Beverly Waterfront Modernization Advances

According to the Beverly Citizen, a consultant has been hired to write new regulations for the Beverly waterfront project along the inner waterfront on Water Street and Bass River between Goat Hill and Elliot Street. This will rewrite land use laws to allow mix use of retail stores, residential and restaurants.

Planning Director Tina Cassidy said a 3-consultant team will begin the work shortly. Public hearing and public meeting and speaking with property owners will be part of the process. The proposal will be presented by the end of 2008 to the City Council.

Read the entire Beverly Citizen article.

NAR Midyear Legislative Meetings

The National Association of Realtors® Midyear Legislative Meetings is this week.

Realtors® can click here to see the Events Reports, Lending Report, Tax Report, Housing Report, and Legislative Talking Points.

CEO Susan Kline, President Marilyn Jarvis and President-Elect David Kres will be representing North Shore Association of Realtors® at the Midyear Legislative Meetings.

New Rules for Borrowers With Foreclosures

The National Association of Realtors® reported recently that Fannie Mae will adopt new rules that will require higher minimum down payments and credit scores for borrowers with a past foreclosure.

Click here to read the entire article.

NAR President's Letter to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac

Last month, the president of the National Association of Realtors® wrote letters to the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEO’s to address serious concern about a range of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac policies that Realtors® feel are hurting the economy and adversely affecting the housing and mortgage markets.

The main contentions of the letters included:

1. Extremely tight underwriting standards for jumbo conforming loans authorized by the Economic Stimulus Act.
2. Policies reducing maximum loan-to-value ratios (LTVs) by five percentage points for homes in declining markets.
3. A wide variety of higher fees and other underwriting standards that make mortgages much less affordable.

Click here to read the letter to Fannie Mae and here to read the letter to Freddie Mac.

Thanks to Dick Gaylord, NAR President, for his advocacy.

Lynnfield Restricting Adult Communities

Lynnfield may be the only town resticting an adult community to 60 years old or older. Due to its present agreement with the Lynnfield Intervention for the Elderly the two subsidized elder housing facilities have seniority lists for 60 years an older. In the past few years Lynnfield has been involved in the building of several adult communities. Heritage Woods is now complete and is selling upscale market rate condominiums to the 60 and over crowd. The upscale condos are selling slowly and the developers are anxious to present the question of lowering the adult community age requirement. Although the question was to be asked at last Monday's Town Meeting, the question was removed at the last minute due to the required 2 years since last voted when the developer was starting the project. Question will be moved to the Fall Town Meeting in October, it appears that LIFE administrators feel that the change would not affect adversely the town's elderly community.

Rail Trail Continuing to be Debated

The Tri-Town Transcript is reporting that the proposed rail trail, a 26-mile trail to run from Salisbury to Danvers, is continuing to be debated by committies and town selecteman.

PRCWA receives grant to study Georgetown’s well field

According to the Georgetown Record, the Parker River Clean Water Association received a grant through the Department of Fish and Game’s Riverways Program to study Georgetown’s well field.

Read the entire Georgetown Record article.

State Senators Review Ocean Management

According to the Georgetown Record, Senate minority leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) and Senator Steven Baddour (D-Methuen) have recently released the third installment of a cable information show on the "Ocean Management Act". This show delivers great perspectives on why managing our ocean resources are so important to every citizen of Massachusetts. The show was featured throughout Essex and Middlesex districts during the month of March.

Read the entire Georgetown Record article.

Topsfield Planning Board Member Departing

Attention is now starting to be noticed locally since the presidential primaries are behind us. According to the Tri-Town Transcript, candidates in Topsfield/Boxford/Middleton are starting to get noticed despite that selectmen, school committee's and planning boards are all running unopposed in Middleton,Boxford and Topsfield. Topsfield planning board is seeing one term end for a dedicated member due to by-laws restricting a fourth term.

Read the entire Tri-Town Transcript article.

