 What is the Latest Regarding Our Affordable Housing Incentive Study? I am very excited about a study that the City initiated by hiring the Massachusetts Area Planning Council (MAPC) to look at incentives to increase affordable housing units. Specifically, the Study, and I quote here, is to “access voluntary incentives that would encourage either/or: Market rate developers to increase the affordable beyond what is required by the City’s Inclusionary zoning policy Greater production of affordable housing developments (100% affordable LIHCT projects)” At the December 16 meeting of the Watertown Affordable Housing Trust, MAPC presented an update on the Study. The presentation is attached to the minutes of that meeting which can be found here. It provided a summary of what has been accomplished, including data collection and analysis, reviews of past and present City plans, and interviews with market rate and affordable housing developers, and members of our Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, as well as comparisons between Watertown and five other cities with similar characteristics.. The presentation also included MAPC’s initial findings based on analysis of our zoning. It ended with a list of the next steps, including creating a list of the incentives that they would like to test using a modeling tool. I am happy to share information Councilors recently received from the City Manager regarding what incentives that MAPC is considered testing Here is that list -Waived ground floor commercial Waiving permitting fees Free/Discounted city-owned land (for 100% affordable projects only) Parking reduction Height Bonus – 1 Story Height Bonus – 2 Story Height Bonus (1 story) + parking reduction Height Bonus (1 story) + waived permitting fees Waived ground floor commercial + waived permitting fees Rental affordability buydownThis is not an exhaustive list as other incentives will be explored. The final report is due in three to four months. I look forward to seeing what incentives are attractive to market rate housing developers and will spur them on to include more affordable units in their projects |