Cottages in Dover open for tenants. Dream of small, affordable homes becomes a reality.
DOVER — The first tenants are ready to move into the Cottages at Back River Road, a 44-unit affordable housing development considered to be a first-of-its-kind project in the greater Seacoast.
John and Maggie Randolph, the married couple behind the project, marked the opening of the first cottages with city and local housing leaders on Thursday morning. The couple owns Harmony Homes Assisted Living Center in Durham and have built affordable housing for their employees.
The 54 Back River Road development was approved by the Dover Planning Board in March 2021, broke ground that November, and saw the construction on the first cottage begin in September 2022.
Thirteen of the 44 rental cottages have tenants ready to move in, according to architect Maggie Randolph.
“When you’re sketching on paper, you have this idea in your head. Then to see it actually come to life is something pretty unreal, I have to admit,” she said.
The Randolphs have not yet selected tenants for the remaining 31 units, though the couple has compiled a waitlist of nearly 100 people. Construction on the development, spanning four clusters of cottages, is still ongoing. Maggie Randolph hopes the project will be completed by early 2024.
John Randolph told dozens of attendees Thursday the initial target tenant demographic was people ranging from 18 to 25 years old, though the development has attracted all ages.
"It’s really exciting to see a mix of people that are moving in here, that are contributing to our society,” he said.
While the development’s progress was celebrated Thursday, the Randolphs reported a second Dover affordable cottage home proposal of theirs has been scrapped. The Randolphs put forth plans to bring a similar development to 36 Olive Meadow Lane and had the proposal heard by the city’s Technical Review Committee in July, where it received opposition from residents.
Trash talk: NH approves 60-acre expansion of Turnkey landfill in Rochester
How big is each cottage? What is in each cottage?
Each cottage has a footprint of 384 square feet in size, though each also comes with a loft that could act as a bedroom, bringing the total footprint in each to 544 square feet.
All the cottages include a ground-floor bedroom, a kitchen and a living room, a bathroom with a stand-up shower, washer and dryer hookups, and a mini-split system for heating and cooling.
“The Back River Road neighborhood is great, with a variety of residences and small businesses surrounding it. Portsmouth Christian Academy and Garrison Elementary are close by, and downtown Dover is within biking distance,” Maggie Randolph said. “Additionally, the location offers easy access to transit and nearby Route 16. The plan is for our development to also include community space for our residents in the original home by the street, to include laundry and gym facilities. Additionally, each cottage has a porch that faces a common green space, to be shared with each of the residents of that cluster.”
New restaurant: The Brunch Club to open in Dover in former 2 Home Cooks space
How much will each unit cost?
The Randolphs have an agreement with the city to have each unit rented out.
The units will be priced in accordance with New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority’s fair market rental rates. For the past year, according to Randolph, the rate as set by New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority was $1,232 per month.
“It’s great to see something that had been on a plan and in the works actually come to fruition, and to see the community support around it,” said Donna Benton, the city’s director of planning and community development.
John Randolph noted the first tenants are expected to move in as early as next week.
Who is eligible to live in each cottage?
Preference is being given to employees of Harmony Homes, though the cottages are available to anyone.
Bri Carpenter, a caregiver with Harmony Homes, will be one of the community’s first tenants to move in.
“It has and will make an impact not only on my life, but I know many other lives, as well,” she said.
Anyone interested in applying to live at the Cottages at Back River Road can email Lindsey Smith to be sent a link to apply. Smith can be reached at Lindsey@gsdnh.com.
More: Dover superintendent William Harbron uncertain about return for 2024-25 school year
The Randolphs hope to build more cottages in the future
The Randolphs have designs in place for possible future cottage home projects, including ones that have two-, three- and four-bedroom units. The Randolphs also have begun thinking of designs with “a greater variety” of ADA-accessible options.
“We feel that cottage homes, built in ways to promote walkability and community, can be a great way to add missing-middle housing to neighborhoods without overwhelming them,” Maggie Randolph said.
Olive Meadow Lane cottage home proposal won't move forward
The plan to potentially bring 32 individual cottage residences to 36 Meadow Lane has been set aside, Maggie Randolph noted Thursday.
The proposal called for each unit to be 560 square feet and rented out at local fair market rates determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
“We have decided not to pursue the Olive Meadow Lane project,” Maggie Randolph stated. “While we still feel that it would be a good location, and another step forward in providing much-needed housing, open space easement boundaries proved to be too complicated for the project to proceed.”
The units would have been large enough to fit between two and four bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and living area, per plans filed in the summer with the city’s planning department. The cottages would have also been built with front porches and attached storage sheds.
“The need for affordable housing is overwhelming right now, so we hope that those issues could be worked out in the future,” Maggie Randolph added.
The 36 Olive Meadow Lane parcel currently holds the Honey Tree Learning Center, a childcare building, and spans over 25 acres. Plans showed the proposed clustered development would be built on four acres of the property, with the rest left as open space.
The proposal also called for the development of an approximately 600-square-foot community center for residents and a roughly 500-square-foot maintenance building.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Cottages in Dover NH, 44 affordable homes, welcomes first renters