5 North Shore Development Projects Aimed at Boosting Economy

The Salem News reports that there are 5 major development projects in the works in the North Shore aimed at boosting the local economy:

1. $106 million Salem court construction
2. Northshore Mall expansion in Peabody
3. $15 million Bridge Street bypass road in Salem
4. Health Care Expansions in Danvers & Peabody
5. Beverly waterfront transformation

Read the entire Salem News article.

Age Restricted Zoning in Hamilton

There was an interesting letter to the editor in the Salem News recently about age restricted zoning in Hamilton. According to the author, the Hamilton Planning Board is trying to change the zoning bylaws of Hamilton to allow age-restricted, dense development by offering a "Senior Housing Bylaw" at the next town meeting on May 5, 2008.

Click here to read the Salem News letter to the editor.

Two Plans Submitted for McKay School in Beverly

According to the Beverly Citizen, two developers have proposed converting the vacant McKay School in Beverly into residential units – beginning as apartments which may be later be sold as condominiums.

Redevelopment of the McKay School is one of several components of Mayor Bill Scanlon’s plan to pay for the $68 million Beverly High School construction and renovation project that is scheduled to break ground later this year. Any redevelopment plan would need a special permit from the City Council under a recently revised zoning ordinance that governs residential reuse of municipal buildings.

The Beverly Citizen article had a nice breakdown of the plans:

Windover Development LLC
Proposed residential units in former McKay School: 23
Units in newly constructed buildings: 6
New residents: 60 to 65 people
Proposed purchase price: $600,000
Project cost: $7.4 million
Tax revenue after six years: $101,700
Parking spaces: 58
Below market (affordable) units: four

Dakota Partners Inc.
Proposed residential units in former McKay School: 30
Units in newly constructed building: 6
New residents: 58 to 87 people
Proposed purchase price: $1 million
Project cost: $8.37 million
Tax revenue after six years: $136,768
Parking spaces: 72
Below market (affordable) units: four

Chapter 40B Recently Withstands Ballot Drive Challenge

Chapter 40B recently withstood a potentially significant challenge to its status as one of the Commonwealth’s most important housing law since its creation in 1968. According to the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office, a signature drive to repeal the law fell more than 35,000 signatures short of the 66,593 needed to place a question on the November 2008 statewide ballot. Consequently, the soonest any similar petition to repeal Chapter 40B could be on the ballot would be 2010.

Chapter 40B has been responsible for producing over 48,000 units of mixed-income housing, including housing for the elderly, single-family subdivisions that include affordable units for town residents, multifamily rental housing developments, and mixed-income condominium or townhouse developments. Its goal is to encourage the production of affordable housing in all cities and towns throughout the Commonwealth by reducing unnecessary barriers created by local approval processes, local zoning, and other restrictions. The standard is for communities to provide a minimum of 10% of their housing inventory as affordable. A total of 51 cities and towns have now met that standard.

The Citizens’ Housing And Planning Association have an excellent website with Chapter 40B information. Click here to view the website.

Beverly Affordable Housing Coalition to work on filling 65-unit Affordable-Housing Development

The Beverly Citizen reported that the Beverly Affordable Housing Coalition and the North Shore United Way have organized an umbrella group of 11 social-service agencies in hopes to remake parts of the Gloucester Crossing neighborhood through Holcroft Park Homes, and also to help build the families that will live in the 65-unit affordable-housing development.

The group, under the banner of the “Gloucester Crossing Resource Group”, have been joined by the likes of Beverly Bootstraps, Health Quarters the North Shore Career Center, and the Police Department, and will cover everything from education, job training, day care, fuel assistance, literacy education, tax preparation, health services and law enforcement. The vision of Gloucester Crossing Resource Group is to provide a model for communities on the North Shore as communities grapple with solutions to poverty and a persistent affordable housing crisis.

Read the entire Beverly Citizen article.

Andover Considers Leasing Town Hall

According to the Andover Townsman, the Andover Old Town Hall is in need of roof and other repairs and crews have been conducting repairs, taking up parking spaces in the downtown shopping district. The recent repairs come at a time when Andover officials have said they'll consider leasing Old Town Hall to generate new revenue in light of the town's budget problems.

