Great Elms prices high, but units fit affordable housing plan
At the request of selectmen, the Planning Board reviewed preliminary drawings for the redevelopment of Great Elms, a 4-acre property that was recently acquired by a nonprofit affordable housing group, CHOICE. The Stow Road property—which is restricted to affordability by its deed—had been foreclosed upon; the tenants in the five affordable rental units there were relocated last summer. Now, CHOICE plans to renovate the existing units and add four additional units, to replace those lost when The Inn, for years an affordable apartment house on Fairbank Street, was converted to market-rate apartments. If built, the nine units will be the only family-friendly, affordable rental units in Harvard.
Town planner Bill Scanlan noted that the Great Elms plan fit into the town’s Affordable Housing Plan, and that the clustered buildings minimized pavement. Cost per unit, at $385,000, was “a little high,” he said. The board noted that the 18-space parking lot needed landscaping to protect the view from Stow Road. The board also wondered whether more density was possible. Scanlan noted that additional units might not be possible, given the site’s septic and well limitations. He said he would find the answer.
On Tuesday, CHOICE executive director David Hedison said the cost per unit included both hard and soft costs, with so-called soft costs including engineering, 40B-required auditing, and the like. Adding to the cost, he said, are expensive site engineering costs and the extra expense of renovation, as opposed to all-new construction. One useful comparison would be the “official certified cost” per unit of Bowers Brook, the most recently built affordable housing project in Harvard. However, these figures were not available at press time.
Hildreth House Improvement Committee shares plans
The Hildreth House Improvement Committee, created last year to find a way to renovate the town’s senior center for less than the original estimate of $5.5 million, showed its conceptual plan to the board and asked for feedback.
Chairwoman Connie Larrabee described the new, scaled-back $3.7 million plan, first conceived by committee member Richard Blinn and rendered by LLB Architects. Larrabee said that safe parking at Hildreth House was the first priority, followed by handicapped access and basic upgrades to the kitchen and dining room, and the addition of another bathroom.
Larrabee said that about 25 percent of Harvard’s population was over 60 years of age in 2012, and about half of those people had used at least one Council on Aging service during that year. The committee’s plan, she said, is to ask the 2014 Town Meeting for funds to pursue the renovation.
Meanwhile, town planner Bill Scanlan will draft comments for the committee in reaction to the conceptual plan.
