Chair Patrick White opened the meeting. He said draft regulations for the Seasonal Communities (SC) section of the Affordable Homes Act were published. If passed in Stockbridge, Seasonal Communities regs might help shape Stockbridge’s affordable housing plan. Secondly, White suggested the AHT might want to submit feedback to the state as well as locally to the SB and at Town Meeting.
The AHT spent the meeting time reviewing and commenting on the draft regulations. You can read the draft regulations here and the AHT’s summary of them here.
Tiny homes and undersized lots
Bruce Auerbach had a negative reaction to tiny homes, however White pointed out, homes of any size, including small homes, are currently permitted in Stockbridge. White said that a tiny home can be built for $120,000 — affordable for young people. Others said that only a single person or a couple can live in so small a space, never a family.
The issue of undersized lots is more nuanced the Chair said. The proposed allow the Town to define what a undersized lot is. It can be 25% or more of the current local zoning bylaw. For example, Stockbridge zoning is R2 (two acre zoning) and R4 (4 acres). Stockbridge could define a tiny lot as 25% less than 2 acres or 1.75 acre.
Mobile Homes
Homes on wheels are currently banned in Stockbridge. The regs allow them to continue to be banned.
Attainable housing
There was confusion about the definition of attainable housing.
Does Seasonal Communities only address housing?
White explained the one factor addressed in seasonal communities that was not directly related to housing was the Residential Tax Exemption (RTE). It raises the limit of RTE from 35% to 50%
Information relevant to housing
The greatest employed population in Berkshire County is aged 65+. That is highly unusual. In other places it follows the Bell Curve (least employed youngest and oldest, most employed middle)
Employed most often in health care service and hospitality or retail.
Multigenerational Homes
For example, Bruce Auerbach described a duplex with separate entrances may have an older couple on one side and a younger couple with children on the other. It could be grandparents, children, and grandchildren. Jan Ackerman said it could be an attractive alternative to assisted living which currently is what most aging folks select.
The discussion shifted to property available for building such as the 26 acres on Route 7 and Rattlesnake Road known as the Lavan Center. The price of the property itself is not consistent with building affordable housing.
The Chair scheduled 2 meetings one week apart so AHT will be prepared to submit comments to the state and local agencies sharing AHT reaction to the SC regulations.
Editor’s note: In Massachusetts, attainable housing “is a broad term referring to housing that is not necessarily subsidized or price-controlled but rather affordable to year-round residents with a range of incomes, particularly those who can no longer afford rising market-rate housing.
