Avalon Shrewsbury to move forward
By Melissa Muntz Contributing Writer

Shrewsbury - The Board of Selectmen has voted to move forward with Avalon Shrewsbury, a 444-unit mixed income housing development that will be located on CenTech Boulevard.

The local initiative project agreement between the town and AvalonBay Communities Inc. of Quincy was entered into with the guarantee of a $3.9 million miti- gation package and the understanding that AvalonBay will work with the Worcester Business Development Center in developing the CenTech Boulevard site.

The selectmen voted unanimously at their Sept. 10 meeting

to approve the Chapter 40B aff ordable housing project, which will bring the town into compliance with state aff ordable housing levels.

Currently 6.5 percent of Shrewsbury housing is considered affordable, but the completion of the Avalon housing development will bring the town to the statemandated 10 percent.

The apartment complex would sit on a 36.4-acre site and would include a total of 444 rental units, with 178 onebedroom units, 244 two-bedroom units, 22 three-bedroom town homes spread over nine buildings. Twenty-five percent of the rental units would be designated aff ordable.

AvalonBay Inc. representatives said the town could expect to see an increase of approximately $584,000 to $660,000 in real estate and vehicle excise taxes annually.

Avalon Shrewsbury was one of three housing proposals the town received in response to its request for possible 40B projects.

Two other developers, Fairfield Residential of Framingham and Hingham-based SREV LLC both dropped out of the selection process prior to the official vote. Both projects would have created mixed-use developments in the town's Lakeway Overlay Business District.

Although the board only had one project before it, it could have chosen to do nothing rather than move forward with the AvalonBay project. However board members said both sides had invested too much in the project to simply walk away and that 40B construction would happen whether they went with the AvalonBay project or waited for another one.

"I don't see what opposing this would do in the long run but delay the inevitable," Chair Maurice DePalo said. "I don't think that's the way to go."

The selectmen will now begin working out possible phasing options for the project with AvalonBay. A timeline for project construction has not yet been set.