Fairhaven has a plan for future business and affordable housing. This is how it would work.
FAIRHAVEN — To lay the groundwork for new development and new housing options in Fairhaven, officials are moving forward with plans to create a “smart growth” zoning overlay district.
Under Chapter 40R or “smart growth” zoning, cities and towns can zone for higher-density residential and mixed-use development by offering financial incentives and control over design.
The existing zoning would remain in place while allowing for the creation of one or more zoning overlay districts.
Paul Foley, director of Planning and Economic Development, said the town’s Route 6 and 240 redevelopment plan is the basis for adopting the new zoning to prepare for the future.
The plan is intended to create more opportunity for new development in the existing shopping plazas and in the abutting industrial district.
“We’re primarily looking at the shopping plaza areas but also potentially a secondary 40R along Route 6, which would allow the owners to do a different type of development,” he said.
Zoning overlay districts in Massachusetts allow densities of eight units an acre for single family homes, 12 units per acre for townhouses and 20 units for acre for condominiums and apartments.
A need for affordable housing
The zoning requires that 20 percent of the district be affordable homes and allow for a combination of residential, office and retail within close proximity.
At a recent Select Board meeting, Stasia Powers and Leon Correy were appointed to join a working group intended to monitor and guide the next steps for achieving smart growth.
They will be joined by 20 to 25 other stakeholders from different town boards, departments, community organizations, business associations and the general public.
Powers said she looks forward to learning more about what establishing a 40R district and design standards can do for Fairhaven following up on Foley’s suggestion supported by the Planning Board that doing so would be good for the town, particularly from a housing standpoint.
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“When I ran I talked about providing affordable housing, and I feel like there’s a challenge in our community to have available housing for those individuals who are entering the workforce and retirees who no longer stay in their large home but want to stay in Fairhaven,” she said.
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She said she doesn’t want residents to have to move out of town if they want to downsize or want to move out of their parent’s home and wanted to join the working group to be part of the conversation with a focus on providing more transitional housing.
“Whenever there can be an opportunity for possible housing options I want to be involved in that conversation,” she said.
Fairhaven was awarded a $75,000 Community Planning Grant last November to assist the town in hiring consultants to help write the 40R overlay bylaw and develop the design standards so that voters can approve them at Town Meeting next spring.
Transfer of development rights
The town will also consider using a method called the transfer of development rights from a sending area that can be protected to a receiving area where the town would like to grow for the commercial shopping plaza area south of Bridge Street within the overall redevelopment target area.
The goal of the redevelopment plan is to transform the shopping plazas near I-95 into an attractive higher density mixed-use pedestrian friendly zone with housing above smaller commercial units.
The intent is to develop a comprehensive framework that facilitates new commercial, industrial and residential development in previously developed areas while preserving the historic and rural character of the rest of the town.
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The town has hired Dodson & Flinker Landscape Architecture and Planning as the consultant for the development of the 40R overlay bylaw and design guidelines. Other consultants include Stephen Kelleher Architecture of Fairhaven and Adam Costa of Mead, Talerman and Costa as the legal consultant.
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Dodson & Flinker’s Peter Flinker recently met with the Select Board. He said the zoning process for creating 40R districts is pretty straightforward and understandable, but in order to write the zoning you have to have an idea of where you’re trying to go with the district.
Among the decisions that need to be made are what the geographic limits of the district should be, what the boundaries are and what kinds of densities, uses and types of housing should be included in the district. He said 40R allows a pretty wide range of densities and different types of housing opportunities, as well as mixed use.
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Flinker said one of the biggest lessons he has learned is that if the people who are affected by the zoning or the plan are not involved in the process, it rarely goes anywhere. He basically describes the role of the working group as fact-finders.
He said the working group process is designed so that the business owners and residents of the surrounding neighborhood and other town residents are represented and understand what the future plans are once there is a plan for the future zoning.
Working group to begin fact-finding
The working group will begin with a shared fact-finding process determining what is happening in the commercial district now, including what the business are in the district, how they are functioning and what the traffic, parking and circulation patterns are in the area.
Flinker said one of the biggest lessons he has learned is that if the people who are affected by the zoning or the plan are not involved in the process, it rarely goes anywhere. He basically describes the role of the working group as fact-finders.
He said the working group process is designed so that the business owners and residents of the surrounding neighborhood and other town residents are represented and understand what the future plans are once there is a plan for the future zoning.
The working group will begin with a shared fact-finding process determining what is happening in the commercial district now, including what the business are in the district, how they are functioning and what the traffic, parking and circulation patterns are in the area.
The town is seeking up to 10 volunteers from the general public to join the 40R working group. Anyone interested in volunteering who can commit to four or five meetings over the next six months is asked to contact Foley at pfoley@fairhaven-ma.gov.
Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@wickedlocal.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: Forging new paths for development, housing in Fairhaven
