The Watertown Housing Authority will host a pair of community meetings about the planned redevelopment of the Willow Park property. One will be in-person and the second will be a virtual meeting.
The Watertown Housing Authority provided the following information:
Notice of Project Community Meeting
The project applicant will be hosting Public Information Meeting(s) as required by the Watertown Zoning Ordinance. This notice is for the required community meeting that is required prior to formal application. Please note that this is a required notice to all property owners and addresses within 500 feet of the proposed project.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION and LOCATION:
The project proposal will include the redevelopment of Willow Park to replace the current 60 units of public housing while adding additional units of 100% affordable housing. The meeting is presented by the project team, sharing existing site context, conditions and preliminary redevelopment plans. The meeting also provides time for the community to ask questions, provide comments, and learn more about the project and development process.
The Willow Park Redevelopment Project is located at 8-26 Quimby Street, 55-91 Melendy Ave., and 88-90 Nichols Ave. in East Watertown.
See the project proposal summary by clicking here.
IN-PERSON MEETING LOCATION AND TIME
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: The Hosmer School (Third Floor Learning Commons), 1 Concord Rd, Watertown, MA
VIRTUAL MEETING LOCATION AND TIME
Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: https://poah.zoom.us/j/82869761435
Meeting ID: 828 6976 1435
PROJECT TEAM AND CONTACT
TEAM: Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) and Watertown Housing Authority
(WHA)
CONTACT: For more information contact Mel Miller at mmiller@poah.org or 617-449-0876
Excellent design POAH! I really like that your design is trauma-informed. The additional units are so sorely needed. MA just released its updates on income limits – https://www.mhp.net/assets/resources/documents/one__income_limits.pdf
This is an ideal location since it is on the 71 Bus Route, and near a supermarket (Star Market – the one that use to have conveyor belts to bring your groceries to your car). It’s also tucked back away that the 5 stories can be absorbed by the surroundings which includes a couple of churches. Nichols Ave used to be full of restaurants, but I haven’t been there in 10 years. This will really active that neighborhood and provide the needed affordability that so many need.
The MHP link posted is a mortgage available to people under certain income limits and is completely separate and different than affordable housing (ownership or rental unit) income caps. Please allow the town or Willow Park managers to post income cap information as your link is very misleading.
Sorry posted wrong link – https://www.maldenhousing.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif7016/f/uploads/income_limits_2024_revised.pdf
Same numbers – different purposes.
The numbers are not the same, and usually MHP is thousands of dollars higher than affordable income limits. The numbers are currently closer, but this has not been the case in past recent years. Also, how do you know that these units will be offered at 80% AMI? Each income limit depends on the particular property – some affordable housing opportunities are 70% AMI, some 60%, and even some very low at 30%.
The numbers for the 80% of AMI on both sheets are the same, given that the first is derived from the second.
I never said anything about what each unit’s affordability rate would be. I did, however, go to the Willow Park meeting last nights and they talked about the mix of affordablitiy rates. I don’t recall them.
Correction – This will really activate that neighborhood….”
Wow, you want to replace some interesting housing units and construct a big box so you can pile a bunch of bodies in it and call it a day.
Pretty terrible from the looks of it as I can see it.
Didn’t people learn lessens from this kind of housing already?
“This will really activate that neighborhood?” What does this mean? Is it a barren wasteland, devoid of any signs of life? I walk by the area from time to time and there are very vital signs of life. Are we talking about the same area off of Nichols?