Builder proposes affordable housing project

Westborough - A local contractor has asked the Board of Selectman to support his proposal for a housing development that will include 14 homes, four of which would be set aside as affordable housing.

    Farooq Ansari of Ansari Builders of Westborough, first presented a proposal for the Zaara Place development to the board at its June 9 meeting. The board requested input from various town boards and departments, and plans to discuss the project again at its meeting Tuesday July 7.

    Ansari approached the board early in the planning stages in order to pursue a local initiative program (LIP) application. That type application is used for expediting permitting for affordable housing developments by working with the town to iron out any concerns or issues, explained Town Counsel Gregory Franks. Instead of getting several permits, the process allows a developer to move ahead on a development with a single permit, he said.

    Zaara Place would be located on four acres at 169 East Main St., with access to Route 30 and Granger Road. The two-story three- or four-bedroom colonial houses would all have 1,900 square feet, with some having one-car garages and some having two-car garages.

    “Whatever we’re doing for the market price, we’re doing for the affordable [houses],” Ansari told the board.

    After the meeting, Ansari said that he had built affordable projects before, but this was the first time he was using the LIP approach.

    “I think I would rather have the town on my side before we even go to the state,” he said. “It makes it a little more straightforward.”

    If he gets the town’s support, and then the state’s approval, Ansari said, he will still have to get approval from the town Zoning Board of Appeals. Because of the extensive approval process, he said, he probably won’t break ground until 2010.

    The property is located near Windsor Ridge at Westborough, an apartment complex, and other residential developments, he said.

    “It’s a very nice area, very conducive to the kind of development we have there,” Ansari said. “It’s a perfect spot.”

    Currently, Westborough’s affordable housing stock makes up more than 9 percent of total housing, Franks said, although several projects that have been approved but not begun would push the town above 10 percent. Once a Massachusetts community has at least 10 percent affordable housing, it can be more selective in approving projects, he explained. If approved, Zaara Place would also put Westborough over the minimum, he said.

    To be eligible for the LIP program, a development must have at least 25 percent of the project set aside for moderate- or low-income housing, Franks said. In order to proceed with the LIP, Ansari requires a letter of support from the Westborough Housing Partnership Committee and another from the Board of Selectmen in order to apply to the state Department of Housing and Community Development.

    At the June 9 meeting, committee member Kris Allen explained that the board’s support was necessary for the application to proceed.

    “[LIP] essentially gets all the input from the town up front,” she said. “It can’t go anywhere with the state until the town approves.”

    The housing partnership has worked with other developers using LIP, she said. Initially the partnership lets developers know what the town is looking for, and then helps them refine proposals before coming to the town board.

    “We want it to be a win-win situation,” she said. “The town gets affordable housing, and the developer builds his project.”

    In other affordable housing projects, Allen said, the town had waived water and sewer connection costs for the affordable units.

    Selectman Timothy Dodd, who also sits on the Housing Partnership Committee, praised Ansari for meeting with the committee several times.

    At the June 23 selectmen’s meeting, Chair Leigh Emery noted that representatives from a variety of departments, including police, fire, public works, planning, health, historic commission and conservation should attend the July 7 meeting.

    “It’s something that the board needs to take very seriously because if the board does lend a letter of support, it will carry a quite a bit of weight with the Department of Housing and Community Development,” she said.