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Williamstown Selectmen Mull Donation of Photech Land to Housing Developer
By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
10:39AM / Sunday, December 18, 2016
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The Selectmen are weighing a request to give the former Photech land over the selected affordable housing developers.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen last week heard a request to essentially waive the anticipated purchase price of the property at 330 Cole Ave., in order to facilitate the creation of affordable housing there.

In 2014, the board selected a partnership of Pittsfield's Berkshire Housing and Boston's Women's Institute for Housing and Economic Development to build 46 units on the 5-acre site.

Part of the Berkshire Housing proposal was a purchase price of $139,800, the assessed value of the land and the buildings.

On Monday, Town Manager Jason Hoch and BHDC President Elton Ogden told the board that by waiving the purchase price and requiring only that developers pay filing fees and attorney fees up to $10,000 for the transfer, the town would help mitigate the rising cost of construction and help Berkshire Housing present a stronger case to Massachusetts officials who dole out the tax credits that will form the bulk of financing for subsidized housing.

"It's a competitive process," Ogden said. "There are so many worthy projects. The state's allocation of tax credits is far less than the amount of funding requested. They score projects on many different things: need, positive impacts beyond just the housing which is certainly true of brownfield development [like 330 Cole Ave.], and they look at the town's participation in the project, which clearly would be demonstrated [if the town donated the land]. I think they consider donation of a site by anyone to be a plus."

That's part of the reason the recently opened Highland Woods senior housing project was fast-tracked for funding by the commonwealth's Department of Housing and Community Development. The Southworth Street project had the dual advantage of land donated by Williams College and a $6 million contribution from the town from the proceeds of a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant.

In order to deviate from the original proposal accepted by the town in 2014, Hoch asked town counsel to rule on whether such a change is possible. The request for proposals issued by the BOS in 2014 specified the town was offering the land at "nominal" cost and left it up to proposers whether they wanted to include a purchase price as part of their proposal.

A purchase price at the assessed value was characterized as "advantageous" in the evaluation criteria. A purchase price of "nominal" value was characterized as "not advantageous."

The town ended up with two proposals to develop the property, ultimately choosing Berkshire Housing and the Women's Institute over Boston's Arch Street Development.

Berkshire Housing's response to the RFP budgeted for the $139,800 property acquisition cost as well as $150,000 in contributions from the town's Community Preservation Act funds on the revenue side of the project's ledger.

Arch Street, which proposed to build housing at 330 Cole Ave. and the town-owned 59 Water St. site (the former Town Garage property) budgeted no land purchase price and envisioned $1 million in CPA funding -- $500,000 each for the Cole Avenue and Water Street projects.

Hoch said that when he and Ogden initially discussed changing the terms of the 2014 proposal, Hoch wanted to make sure that such a change would not run afoul of Massachusetts' procurement law.

"[Monday's proposal] was put together in such a way to recognize that the circumstances have changed between the [2014] proposal and now," Hoch told the board. "Town counsel is comfortable that this is an appropriate step for us."

The changing circumstances: new cost estimates from the developer that put the project cost at $14.7 million, above the $14.5 million it estimated in 2014, and a recognition of the value of town fiscal support for such projects.

"Though the dollar amount of the requested donation [$139,800] is small relative to the project cost, we're trying to go after small and large sources of funding to make it happen," Ogden said. "If you have a gap, it doesn't matter if it's small or big. It still has to be overcome.

"The added competitiveness for the application [with a town contribution] is of higher value, honestly."

Hoch's and Ogden's logic appeared to immediately sway two and possibly three members of the five-person board, but two members asked for more time to consider the change.

"The two [project cost] estimates are provided by you," Selectman Hugh Daley told Ogden. "It feels like if you needed to increase the cost to get donated land, you could just do that. I don't know what contributions the developer is making in terms of reducing its fees for development in order to reduce the cost of the project.

"We accepted your proposal over someone else's proposal based on a purchase price that made sense to us. … I at least want to think about this, but I'm inclined to say no."

Selectman Jeffrey Thomas echoed Daley's sentiments about wanting to know more about the genesis of the increased estimated project cost, and he asked Ogden to come back to the board with documentation of the DHCD funding criteria that specifies the state agency's preference for projects with a municipal contribution.

Selectwoman Jane Patton indicated that she was inclined to support the land donation but would appreciate more information and a reconsideration at the board's Jan. 9 meeting.

"It's easy for someone like me to … say, 'Sure, let's do this,' " Patton said. "But I think from a business perspective, Hugh raises some good questions.

"It's doing a little due diligence when someone says, 'Please help us out because costs went up a little bit,' to say, 'Give us more specifics to say why it went up."

Selectwoman Anne O'Connor and Chairman Andrew Hogeland each indicated a willingness to sign off on the land donation without more information. Hogeland noted that it was unlikely the Cole Avenue project would be developed and returned to the property tax roles without a successful application by Berkshire Housing to the DHCD.

"If this particular project fell through, there is no Plan B," Hogeland said. "It will continue to be an eyesore and an unused property for some time. I don't have a problem with donating some or all of the purchase price to make it happen.

"If you want to wait until Jan. 9 to get more information, that's fine, but I don't need that information personally."

Ogden said Berkshire Housing and the Women's Institute need the town's decision in order to include mention of any town contribution in its application to DHCD, which is due mid-February for the next funding cycle.

"I don't like the language that if we don't do it, it could fall apart," Thomas said. "I don't think anyone has suggested that, but when you go to that language, it feels like we're being given an ultimatum a little bit. If that's true, I'd need to be convinced of the essentialness of this support."

In other business on Monday, the Board of Selectmen heard a report from the town's Spruces Land Use Committee that it plans to ask for $45,123.20 in CPA funds for Phase 1 of its development of the former mobile home park site, and Hoch read into the record a statement from Williamstown Police Chief Kyle Johnson, who was reacting to the current climate in the wake of November's election.

"We want the community we serve to know that the Williamstown Police Department will continue to be committed to building and maintaining positive relationships within the community," Johnson wrote. "We will always serve everyone in our community and we have zero tolerance for bullying or harassment. To further this commitment, it should be known that the Williamstown Police Department does not investigate civil immigration laws, as this role falls to the federal government. All of those within our boundaries should be completely confident that we are here to assist them in any crisis situation.

"Municipal police exist to ensure public safety and security, and the Town of Williamstown has worked hard to ensure that there are strong, positive relationships among all groups in this community. We will continue in this manner moving forward."

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