"I don't think we utilize the building well," said Selectman Mary Lyman. "I think we should examine it as an option. We're certainly not using it to full capacity." The proposal to lease Old Town Hall, also known as the Town House, was one of several cost-saving measures included in Town Manager Buzz Stapczynski's Feb. 4 budget presentation to selectmen, school and finance officials.

Read the entire Andover Townsman article.

West Street Junkyard Being Cleaned in Georgetown

The Georgetown Record reported that the Georgetown Conservation Commission has permitted site developer Richard Morello to clean out Tidd’s junkyard on Water Street, deciding that the dioxin levels in the dirt were finally low enough to be acceptable for disposal at in-state landfill sites. Years ago a huge tire fire erupted at Tidd’s junkyard, and contaminants from that fire are still in one of the site’s several hotspots.

Morello is the 3rd developer since the late 1990s to take on the controversial site, which is close to Georgetown’s water supply. He plans to construct 16 condos for active seniors in Zone 2, which includes Georgetown’s wells. Slowly over the years, through contentious hearings, developers have moved closer to something acceptable to abutters and to the town. Currently, the project is still in the complicated cleanup phase. According to Georgetown Conservation Agent Steve Przyjemski, the state Department of Environmental Protection is not going to allow the issuance of an Order of Conditions to the developer until it gets all the samples it is requesting from the site. The DEP is requiring the developer to continue testing dirt in a circle radiating outwards from the original tire fire site until the dirt samples come up clean of contaminants.

Read the entire Georgetown Record article.

FHA Increased Loan Limits

In response to mortgage guideline tightening, the federal government officially raised the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) loan limits for 1-4 family homes.

The updated FHA guidelines will increase loan limits in Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk County by 125% of the area’s median selling price – from $362,790 to $523,750.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loan limits have also increased. Single-family mortgages priced up to $523,750 will be available at lower interest rates than in the recent past when jumbo loans above $417,000 carried a higher interest rate. Loan limits for 2 and 3 family homes have also been increased in the five county Metro Boston region to $670,500 and $810,450 respectively. The new loan limits apply to FHA and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loans.

According to 2007 NAR President Pat V. Combs, these reforms, included in the Economic Stimulus package, “will offer home buyers a safer alternative to riskier mortgage products and will help many homeowners who may be facing foreclosures."

Importantly, the new higher Fannie and Freddie conforming loan limits are temporary and only apply to loans made between July 1, 2007 and December 31, 2008. This week, both the Massachusetts Association of Realtors® and National Association of Realtors® put a Call to Action to REALTORS® to contact your local federal legislators to make the increased loan limits permanent.

The NSAR Government Affairs Committee is asking all of its members to please look out for that email and Take Action if you have not done so yet.

New Salem Condo Complex Near Completion in The Point

The Salem News reported that construction is being completed on Palmer Cove Condominiums, new, three-story building with 15 condos with prices ranging from $142,500 to $191,000, at the end of Congress Street.

According to the Salem News article, built by Salem Harbor Community Development Corp., a nonprofit agency that manages about 150 apartments, this development is significant because it is the first condominium complex in this neighborhood in decades (or maybe ever). The area, known as The Point, a low-income neighborhood across the South River basin, had so far being bypassed by the condo and restaurant boom that rejuvenated the Salem downtown.

The project tackles head-on one of the neighborhood's biggest issues – lack of homeownership. While Salem is split evenly between renters and home owners, The Point is almost all renters – 82%, according to the 2000 census. This Palmer Cove Condominiums project follows several smaller condo conversions in The Point, officials say, and continues an encouraging trend.

Read the entire Salem News article.

Beverly Mayor Seeks to Scale Back Open Space and Residential Design Ordinance

According to the Beverly Citizen, Beverly Mayor Bill Scanlon is seeking to change Beverly’s relatively new Open Space and Residential Design Ordinance (OSRD) in order to control, but not stop, residential development. The latest set of proposed changes would reduce the buffer around each parcel from 100 feet to 25 feet and not require it around rock outcrops and conservation areas on the site but still require it around wetlands and vernal pools.

