Smaller Affordable-Housing Development Seems Acceptable in Barrington

The Palmer Pointe affordable housing development at Sowams Nursery appears to be on its way to approval by the Planning Board.

At another special meeting Tuesday night, July 16, the Planning Board asked the town planner and the solicitor to draft a decision for a vote on the development at its next meeting on Aug. 6.

That action seems to pave the way for approval of the master plan, which probably makes the development a sure thing.

There was a project that was denied after reaching the preliminary-plan stage in Barrington, said Town Planner Phil Hervey. But in all other cases, the master-plan approval opened the door for construction.

The draft decision will show the number of units in the rental development reduced from 48 to 40, said Hervey. The developer, East Bay Community Development Corporation, will now have to come back with a scaled-down or less dense project. Density has been one of the biggest concerns.

It also will widen the road from 20 to 22 feet, and widen the buffers from neighboring properties by not allowing pavement within 25 feet of abutting property lines.

Reducing the number of units should allow the road and the buffers to be widened, said Hervey. It also would reduce the number of units per developable acre to a 6.3 – or a figure closer to the 5 units per acre preferred for a “village zone. 

It also would make that 6.3 number similar to the other affordable housing developments in Barrington: Sweetbriar at 6.2 and Walker Farm Lane at 6.7, said Hervey.

The Planning Board asked for a draft decision after listening to three expert witnesses from CODDER 02806 – the citizens group opposing the development – address the board for about two hours. 

The board then spent another three hours determining conditions on which it would base a decision in favor of the project. 

At that point, said Hervey, there was an “apparent majority” in favor of approval of Palmer Pointe as a slightly smaller rental development.