Residents Worry Their Voices Will Be Heard Too Late Regarding Affordable Housing Project

Some Chelmsford residents are unhappy with the town’s process of approving and planning for affordable housing developments, citing lack of resident input involved in the process.

At a joint meeting on Monday, members of the Board of Selectmen, the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Housing Advisory Board said approving an affordable housing, also known as 40B, project includes back and forth between the Zoning Board of Appeals, the applicant and the state – an order of operations residents said leaves their voices out.

“What part of the process is it where you’re reaching out to the neighborhoods where these different proposals are being put in?” asked Bill Griffin, a Bishop Street resident.  

Although town officials and residents were asked at this meeting to not voice specific concerns over the proposed affordable housing complex on Mill Road, Griffin said it isn’t fair that the process only allows residents to fight a project’s approval near the end of the process.

“The chance that the abutters and the neighbors get to be in the process now is six or 12 months after the initial contact with the applicant,” Griffin said. 

Griffin said the current process is adversarial and causes residents to unnecessarily spend time and money on counsel and lengthy meetings.

The Board of Selectmen last week listened to residents’ concerns and forwarded them to the state, but selectmen have “no official capacity” in planning this project, said Even Belansky, director of community development.

The Zoning Board of Appeals opens for public hearing toward the end of the process.

“If you believe in the premise that the town has good planning, although we may disagree in the final details of that planning, [and] if you trust your fellow town residents who serve on committees, then at least we can all agree that the starting point is credible and benefits the common good,” Belansky responded to Griffin’s concerns.

Vincent Road resident Bill Martin said it’s this “exact confidence” in the plan that has him opposed to the development.

“Is the Board of Selectmen not my recourse for advocacy when I and my family and friends and neighbors are opposed to a project?” Martin asked.  “Is there not an official capacity for the selectmen to tell the state, tell the [Housing Advisory Board] and encourage the Zoning Board of Appeals to help us make sure a specific industrial zoning plan is maintained and it’s not mixed up with housing and Subways and Dunkin' Donuts and everything else?”

Paul Haverty, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, said it would undercut the selectmen’s credibility if they were to oppose a project on a site that has already been approved in the affordable housing master plan.  

Board of Selectmen Chairman Matt Hanson said he encourages residents to speak out at Zoning Board of Appeals meetings themselves and will continue to forward residents’ concerns.