Resident input sought for Housing Production Plan

With a tight one-month timeline, the Housing Production Plan Steering Committee held its first meeting Monday evening and is seeking resident input as it crafts Weston’s next five-year housing strategy.

Weston’s current plan expires on Sept. 14 and it takes about a month for the state to review plans, meaning the town must submit a plan by Aug. 14 to ensure there is no lapse. A housing production plan details to the state how Weston can address affordable housing opportunities through an assessment of the town’s needs, affordable housing goals to meet those needs and strategies toward achieving the goals. The committee has engaged housing consultant CommunityScale to help develop the plan.

The committee’s first listening session was held Monday, July 13, and a second remote meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m on Saturday, July 25. A Zoom link will be available on the town website, and both meetings will be recorded by Weston Media Center. Additionally, the committee has issued a survey, which will remain open through July 22. The survey link can be found on the Housing Production Plan’s webpage.

Massachusetts recommends creating a plan because it is a proactive strategy to create more affordable housing under the affordable housing statute Chapter 40B. Under the law, if less than 10% of a town’s housing stock is designated as affordable, developers of 40B projects are able to bypass some town zoning restrictions to receive a comprehensive permit. If a town has an active plan, it can deny new 40B applications for two years.

“If we have an active HPP (housing production plan), we can declare temporary safe harbor,” committee Chair Alice Benson said, noting the town hasn’t had safe harbor protection since 2022. “If we don’t have a HPP, we have many less legs to stand on.”

Fellow member Leslie Glynn, who also serves on the Planning Board, noted the two-year safe harbor protection will likely give Weston enough time to meet the 10% threshold.

As of this month, Weston needs 294 affordable housing units to meet the state’s minimum. There are several affordable housing developments in the pipeline, with 751 Boston Post Road already marketing its units and 269 North Avenue under construction. Those developments, both expected to be complete by September 2027, would contribute 188 affordable housing units to the total.

If those developments are completed and the two current 40B projects under litigation – 104 Boston Post Road and the “Weston Whopper” at 518 South Avenue – are built, the town will meet the 10% threshold. Other projects include the Habitat for Humanity project on Wellesley Street, the Manor on North at the Drabbington Lodge, Birch Lane and Boston Properties’ three-phase MBTA Communities Act development at 133 Boston Post Road.

With these developments, as well as the typical construction of new homes in town, Weston is forecast to grow from 3,999 permanent housing units to about 5,091 by 2030.

“It’s an enormous growth spurt; this is basically [MBTA Communities Act] 3A, as well as 40B,” Glynn said.

As the steering committee continues its work, members urged residents to attend the July 25 meeting and to fill out the survey so feedback can be incorporated into the plan. The Select Board will issue final approval of the plan when it is completed.

Glynn said the plan will address questions like how a town with so much conservation land can build affordable housing, what kind of housing diversity Weston needs and how it can be balanced with the community’s rural character.

“We’re meeting every week and we’re bringing in our new consultants,” Glynn said. “A lot of these issues are our issues, and we’re going to own them for many years.”