By Cynthia Whitty
Brandi Kinsman, member of the Select Board and the Housing Production Plan (HPP) Steering Committee, began working collaboratively with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and the town’s Planning Department in fall of 2020 to update the town’s original HPP, which was done in 2015. The purpose of the update, according to Kinsman, is to further increase Ashland’s housing diversity and affordability and provide equitable opportunities for everyone.

 

“Through the data collection of current housing and demographics in Ashland along with public input, we are outlining housing goals for our community for the next five years,” Kinsman explained. “As a second part of this project, we are looking to develop an Inclusionary housing bylaw, which would require all future development to have an affordable housing component.”
MAPC was hired by the town as the consultant for the project, using funding from state and MAPC grants, as well as $15,000 in support from the Affordable Housing Trust.
HPP Steering Committee members are Tricia Kendall (Planning Board), Ron Etskovitz (Board of Health), Aaron Ladd (Community Preservation Committee), Steve Greenberg (Affordable Housing Trust), and David Rosenblum (Affordable Housing Trust).
In this Ashland Local Town Pages conversation, Kinsman discusses who will benefit from the plan, the process for creating the plan, public input, and next steps.
Whitty: Who will benefit from the plan?
First, a state-certified HPP is considered a best practice for a community as they plan for their housing needs, and it can lead to additional grant funding opportunities. We especially want to look for ways to support the work of the Affordable Housing Trust and increase our affordable/workforce housing in Ashland. Second, as we make progress towards our 10 percent Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI) that the state mandates, a HPP can give us safe harbor status from a 40B development. 40B is state legislation that allows developers that have a project with 20-25 percent affordable housing component to bypass local zoning requirements. A 40B can result in a development with more units or in a different location than the town would want. When we did the initial HPP in 2015, our town was at 3.66 percent SHI and now we are at 6.31 percent. We still have a ways to go, but we are making steady progress and creating affordable housing remains a priority for the town.
Whitty: What is the process for creating the plan?
Over the winter of 2020, MAPC conducted a needs assessment and gathered demographics and current housing data. Over the last several months we have gathered public input from public forums and focus groups. All of this shapes our goals and strategies for the next 5 years, which were incorporated into the HPP. The Housing Production Plan will be presented to a joint session of the Select Board and the Planning Board on May 19. If adopted by both boards, the HPP will be sent to the state for review and certification. The steering committee and MAPC will shift their focus to creating an Inclusionary Housing bylaw this summer and fall.
Whitty: How will the public be involved?
As part of this process, it is important to increase community awareness of housing issues and encourage public participation. MAPC has conducted two public forums and two focus group sessions (one focused on housing need and one on housing development) to include public input on the HPP. There will be two additional opportunities for the public to provide input this summer/fall on the creation of the Inclusionary Housing bylaw. We hope to bring the bylaw to all residents at our 2021 fall Town Meeting.
Whitty: What will happen when the plan is created?
The goals and strategies included in the HPP will become a roadmap for our housing decisions for the next five years. MAPC is also creating a story map, a website that will have an executive summary of the HPP update, recommendations, and interactive map for the public. All information and documents on this project, including links to the public forums are on the town’s website at ashlandmass.com/848/housing.
Please keep an eye open for ways to provide public input on the Inclusionary Housing bylaw this summer/fall as this is an impactful way we can bring affordable housing to Ashland. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to reach out to me, [email protected], Town Planner Peter Matchak, and Assistant Town Planner Emma Snellings.