first unit and $4,125 for each additional unit. The estimated total for 200 units is $826,375. The connection fee for each building must be paid in full prior to connection to the town system.

    Prudence Brighton

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  • Jack Kerouac’s old hangout gets a historic makeover

    LOWELL — By next October, fans of Beat writer Jack Kerouac will be able to add the building located at 484 Merrimack St. to their homage itinerary during the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac 2026 Fall Festival.

    In his youth, Kerouac spent afternoons at the old Royal Theater that was attached to the rear of the rooming house that fronted Merrimack Street in the Acre neighborhood.

    The Lowell-born Kerouac memorialized those days in his semiautobiographical novel “Dr. Sax,” in which the main character, Jackie Duluoz, describes afternoons at the theater waiting for “Tim McCoy to jump on screen, or Hoot Gibson, or Mix, Tom Mix” and looking up at the cherubs in the “pink and gilt and crystal-crazy ceiling.”

    The theater was demolished 30 years ago, but the four-story brick boarding house Kerouac undoubtedly walked past on his way to the box office is being gut renovated and restored by Lowell-born Patrick Tighe, a Los Angeles-based architect.

    In August, Tighe’s project, New Royal LLC, received $1.3 million in Housing Development Incentive Program tax credits for 24 market-rate housing units during an awards ceremony in Revere.

    “We are thrilled to have received the tax credits,” Tighe said by email.

    HDIP is a tool for the state’s Gateway Cities to create more market-rate housing championed by the Healey-Driscoll administration to support economic development, expand diversity of housing stock and create more vibrant neighborhoods.

    The building dates to 1915 and was built in the Colonial Revival style. Tighe said the massive granite foundation walls and first-floor brick walls of the theater still remain and will be incorporated into a sunken garden for the first-floor commercial development.

    Tighe’s building is listed on the national and state registry of historic places through its inclusion in the Lowell National Historical Park and Preservation District and the Downtown Lowell Historic District. The building has been vacant for years and was condemned by the city. Tighe bought it in 2016.

    Tighe said the abandoned and derelict 7,000-square-foot building stood the test of time thanks to a robust steel frame with wood construction and a masonry exterior. He said the design will restore many of the unique period features and bring the building back to its “original splendor.”

    “The façade at the street is a tan glazed brick in decorative patterns, with red brick at the sides,” Tighe said. “Distinct to the building are two three-story oriel windows clad with sheet metal. The bay windows create a rhythmic streetscape pattern continued at the adjacent building. The oriels and the original oak door are details which give the building its Colonial Revival spirit.”

    The building originally housed a market on the street level and Tighe said he was working closely with Sophia’s Greek Pantry (a shop that is currently on an adjacent site on Market Street) to occupy the 2,600-square-foot space.

    The historic project joins housing developments underway throughout the city that were granted HDIP funds in an April round of funding. Lowell received $7.5 million to build 132 units including $5 million to the Mullins Company’s Mass Mills IV development for a total of 95 units; and $2.5 million to Heritage Properties to build 37 units at The Emery, on a vacant lot at Pearl and Middlesex Streets.

    In July 2024, Lowell received $4.5 million for two downtown housing developments, again, the largest share of the $27 million distributed to 14 projects from the HDIP program, to create 547 total new units in 11 Gateway Cities across the state.

    The Hildreth Building, built in 1884 on Merrimack Street, received $2.5 million in HDIP funding. The historic building is being redeveloped to create 50 units on the upper floors and a retail space on the first floor, a part of which will be occupied by businesses displaced by the closure of Mill No. 5.The other Mill City HDIP project, the 26-unit Isobel Lofts on Middlesex Street, was awarded $2 million.

    “When Kerouac fans come to visit they can stand in the sunken garden surrounded by the massive granite walls of the Royal Theater and imagine what it was once like,” Tighe said.

    The Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Fall Festival runs from Thursday, Oct. 9 through Monday, Oct. 13. A variety of public events are scheduled in Lowell and the surrounding area, including music, poetry and tours. The festival features a mix of free, donation- and fee-based events. For more information, visit lowellcelebrateskerouac.org.

    Melanie Gilbert

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  • Massachusetts lags in housing production despite units added in Healey’s term

    BOSTON — More than 90,000 housing units have been completed or entered development since Gov. Maura Healey took office, she said Wednesday, chipping away at the state’s estimated need for 220,000 homes by the end of the decade.

    Of the 90,400 units cited by Healey’s office, about 63,100 have been built and added to the state’s supply. Another 18,300 are under construction, 3,600 have secured state funding through the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, and 5,400 are privately financed proposals still in the pipeline.

    Despite the progress, Massachusetts still lags much of the country in housing production.

    An estimated 14,338 building permits were issued in Massachusetts in 2024, or 201 per 100,000 residents — the sixth-lowest rate in the nation. The national average was 281 per 100,000, according to an analysis by U.S. Data Labs, a platform developed by the Pioneer Institute providing state-level data on policy areas.

    By comparison, Maine issued 6,034 permits in 2024, or 429 per 100,000 residents. Vermont and New Hampshire also outpaced Massachusetts per capita, at 409 and 352 permits per 100,000 residents. In southern New England, permit rates were generally lower. Nationally, Idaho led with about 881 permits per 100,000 people, while Texas authorized the most permits overall at more than 225,756.

    Healey first highlighted the 90,354-unit figure in August on the anniversary of last summer’s housing bond law, which she said laid important groundwork for boosting supply. That number includes all homes completed, permitted, awarded or proposed since Healey took office.

    The housing law required cities and towns to allow accessory dwelling units, set up a $50 million “Momentum Fund” for stalled mixed-income projects and expanded financing tools for affordable and moderate-income housing.

    A breakdown provided by the administration shows only a portion of the total comes directly from that bond law. The Momentum Fund accounts for 461 units, while another 732 permits are tied to accessory dwelling units.

    Other programs include 1,525 units through the Housing Development Incentive Program — which was expanded in the 2024 housing law — and 10,566 from projects funded by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.

    Zoning mandates tied to older state laws also play a role: the MBTA Communities law accounts for about 5,200 units, and Chapter 40B for 8,360.

    The majority, however — more than two-thirds, or 63,510 units — falls under what the administration categorizes as “additional housing development” outside state-directed programs.

    “I’m focused every day on building more housing,” Healey said at a Bloomberg event in Boston on Wednesday.

    She continued, “Through tax credits for developers, changes to the law to make accessory dwelling units available by right, mill-to-housing conversions, office-to-housing conversions, and surplus state land, we’re making real progress. We started with a deficit of 220,000, and a year and a half in, we now have over 90,000 housing starts underway.”

    The U.S. Data Labs report also found Massachusetts ranks near the top in the value of new housing permitted. The average estimated value per permit here was $284,086, second only to Hawaii at $342,910.

    Sam Drysdale

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