The Harvard Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) will soon reopen evidentiary hearings for a 12-unit 40B project at 15 Littleton Road. The board had approved the development, with conditions, in September 2007. The reopening is in response to the developer’s request to change conditions of the permit.
In a formal request to the board, Massachusetts Housing Opportunities Corporation (MHOC) contends that two conditions of the permit make their project “economically untenable.” They offered a supporting affidavit from their financial consultant, Michael H. Jacobs. The state’s affordable housing law, Chapter 40B, prohibits zoning boards from imposing conditions that threaten the financial viability of an affordable development, except for demonstrable reasons of health and safety.
The ZBA declined to change the conditions. The members voted unanimously that the changes requested by MHOC were “substantial” and stood by the conditions of the original comprehensive permit. The vote triggers a state requirement to reopen the hearing.
MHOC asserts untenable conditions
MHOC wants to rescind its consent to a 60-foot turnaround at the end of a long driveway. The original driveway would have required any FedEx-sized or larger vehicle to exit the property by backing out onto Littleton Road. At the time, board member Robert Capobianco called the driveway a safety hazard and “completely unacceptable,” prompting the board to specify the expanded turnaround.
The developer now also objects to a condition to “provide documentation to the ZBA that the Harvard Board of Health does not object to [the septic system]” Board of Health approval is not required by 40B law—only the Department of Environmental Protection must approve, and it has done so for the Littleton Road design. The ZBA had nevertheless wanted the health board’s consent and had taken the lead by directing MHOC to upgrade the system.
According to Jacobs’ financial analysis, two units would be lost to a re-engineered septic system.
“The project [would] sustain a loss of $556,313 or 13.6 percent,” the Dec. 14 affidavit said. Changes to the turnaround, according to the statement, would cause the project’s profit to “decrease to .01 percent or $374.”
This week ZBA Chairman Chris Tracey said his board must reopen the hearing within 30 days, and that it was possible that MHOC would appeal the decision to the state Department of Housing and Community Development.
MHOC has yet to file nonprofit forms
In the meantime, incomplete paperwork continues to cast a shadow over the developer’s nonprofit status. On Tuesday, Deputy Press Secretary Harry Pierre of the business and labor division at the attorney general’s office confirmed that MHOC had still not submitted the financial forms required by nonprofits in the state.
“Filings are incomplete. We are still working with them,” he said.
Pierre noted that it was not uncommon for the office to extend filing deadlines. MHOC has been working with the attorney general’s office since last spring, after Harvard resident Anthony Marolda alerted the attorney general’s office that MHOC had not met statutory obligations.
