by Frank Schroth

There were two significant developments this past week with regard to Milton’s exposure to unwanted 40B developments. The first was a statement made by an attorney representing an abutter at the opening of a hearing on a 40B proposal at 711 Randolph Avenue. The other was in a communication from Senator Joyce to town officials informing them that after years of effort, units at Fuller Village could be added to Milton’s inventory of affordable housing.

Toward the end of Tuesday’s Board of Appeals (BoA) hearing on the 711 Randolph Avenue proposal, which calls for 2 apartment buildings that will together provide 90 units, John Witten, an attorney representing Lombardi an abutter to the property, said:

I believe that the town of Milton is consistent with local needs pursuant to the 1.5% calculation. That is an important milestone and the town should be commended for achieving this milestone.

He went on to explain that if affordable units in a municipality take up 1.5% or more of the town’s geographic area then they have satisfied DHCD’s requirement for affordable housing (DHCD is the Dept of Housing and Community Development). This is an alternative calculation to the much more widely understood requirement that a town have 10% of its housing inventory be affordable. (Milton is currently at ~4.5%).

This was something of a surprise to those at the meeting and those watching. Witten characterized it as the “holy grail.” There is a specific method for calculating the 1.5%. For example, state owned land and highways are excluded as are non-profits (e.g. private schools). According to Witten, the magic number for Milton is 53 acres. He estimates that Milton has over 60 allocated. Kathleen O’Donnell an attorney retained by the Board of Selectmen to represent the town’s interests at the hearing concurred with Witten. In a conversation with me, Town Planner William Clark confirmed that in working with the DPW’s GIS authority Alan Bishop, it appears that Milton is over the 1.5% requirement.

Witten had asked to be heard before the close of the meeting as the Board of Appeals needs to file a letter with DCHD within 15 days of the opening of the hearing stating that the town meets the 1.5% requirement.

John Leonard, Chair of the BoA for this hearing, scheduled a session for 12/11 at 5:00pm to resume the hearing and take a vote on whether the board will submit a letter to DHCD. Witten stated that submitting the letter is not a denial of the permit. Submitting the letter will afford the town flexibility. The reason it is significant is that the board can now rule on the merits of the application without concern that their decision can be appealed.

In a related development that can only reinforce the town’s position with regard to the 1.5% land area requirement, Senator Brian A. Joyce notified the Selectmen that he was successful in having 49 units at Fuller Village added to Milton’s Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI). He wrote:

I very am pleased to inform you that the almost ten year effort by my office, Milton Fuller Village, and town officials to have all 82 affordable units at Milton Fuller Village credited toward the Town’s affordable housing count by the Department of Housing and Community Development has succeeded. Today, the state added another 49 Fuller units to the town’s Subsidized Housing Inventory. It is my belief that the Fuller units are the only so-called life lease units credited to any community in the state.

Sen Joyce notes that it is has not yet been determined if the units can count toward the requirement for new units as outlined in Milton’s Housing Production plan. If so, it would be a great boon to the town in that satisfying that requirement would enable the town a one-year moratorium on unwanted 40B developments. Separate from that requirement, however, the senator also notes that “the units may add the land associated with Fuller’s Blue Hill Avenue campus to the land associated with Fuller’s Brush Hill Road campus, to put the town over the required 1.5% of the town’s land area containing affordable housing, which may allow the town to reject both the Hillside Street and Randolph Avenue projects.”

The issue with adding the units at Fuller was their unique ownership model. They are life lease units. The DHCD counts rentals and home ownership units. The notion of a life lease unit was not something they accounted for. It is something of a hydrid agreement but the germane point is the cost to the occupant, which is set at an affordable level. Sen Joyce along with Fuller administration had been working for some time to convince DHCD that these units should qualify. Now they do.