By Geena Monahan—For the North Star Reporter
Two proposed affordable housing projects in North Attleborough have sparked debate among residents, and the School Committee weighed in at its Sept. 9 meeting.
“I put this on the agenda because of concerns in the community on what this could do to our schools,” said committee Chair Tasha Buzzell.
The development discussed on that night was the vacant property at 15 John Dietsch Blvd. that Town Manager Michael Borg recently announced could be the site of an affordable housing project. The former Answer Is Fitness property was slated to become a 162,500-square-foot warehouse, but a lack of interest from potential buyers has the owners looking to switch gears.
Dan Donovan, chair of the Bylaw Subcommittee, addressed his fellow Town Council members on Sept. 8 regarding a meeting the subcommittee had with Danielle Blake, a representative from Marcus Partners. This is the same developer behind a 304-unit housing development on Kelley Boulevard.
Donovan reported that the concept pitched by Blake would be slightly larger than the Kelley Boulevard project, with an estimated 366 units. Twenty-five percent of the units would be deemed affordable. Under Chapter 40B law, if 20-25% percent of the units of a development are affordable housing, the town can count the whole building as affordable.
According to Donovan, Marcus Brothers does not yet own the property but is in agreement with the owner, 15 John L. Dietsch Blvd., LLC. Donovan reminded council members that the development is still just a concept at this point and that no site plans, architectural designs or traffic studies have been conducted.
Blake told the Bylaw Subcommittee that 50% of units would be one-bedroom, 43% two-bedroom, and 7% three-bedroom. The high number of one-bedroom units, combined with an average unit size of 900 square feet, are two factors Marcus Partners cited as reasons why this development would not have a large impact on the North Attleborough Public Schools.
However, School Committee member Sarah Stone said she had a hard time believing that adding 336 units — on top of the Kelley Boulevard and Draper Avenue developments that will be wrapping up in the near future — wouldn’t add extra stress on a school system that is already stretched thin.
“The developer said there would be roughly eight kids that would come out of a development of this size, and I just find that hard to believe,” said Stone. “I think about class sizes, I think about the capacity of our schools. If we do end up with too many kids in a school, what happens then?”
School Committee member Lyndsey Benharris presented data from the 2020 census to show that North Attleborough’s school-age population has grown and will continue to grow, despite recent reports that enrollment is down. She and Stone agreed that families often find ways to make difficult financial and housing situations work, and that people can and will fit multiple children into two-bedroom units if it’s their only option.
“All of the current structures are at capacity currently,” said Benharris. “If the census is correct, and we continue to increase, then that is a huge concern, because we do not have the space.”
Superintendent John Antonucci echoed these concerns.
“We basically are full,” he said. “No matter if the development happens or not, we’re bursting at the seams.”
Affordable housing developments typically come with financial incentives, which Donovan elaborated on at the Town Council meeting. Zoning the development as 40R, instead of 40B, would result in a $1.3 million payout from the state, and the project’s estimated property valuation of $95 million upon completion would add about $1.1 million in tax revenue to North Attleborough’s yearly budget.
Stone acknowledged that stopping development in a growing town isn’t something the School Committee wants to do, but receiving monetary compensation to address a potential influx of new students — and developing a plan for the future — is what the School Committee is ultimately after.
“When I think about swelling in our schools, that scares me for our students and our staff,” said Stone. “However, if we have the funding to take care of all of this, I think that’s an easier pill to swallow.”
Future developments
At the Sept, 8 council meeting, Borg presented a second proposal for an affordable housing complex at 35 Robinson Ave. in Attleboro Falls. The building was recently condemned after a young resident fell through the floor and had to be rescued.
Located behind the Dyer Lake Funeral Home, the former jewelry factory now stands defunct atop contaminated soil. According to Borg, an interested developer has a purchase-and-sale agreement in hand, and is asking the town to provide an abatement on back taxes owed on the property.
Under Massachusetts General Law, 100% of interest and 75% of the principal owed can be abated if a property is going to become affordable housing, providing the zoning is changed from residential to commercial. Currently, $182,318 is owed on the property, with more than $91,000 of that total being interest.
To Borg, this is an opportunity to “examine and look at potential for taking down the blighted property, cleaning it up and putting it back onto the tax roll.”
Town Council President Justin Pare was in attendance at the School Committee meeting as a nonvoting member, and gave his perspective on affordable housing developments. To Pare, maximizing what the town can get from developers until it reaches the 10% threshold of affordable housing needed to be in protected from 40B developments is a top goal of the council.
“I’ll bring these concerns back to the council, and I think the commitment should be that there will be open communication for everybody to address these concerns, what’s going to be done, and what we can do about them,” said Pare.