Could Fairhaven's Route 6 parking lots help the housing crisis? It's a possibility.

FAIRHAVEN — Travel in and out of the plaza areas along Route 6 can be difficult to navigate, so much so that some residents say they won’t attempt it anymore.

A recent driving tour led by consultants working with the town to develop a Chapter 40R overlay bylaw and design guideline for Fairhaven focused on three study areas where residential housing could also be part of that future.

Two vans toured these areas to give residents the opportunity to ask questions and share their own vision for the town’s future.

Dodson & Flinker Landscape Architecture and Planning senior associate Dillon Sussman introduced the three study areas: the Stop & Shop, Staples and Wal-Mart plaza areas, the Route 6 corridor from Washington Street to Adams Street and the waterfront area on Main and Middle streets from Huttleston Avenue to Washington Street.

“That’s what this project is about; what these should look like in the future; whether they should be the same as they are now; or whether they should be different in some way,” he said.

After the tour, resident Richard Masciantonio said he joined it to support efforts to increase housing in town.

'Housing is at premium everywhere'

“I know housing is at a premium everywhere right now, rents are out of control, I have family that needs to live with other family as opposed to getting their own place well past the point they should be,” he said. “We are in America, and we should have housing for everybody. We need to prioritize living spaces as opposed to parking lots.”

He said Fairhaven has a nice opportunity to grow, but there’s so much parking everywhere that it’s like the town gave its entire world to cars. In his perfect world, Fairhaven would be known as a ‘Biketown USA’ with fewer cars parked in the town plazas.

“I think we need to utilize the spaces right next to the bike path and right next to the community center because it’s right next to everything,” he said.

He said if there were condos, amenities, parks and green spaces everyone wants to be a part of, he sees the potential for people to want to live in what are now parking lots.

“People will live anywhere if it’s affordable and where there’s something to do like at places like Cisco across the way there, that’s very nice,” he said, referring to the Cisco Brewery in New Bedford, among other locations where people gather to enjoy various activities.

Resident Nancy Santoro joined the tour to find out more about the kinds of changes that could potentially be made in town.

“I think it’s a great idea walking around the town to see what we can do to use the space wisely and make it a little more appealing to people especially when the train comes down and to have some more areas to eat and to live and to have younger generations have a say.”

Housing homefront:New Bedford announces $11.2M boost to develop 149 apartments, including at Holy Family High

The least appealing stretch of town to Santoro is the Route 6 corridor.

“To me, Route 6 in Fairhaven is an eyesore so it will be nice to see what they may want to do up there to make it appealing so you want to walk down the street and go places,” she said.

Director of Planning and Economic Development Paul Foley said with the overlay, the existing zoning remains in place, but there could be changes that would make the area more accessible even if it were to be 10 or 20 years down the road.

Potential for mixed-use residential

“Ideally, if the plaza owners could and the people were on board, they could start over and do the whole area over as a high residential, mixed-use urban neighborhood,” he said.

Development:South Coast Rail stations coming to New Bedford — here's how it will affect neighborhoods

He talked about a future with underground parking and storage, shops and multi-level housing above, including units with water views.

Masciantonio acknowledges the challenges ahead with what he calls the vocal minority seemingly always getting its way with the focus so car-centric, but said hopefully the planners and consultants have a good handle on the benefits of making the kind of changes they are proposing that can be applied in Fairhaven. He sees development along the waterfront as being separate with different limitations.

“If we can get some of what they’ve been proposing, I’d be happy,” he said. “I think it will be a battle at the Town Meeting when it comes up, but hopefully this is good. It also seems like this should be a multi-step process because it feels like we’re biting off a lot right now.”

A listening session back at Town Hall followed the driving tour, and a visioning workshop was held Saturday morning at Town Hall auditorium. The next meeting of the town’s 40R working group of volunteers and town officials is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. today, Nov. 16, at Town Hall.

Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Housing a key component of proposed Chapter 40R overlay in Fairhaven