The changes would also increase the threshold for land required to be developed using the rules in zoning districts where the minimum lot size is one or two acres.

The Beverly Citizen article includes a more detailed bulleted list of the proposed changes.

The March 23, 2008 OSRD ordinance public hearing will continue on April 7, 2008 at 7:15 in City Council chambers.

Read the entire Beverly Citizen article.

Crane River Dredging in Danvers

The Danvers Herald reported that Danvers is in the processing of dredging the Crane River in Danvers. The town’s four rivers — the Danvers, from which the Porter, Crane and Waters diverge into town — are tidal, fed by Beverly Harbor and the Atlantic ocean. Over time, the channels begin to silt in, making navigation problematic, particularly in the Porter and Crane rivers.

According to the Danvers Herald article, the last time these rivers were dredged was in 1983. Since then, environmental laws have changed significantly. The project stalled until last summer, when the town won permission from the federal Army Corps of Engineers to put the spoils in the state’s ocean disposal site. This brought the price tag down from an anticipated $4 million for trucking the material to a certified land site to $1.6 million for ocean disposal. The state, through the Seaport Bond Council, is paying about half the cost.

Read the entire Danvers Herald article.

Newburyport Custom House to be Renovated

The Newburyport Current reported that volunteers at the Maritime Society in Newburyport will be completing renovations to the historic Custom House. Most of the repairs are for masonry work and the building’s windows.

The Maritime Society received a grant through the Community Preservation Act (CPA) and private donations, along with insurance money, to fund the project. The cost is expected to run close to $80,000. The Custom House was built on Newburyport’s waterfront in 1835 to facilitate the growing overseas trade and tax collection of imported goods. The building was designed by Robert Mills, renowned architect of the Washington Monument and the U.S. Treasury Building.

Read the entire Newburyport Current article.

Haverhill Downtown Garage to Begin Construction this Summer

The Eagle Tribune reported that the long-awaiting, long-debated Haverhill municipal parking garage will begin construction this summer. The parking garage, being built by the Merrimack Valley Regional Planning Authority, will be at Railroad Square off Moulton Way, adjacent to the Haverhill MBTA station.

Work will begin with the necessary environmental cleanup and will start to actually begin being constructed in spring/summer 2009. It could be open before Christmas 2010, which would be a big boost for the city’s ongoing downtown renaissance.

Read the entire Eagle Tribune article.

First Residential Subdivision Application Under Beverly’s Open Space and Residential Design ordinance

The Beverly Citizen reported that the first residential subdivion application has been filed under Beverly’s new Open Space and Residential Design (OSRD) ordinance. The application proposes 4 new building lots off Beaver Pond, a private road that runs along the edge of Beaver Pond and connects Dodge Street in North Beverly and Old Essex Road in Centerville, behind Harry Ball Field.

Read the entire Beverly Citizen article.

Andover Town Manager Requests $7.4 million to recap Landfill

According to the Andover Townsman, the Andover Town Manager recommended that residents approve $7.4 million to re-cap 25.8 acres of the former Ledge Road landfill. The money also will be used to acquire land around the site that might also need to be closed off. According to the article, the $7.4 million in general fund borrowing is by far the largest request in the town's capital improvement plan for fiscal year 2009. At $1.5 million, a request for school building roof replacement is the only other project over $1 million.

Read the entire Andover Townsman article.

States Contributes $400k to Haverhill to Buy Unused Railroad Land in Bradford

The Eagle Tribune reported that the State is pitching in with $400,000 to help Haverhill purchase an abandoned railroad bed on the Bradford side of the Merrimack River. The 1.1-mile railroad stretch runs from the Comeau Bridge at the western end of downtown to the Haverhill Paperboard company just east of the Basiliere Bridge. The city hopes to replace the dilapidated railroad bed with a recreational trail and eventually connect it to boardwalks and pathways on the downtown side of the river. The 2.5-mile loop would be connected on both ends of the downtown at the Basiliere and Comeau bridges, forming a continuous loop.

