Housing group reviews progress, plans

SALISBURY — Affordable housing options in Salisbury are actively expanding, reported Salisbury’s Affordable Housing Commission at its June 26 regular meeting as it reviewed a flurry of progress updates from various projects around town.

Commission Vice Chair Elizabeth Slotnick announced that the long-awaited Holley Place affordable rental apartment development is nearly build-ready, anticipated to be under construction by the end of the year. “We’re getting very close,” Slotnick said.

She also explained that the results of a study on the Pope property’s habitat for the state-listed wood turtle – conducted by wildlife biologist and Salisbury P&Z Chair Michael Klemens – and a resulting map of developable land are not expected until September. The study is part of a slew of early-stage efforts in a plan to develop the land into an affordable housing campus that also features recreational facilities and adheres to conservation ideals.

Chair Jennifer Kronholm Clark reported that Salisbury is soon to have “two new homeowners on Perry Street.” She said that two families with young children had been chosen from the application pool to be the first owners of the newly installed affordable houses. She said that she hopes for the deals to be closed and the houses handed over by the end of August after some finishing touches — “we’re very excited about that.”

She noted that in Cornwall, the installation of two more affordable homes under the same Litchfield County Center for Housing Opportunity-led initiative as Perry Street has been delayed by the detection of an underground spring on the site. The length of the pause was unclear, but Kronholm Clark anticipated it to be several weeks.

The Salisbury Housing Trust, an independent nonprofit that seeks to expand Salisbury’s affordable homeownership opportunities, had previously amended its construction plans at the Undermountain Road site, moving one of the buildings to save several large oak trees on the property. The issue has been sensitive with some residents who feel the trees to be a historic component of downtown Salisbury.

At the June 26 meeting, Kronholm Clark said that one of the trees was found to be rotten through after it was felled. Another old oak on the property, which would pose a direct threat to the homes if rotten, will be tested and cut down if it is deemed to be dangerous.

The Commission also addressed a “letter to the editor” published in the June 12 edition of the Lakeville Journal, in which Lorraine Faison argued for the proposed Pope property complex to be moved from the site due to concerns about the density of development and the sensitive ecology of the area.

She suggested the Mary V. Peters Park on Long Pond Road as a promising alternative, but the Commission explained that the park had already been assessed and determined to be unviable for the development for several reasons, foremost was its lack of sewer connection and the logistical difficulty of installing a septic system on the site. The Commission reported that extensive ledge had been found on the site.