Residents Prepare Critique of Hendries Affordable Housing Project

Milton residents are preparing comments to help guide what could be a lengthy approval process for an affordable housing development at the former Hendries ice cream plant.

The Massachusetts Housing Partnership, a state agency that has the authority to approve a comprehensive permit that would allow the developer to avoid certain zoning restrictions, has received a 40B housing application from property owner Steve Connelly and has sent back suggested revisions, according to Ellen DeNooyer of the Columbine Cliff Neighborhood Association.

Columbine Cliff and the Milton Hill Neighborhood Association hosted a community meeting at Milton Public Library Thursday evening on the project. DeNooyer suggested to the two dozen or so people gathered to focus their comments on the design of the project and how it fits into the neighborhood, rather than on blocking affordable housing.

Connelly, who bought the Hendries property more than a decade ago and has been working unsuccessfully since to develop the land into condominiums or apartments, may be allowed to bypass typical zoning requirements because Milton's housing stock is only 4.7 percent affordable, significantly less than the 10 percent minimum mandated by the state.

The current proposal includes 72 rental units in a building that would be seven stories high on the Central Avenue side and six on the Eliot Street side. There is no public parking included nor the kind of mixed-use development that neighbors believe would help improve the area.

Connelly previously proposed a mixed-use condominium complex at the site but was shut down by the Planning Board last summer after failing to work with town officials to modify the project.

State Sen. Brian A. Joyce, who also attended Thursday's meeting, said he has been meeting with the property owner and town officials since April in the hopes of hashing out a compromise that could include 38 condominium units, public parking and commercial space.

"I think we are really, really close to a project that everyone can live with and in fact will be a positive addition to our neighborhood," Joyce said.

If that compromise were to move forward, the 40B project would go away, Joyce said.

Keith Mills, owner with his wife of Espirit Du Vin across from the Hendries property, questioned whether Connelly was acting in good faith when negotiating with Joyce and others.

Mills said he wants a project that would improve the site, which is currently not safe even for firefighters, but that residents should not let Connelly use the proposal of a 40B development to leverage them into accepting a less bad but still unappealing project.

"This is our town," Mills said.

Once the Massachusetts Housing Partnership is satisfied with the Hendries affordable housing application, the next step would be to notify the Board of Selectman that it has 30 days to prepare comments on the project, DeNooyer said. It would then move to the Zoning Board of Appeals. A negative decision by them or by another state board after that could be appealed.

Other potential development hurdles include a portion of the property that remains town-owned (though not included in the 40B proposal), a portion with a murky ownership record, and an existing enforcement action by the Conservation Commission related to Connelly removing an historic oak tree on the property in 2011.

"This can be a very long and arduous process," Joyce said.

Unlike the Brush Hill Road 40B proposal, which contains "massive density" and is "dumb growth," Joyce said, the Hendries development is likely to move forward despite opposition from Milton residents. The state approves 94 percent of 40B proposals, Joyce said.

"There are very few criteria that can stop these things," he said.

For that reason, DeNooyer said that neighbors' comments should focus on the state's design guidelines for 40B projects and should critique traffic, parking, mixed-use benefits and the scale of the project compared to the relatively short buildings in the area.

"It's a very lovely, small neighborhood," DeNooyer said.