It won’t happen overnight, but a vacant property in an isolated section of Church Green could eventually feature an apartment building catering to income-eligible senior citizens.
“It’s a good site,” said Carl Nagy-Koechlin, executive director of Housing Solutions for Southeastern Massachusetts — a Kingston-based non-profit agency that develops and manages low- to moderate-income housing projects.
The now-unused L-shaped, single-story building at 68 Church Green, which sits directly behind Old Colony History Museum, in prior decades contained a row of medical offices.
According to Nagy-Koechlin, Housing Solutions Church Green LLC has a purchase-and-sale agreement with property owners Taunton Church Green Realty Trust, the members of which include Russell Martorana, Don Backlund and Richard Harris.
Nagy-Koechlin said his group plans to replace the old and dilapidated structure on the 1.5-acre site with a three-story building including 40 one-bedroom apartments for people at least 63 years of age.
Of the 40 units, he said 24 apartments would be reserved for moderate-income tenants with an income of no more than 60 percent below the area median income (AMI), or a maximum of $37,000.
Low-income elders in Taunton, he said, have an annual income less than 30 percent of AMI, which he says translates to $19,000 or less.
Nagy-Koechlin said judging from similar projects undertaken by Housing Solutions, he expects the majority of residents will be retired, single women or widows.
When asked to explain the higher percentage of women versus men, Nagy-Koechlin said the simple fact is women, on a whole, enjoy longer longevity.
“They outlive men,” he said.
He said the Church Green project is being undertaken in cooperation with Quincy-based non-profit Neighborworks Southern Mass., which, not unlike Taunton’s Pro-Home Inc., provides classes and guidance to first-time home buyers.
The Taunton project, he said, is consistent with the continued lack of affordable opportunities in the Bay State.
“There’s a real shortage of housing on all levels,” said Nagy-Koechlin, noting that Housing Solutions also has had success developing and managing housing for homeless families and group homes for adults with developmental disabilities.
He said the current estimated cost is $13 million to re-develop the site and build the apartment building.
Nagy-Koechlin said the City Council will consider granting a special permit for the project, which he said will include 80 parking spaces — two per unit — as required by city ordinance.
Nagy-Koechlin said he doesn’t expect more than 40 to 50 spaces will be used at any given time by tenants, a number of whom, he said, probably won’t own cars.
During this past week’s Planning Board meeting, a lawyer representing Housing Solutions asked that his client not be required to provide 80 parking spots.
Board member Brian Carr said he recalls the number initially requested being as low as 49, which he said was not realistic.
“There’s no way in hell I was voting for that,” said Carr, whose wife Deborah serves on the Taunton City Council.
Carr said he and other Planning Board members were concerned about a lack of parking spaces for both tenants and visitors to the history museum at 66 Church Green.
By providing an even 80, he said, there would be sufficient “overflow parking” for museum visitors attending special events and presentations on weekends and nights.
Nagy-Koechlin said the non-profit agency is amenable to the idea of providing 80 spaces to accommodate residents as well as people visiting, not just the museum, but First Parish Church, the latter of which lacks any dedicated parking.
The Planning Board made a positive recommendation to the City Council with certain conditions.
They include ensuring that 70 percent of first tenants are Taunton residents; that new PVC sewer pipes be installed in order to access city service; and that an onsite property manager work on premises in his or her office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Planning Board also stipulated that a sidewalk be installed on the “access road” — which the museum owns and which includes an easement — that runs from the street to the rear of the museum building; and that a plan be devised so that “excess parking is allocated for use by others.”
The Conservation Commission, in a letter, said it had no concerns regarding the project.
The access road, which provides non-metered parking on one side, separates the museum from the Bethany House adult day-care center and a series of apartment buildings.
Katie MacDonald said she’s in favor of developing more residential housing in and around Taunton’s downtown district.
But as director of Old Colony History Museum at 66 Church Green she wants an assurance it won’t prove to be unsafe to her patrons and visitors.
“Housing is great for the downtown, but only if it makes sense for the existing neighborhood,” MacDonald said, adding that “our members are our number one concern.”
MacDonald said the museum has parking in front for just 11 vehicles.
“I’d like dedicated (parking) spots,” she said.
She also acknowledged that museum guests and visitors in recent years have been using the rear parking area that belongs to the owners of 68 Church Green.
MacDonald said installing new sidewalks “is a great idea” in terms of safety and will make it easier for residents of the apartments to walk downtown during the day.
If the rear property is cleaned up and redesigned, she said, it likely would discourage strangers from parking at night behind her building and diminish the likelihood of vandalism — both to the museum and the vacant, elongated structure behind it.
A small section of the 68 Church Green site has been painted with gang-related graffiti, and one of its windows is boarded up.
Nagy-Koechlin said he expects to break ground on the project “in a couple years.”
But he says that’s not unusual in his line of work.
Nagy-Koechlin said it takes time to line up funding. The main funding source of his group, he said, is the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development.
Other funding sources, he said, will include private donors and foundations as well as corporate donations.
Housing Solutions previously developed Carpenters Glen in East Taunton, an affordable-housing project with 32 units.
Nagy-Koechlin said he’s already met with representatives of the museum and church and has scheduled a 6:30 p.m. “community meeting” this Wednesday at First Parish Church, located at 76 Church Green.
He said “a sliver of the building” sits on land designated as having historic value by the city’s Historic District Commission.
But Nagy-Koechlin said he doesn’t anticipate serious difficulties working with the commission.
He noted that the look of the new building will reflect the historical character of surrounding houses and structures.
He also said it will be built on a solid slab but will remain shorter in stature than Old Colony History Museum.
Nagy-Koechlin noted that not including a basement will eliminate any chance of flooding on the low-lying site. He said one section of the former office building has had its basement flooded.
Nagy-Koechlin said a traffic study, conducted at the behest of the city, was favorable.
“It determined the impact would be very minimal and less than when the doctors’ offices were here,” he said.
The late orthopedic surgeon Dr. C. Nason Burden rented space in the old building for his office.
Jordan Fiore, a museum board member, said he’s all but certain that Burden — who was seeing patients in his office while in his nineties — was the last one to move out of the Church Green building before he relocated to Winthrop Street.
Fiore, who besides sitting on the school committee is a member of the Planning Board, said he recused himself from last week’s vote to avoid a conflict of interest.
Nagy-Koechlin said the city, through its economic and community development office, will likely also contribute to the project, possibly with funds derived from the federal HOME program that assists in the development of affordable housing.
He said Housing Solutions, which also has an office in New Bedford, has a similar mission to that of Boston-based non-profit Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, or NOAH, which is planning to develop 38 market-rate and affordable apartments downtown in the Union Block.
The main difference, he said, is that unlike NOAH, which has a wider reach and scale, Housing Solutions concentrates on Plymouth and Bristol counties and parts of Norfolk County.
http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/20180113/church-green-housing-project-would-provide-affordable-senior-apartments-in-taunton
