Politics & Government

Affordable-Housing Project's Opponents to Offer Own 'Expert' Testimony

The Barrington Planning Board sets up another hearing for 'expert' testimony from citizens group opposed to Palmer Pointe development at Sowams Nursery.

A final pitch for the approval of the master plan of the Palmer Pointe affordable housing development was made to the Barrington Planning Board Tuesday night, July 2. 

But wait just a minute. Representatives for the nonprofit developer, East Bay Community Development Corporation, may have to do it all over again in a couple of weeks.

Attorney William Harsch, representating CODDER 02806, the Barrington citizens group opposing the 48-unit rental development at Sowams Nursery, asked the Planning Board if the group could bring in three of its own expert witnesses to rebut some of the expert testimony presented over the past 6 to 8 months at more than half a dozen hearings by the developer.

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The Planning Board agreed and set up another meeting on the master plan application for Palmer Pointe on July 16.

Harsch asked for the board’s cooperation right after Stephanie Federico, attorney for EBCDC, and Frank Spinella, a consultant for EBCDC, finished their pitch for the board’s approval of Palmer Pointe. Federico summed up a multi-page memo she prepared for the board. 

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In short, Federico said, the development meets the identified need for affordable housing, especially rental units, in Barrington.

While meeting that need, she said, the proposal is “compatible to Barrington as a whole, not just a neighborhood,” it reduces by 10 percent the number of units Barrington still needs to meet the state mandate, and it provides more diverse housing stock for both growing families and the elderly.

The architectural character of the housing also is compatible to nearby market-rate units, it meets zoning regulations, and it has no significant negative environmental impact, Federico said. 

“There is ample evidence to support this development,” she said.

Local concerns also do not outweigh low and moderate-income housing needs in Barrington, Federico said. 

Touching briefly on concerns about public safety, she said: “It is a grossly inaccurate” to view this development as a threat to the neighborhood because it will attract low and moderate-income renters. She used EBCDC’s Sweetbriar development in West Barrington as an example.

There have been approximately 2,780 arrests in Barrington since 2005, when Sweetbrier opened, she said, and only 12 were made at Sweetbriar.

“It is one of the most peaceful and law-abiding neighborhoods in Barrington,” Federico said. 

If there is one issue that bothers everyone opposed to the development, it is the density of the project, which will be approximately 7 to 8 units per acre of developable land at Sowams Nursery.

“We still don’t seem to agree on the right numbers,” said Chairman Mike McCormick to Spinella, who said the number of units per acre was 7.2 within Barrington’s wetland overlay area at the start of the pitch.

A last-minute recalculation without the 22,700 square feet of land that holds two houses on Sowams Road that will be sold brought that density number to slightly over 8 units per acre.

Whatever, there are still more hearings to come if the master plan for Palmer Pointe gets the approval it needs. The deadline for the Planning Board to make that decision is Aug. 22.


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