WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The cube is a keeper.

 

That is the assessment of the architects on the team looking to build an affordable housing project at the town-owned property at 330 Cole Ave.

 

In spring 2014, the Board of Selectmen voted to choose a group led by Pittsfield's Berkshire Housing Development Corp. to build up to 46 units of subsidized housing on the site.

 

At the time, developers' early projections called for the removal of what is left of the former mill, referred to as "the cube."

 

But last week, in a presentation in the Selectmen's Meeting Room, BHDC President Elton Ogden and architects from Springfield's Dietz & Co. explained that the current plan calls for reusing the structure.

 

"Since [April 2014], we went back and looked at the building and decided it was very, very structurally well built," Kerry Dietz said in a meeting telecast on the town's community access television station, WilliNet.

 

"So we decided, let's keep this. It's part of the history of the town and part of the fabric of the neighborhood and it allows us to create a mix of housing."

 

Developers showed early conceptual drawings of what a future development could look like — combining two-story town homes on the west side of the property with loft-style apartments in the former mill building.

 

"It's conceived to target a mix of families, individuals and seniors," Ogden said. "The goal is to build one-, two- and three-bedroom units. That mix is still somewhat on the drawing board. Our goal is to have a healthy mix of twos and threes."

 

Ogden said the final plans are still in development, but the partners hope to complete the local zoning and permitting process this spring so they can apply for federal low-income housing tax credit dollars as soon as possible.

 

Meanwhile, on another track, the project is applying for an EPA grant to fund abatement of hazardous materials in the cube. Developers have found asbestos and lead-based paint that need to be removed before any renovation can take place.

 

Tim Clinton from West Springfield's Fuss & O'Neill Engineering told the meeting that his firm is going for about $200,000 in federal funds. That plus a $20,000 match from the developer should be enough to clean up the building.

 

Clark Semon, who lives near the site, asked what dangers the cleanup would present to the neighborhood.

 

"There shouldn't be any [materials] getting into the atmosphere," Clinton sad. "They seal off the building first with heavy duty plastic sheeting. They attack each containment cell and have a negative air-pressure with a HEPA filter operating. At the conclusion of each cleanup, a third party goes in and does an air sample before they move on to the next cell."

 

Semon also had some pointed questions for the developers of the project, including why they were not considering a combination of market rate and subsidized housing, like is being developed across town at the Cable Mills project on Water Street.

 

"If you're trying to create affordable rental housing, you have very limited financing options and funding options," Ogden said. "The only game in town is the federal low-income housing tax credits and state incom tax credits.

 

"From a funding standpoint, it would be difficult for us to do anything less than 100 percent affordable housing."

 

The Cable Mills project, which is utilizing town Community Preservation Act funds along with tax credit financing, will have 13 subsidized units out of a total of 61 units.

 

The affordable units at Cable Mills are for households making up to 80 percent of the area median income. The units at 330 Cole Ave. are intended for households making up to 60 percent of AMI, with at least 10 percent of the units (about five) for households earning at or below 30 percent of AMI.

 

"It would be nice to have the same financial model as Cable Mills," Semon said. "Do we really have to segregate Williamstown so blatantly?

 

"[330 Cole Ave.] is in the corner of Williamstown where the poor people live."

 

Attorney Donald Dubendorf, who represents the developers, suggested that Semon's question is better directed to the town's policy makers than the developer, and Semon agreed.

 

A 2012 document prepared by the town's Affordable Housing Committee listed 139 units of subsidized housing. Proprietors Fields (60 units), Church Corner (eight units) and the Stetson Road apartments (eight units) are all near the 330 Cole Ave. site.

 

The second- and third-largest affordable housing sites in town are at Meadowvale on Adams Road (30 units) and Spring Meadow on North Hoosac Road (22 units). The 2012 inventory did not include the 40 units at Highland Woods, adjacent to Proprietors Field, which will come online this winter.

 

Once Highland Woods and Cable Mills are open, and assuming 46 units are built at 330 Cole Ave., the neighborhood (as defined by Highland Woods to the west and Photech site to the east) would have 162 of the town's 238 affordable units, or about 68 percent.

 

The town's Affordable Housing Committee last year recommended to the Board of Selectmen a proposal that would have put 60 units at 330 Cole Ave. and another 25 at the former Town Garage site on Water Street. The board, in a 3-2 vote, voted to overrule the committee and look only at developing the Cole Avenue site. Berkshire Housing showed no interest in the Water Street site; the firm that proposed building on both sites told the housing committee that it was not feasible to develop the Water Street site unless it was packaged with 330 Cole Ave.