According to the Eagle Tribune article, Haverhill is negotiating to buy the unused railroad land and is counting on the rail trail and several other projects, including a boardwalk along Washington Street, to revitalize downtown and take advantage of the river as a tourist attraction. The idea is that the proposed pathway will increase foot traffic in the business district, giving a boost to shops and restaurants and creating a lively atmosphere.

Read the entire Eagle Tribune article.

28-mile Bike Trail to Run From Boxford Through Newburyport

According to the Georgetown Record, MassHighway is moving forward on a proposed 28-mile bike trail set to run through Georgetown, agreeing to perform and fund 25% design work on the Border to Boston Trail. The trail will run on top of the historic and abandoned Maine to Boston railway, running from Salisbury to the Danvers/Peabody border. The proposed trail is set to run through Boxford, Danvers, Georgetown, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury, Topsfield and Wenham.

The trail has been earmarked for $800,000 of federal safety funding to do the design work, secured by U.S. Rep. John Tierney in 2005. The final cost to complete the 25% design work is expended to exceed nearly $1 million, but MassHighway hopes to be able to provide the balance of funds needed for the project. MassHighway has begun the process of hiring a qualified consultant for the design, which is expected to be complete by the summer of 2009.

Read the entire Georgetown Record article.

Construction Begins on Future Salem Registry of Deeds

The Salem Gazette reported that construction has begun on the new (Salem) South Essex Registry of Deeds. After more than a century at 36 Federal Street, the Registry of Deeds will be moving for approximately five years to the Shetland Park complex at 27 Congress Street, home of the old Sears building.

The Registry is moving to make way for the city’s new courthouse complex, the J. Michael Ruane Judicial Center, in the Federal Street area. Tentative plans for a future home are to swap places with the current Salem District Court building, which will be vacated when the courthouse project is finished, in 2011 according to the Salem Gazette article.

The Shetland Park Registry promise to offer ample parking, including an adjacent parking garage with more than 100 free spaces, a shuttle bus which will operate every 30 minutes on weekdays from downtown, and climate control, which should help preserve some of the oldest deeds in the country – dating as far back as 1639.

Read the entire Salem Gazette article.

Beverly Public Hearing for Open Space Protection

According to the Beverly Citizen, the Beverly Planning Board and City Council is holding a joint public hearing tonight, March 3, 2008, at7:15pm to consider changes to the Open Space and Residential Design ordinance.

Among the proposed changes are a recommendation for the 100-foot buffer around each property to be eliminated or reduced to 25 feet, and also to change the threshold for land required to be developed using the ordinance.

Read the entire Beverly Citizen article.

Rail Trial Bike Path Discussions

The Tri-Town Transcript reports that Topsfield residents are discussing the construction of a bike path to run through Topsfield and possibly connect Salisbury to Danvers. Topsfield’s local access cable channel wants to feature a debate with representatives from the town’s rail trail committee and a grassroots neighborhood organization, formed in July, which has been critical of the plan. The town’s rail trail committee was formed to oversee the transformation of a 4-mile section of an historic railroad into a rail trail for bikers, walkers, or horseback riders.

Read the entire Tri-Town Transcript article

Plans for Downtown Marketplace in Salem Move Forward

According to the Salem Gazette, a newly revised plan by Somerville developer Resource Capital Group (RCG) aspires to draw locals back into downtown Salem and bring back the lively marketplace atmosphere that used to thrive in Salem. The 4-story, mixed-use building they propose is the result of months of meetings with the mayor and the Marketplace Redevelopment Committee, a group of interested citizens and community stakeholders who provided input for the block that includes Front, New Derby, Washington and Lafayette streets.

RCG owns much of downtown Salem and manages numerous properties including the City Hall Annex on Washington Street, the West Coast Video building on Lafayette Street and the downtown Derby Lofts. The new marketplace building is slated to go the long-vacated and recently-demolished Salem Evening News building on Washington Street.

Read the entire Salem Gazette article