The largest affordable housing project to be proposed in the city in years cleared a key hurdle Thursday night when the City Council approved a Community Preservation Act grant.
Some 25 people, including two former mayors, urged councilors to get behind a project that they believe will fill a critical need of providing homes for low-income families.
“We have a unique opportunity that we have not seen for a long, long time,” City Council President William H. Dwight said.
The Valley Community Development Corp. intends to develop a four-story, 69,700-square-foot building at the old Northampton Lumber site at the corner of Pleasant and Holyoke streets. The building would include 55 units of affordable housing in varying sizes and 5,300 square feet of retail space on the first floor.
While the $300,000 CPA grant will fund only a tiny portion of the $20 million development, the money is critical because it will be used to leverage low-income tax credits from the state. Being able to show community support for a project is a key part of securing those credits, CDC officials have said. The project has already won site plan approval from the Planning Board and a permit from the Central Business Architectural Committee.
The CPA grant allocation passed by a 7-1 vote, with Maureen T. Carney of Ward 1casting the dissenting vote and Ward 5 City Councilor David A. Murphy abstaining.
Similar to others who have spoken out against the plan, Carney said she supports affordable housing but hesitated to support a project that still faces significant opposition, specifically on the question of whether it is in harmony with the size and scale of other buildings in the area. She said she was disappointed that abutters were not brought into the discussion by the CDC earlier in the process, and she believes the project needs more scrutiny. Additionally, Carney said, the Planning Board’s decision has been appealed and she wants to wait until that is resolved before voting on the CPA money.
CDC Executive Director Joanne Campbell, who hugged many supporters after the vote, said earlier in the evening while waiting for the start of a rally for the project that she appreciated the community support. The American Friends Service Committee-led rally on the steps of City Hall drew few people because of cold weather, but many of those supporters showed up to speak at the council’s public comment session.
Jeff Napolitano, director of the American Friends, said Northampton is perceived as a progressive city when it comes to issues beyond its borders, but he urged the council to change that perception closer to home by approving the CDC project.
“The benefits of the project clearly outweigh the criticisms,” Napolitano said.
All of the councilors and the few who voiced opposition to the project during the public comment session agreed that affordable housing is a good thing for the city. Marianne L. LaBarge of Ward 6, in a five-minute speech, said she spent most of the last five weeks studying the issue and had come to the conclusion that the project should move ahead.
“We desperately need more places for ordinary people to live in our town,” LaBarge said.
In her comments, LaBarge said she respects the opinions of those who spoke against the project and did not believe they were against affordable housing, but she did not share many of their concerns about the building’s size, whether it blended into the rest of the neighborhood and its design. She noted that the building would be no bigger than other downtown buildings and would be smaller in size than another affordable housing project proposed by HAP Housing across the street.
LaBarge also noted that the project would actually increase the open space at the site, though she would like to see a larger playground area for children.
Many residents spoke of the need for affordable housing, noting that the need has only increased in the last few decades.
Sharon Moulton, of 48 Evergreen Road, said the lack of affordable housing in the city has been a concern she’s had since she helped found a local Habitat for Humanity chapter in the late 1980s. “The need is only more today than it was then,” she said.
Others noted that the city is woefully short when it comes to CPA funding for affordable housing projects, with Jennifer Dieringer, of North Street, noting that about 16 percent of total CPA dollars has gone to such purposes. That compares to 28 percent for historical and open space preservation and 26 percent for recreation.
“I believe tonight is one of the moments that will define your time on the council,” she said.
Former mayors Clare Higgins and Mary Ford also spoke in support of the project.
City Council Vice President Jesse M. Adams and other councilors who supported the measure said they agreed with most of what the public said. He noted that the city’s housing stock includes 12 percent affordable units, which is slightly higher than the minimum required by the state. But he said that’s not enough, especially given that many housing developments that are affordable now will not stay that way in perpetuity, like the Valley CDC’s project will.
“More affordable housing should be a continued goal,” Adams said.
Adams was responding to comments made by James “JP” Kwiecinski, who expressed several concerns with the project. Kwiecinski, an Easthampton city councilor who owns property on Pleasant Street near the project, noted that Northampton is doing a good job when it comes to development of affordable housing, and that it did not need to rush this project through. He said it did not fit into the neighborhood and lacked enough parking.
“I believe in good affordable housing projects but I don’t believe this is a good plan,” he said.