pages: PlanningBoard/2008-06-23.pdf, 14
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PlanningBoard | 2008-06-23 | 14 | units, and that the development seemed intended to provide affordable housing for school employees. She believed it would be very difficult for the school to mix the housing upon different sites. She believed that putting the units on one site was a very rational approach to trying to deliver these units. She would like Warmington to be able to have some flexibility in trying to accomplish this. Mr. Thomas noted that the agreement and the amendments state that Warmington Homes would be able to try to make this project work. If they failed, it would be because they could not get the land from the School District, or the District would decide they did not want to develop housing on that site. He noted that this agreement would allow Warmington to get started with the phasing. He noted that they needed the ground lease from the school district. Vice President Kohlstrand believed that Warmington was taking all the risk in this project. Mr. Thomas noted that (F) on page 9 stated, "Developer shall secure all necessary discretionary City and other governmental agency permits and approvals to allow development of the off-site affordable development to proceed upon issuance of a building permit by the City. Mr. Day noted that this was brought forth to create goodwill with the City, and added that they were willing to take the time to entitle this project. Board member Cunningham noted that he originally had reservations about this item, but after reading the staff report, he saw a lot of merit to the idea of putting the housing in this location, which would help rejuvenate downtown and the schools. He wished to discuss the modifications to the Grand Marina Plan, and the idea of putting three-story buildings in, instead of two-story buildings. Mr. Thomas noted that Warmington's proposal was to replace five of the affordable units with five market-rate units at Grand Marina. Under the original approvals, the market-rate units were all three-story buildings, and the affordable units were all two-story buildings. He believed the change was for financial reasons. Mr. Day noted that there were many costs involved with doing the all-affordable off-site projects, such as the shortfall between the tax credits for the non-profit organization and the actual cost, which Warmington Homes funded. He noted that the density was still the same. Board member Cunningham believed the units were too dense in their previous iteration, and supported taking the inclusionary housing to another site. He did have problems with the exchange of making this a denser development. President Cook believed the tradeoff with the park parcels was a good one, but was concerned about losing the sidewalk. Mr. Thomas noted that a sidewalk in an alley seemed odd, so it was not an issue for staff. The public hearing was closed for Board discussion. Page 14 of 23 | PlanningBoard/2008-06-23.pdf |