SALISBURY — The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) approved the Salisbury Housing Committee’s (SHC) application for an affordable housing building at 11 Holley St. in Lakeville on Monday, May 17. The vote was unanimous.
The approval came with a lengthy list of conditions, including: Eight parking spaces designated for public use; chimney height must be reduced by at least 50%; the original stone and granite from the existing wall must be incorporated into the design so that the public can see it; additional cladding on modern concrete walls; white window treatments (visible from outside the building); divided light windows; a "no-loading zone" on Millerton Road in front of the building; signs prohibiting through traffic; the elevator must be big enough to accommodate a stretcher and emergency personnel; the garbage receptacles must be in an enclosed, ventilated area; the applicant must preserve the time capsule that is in the existing wall and relocate it to the Holley Street wall; signs warning of low clearance in the rear of the building; and a provision that the applicant may seek modification of any of the conditions, which requires a “full public process,” including a public hearing.
P&Z Chairman Michael Klemens said of this last item that it should act as an incentive for the Housing Committee not to come back for modifications.
The vote ended a process that began in the fall of 2020, when the SHC submitted an application for a 13-unit building at 11 Holley St. Currently the site consists of a parking lot and a small park.
P&Z held two lengthy sessions of a public hearing, on Sept. 21 and Oct. 8, and closed the hearing on Nov. 9 after the application was withdrawn.
The SHC submitted a new application for a 12-unit building, with a different architectural design, on Feb. 4, 2021.
The public hearing on the 12-unit building began on March 8 and was continued to March 22, and again to April 14, when the hearing was closed.
The commission deliberated on April 28 and agreed to draft a resolution approving the application, with conditions.
During the lengthy process (three sessions of the public hearing which all ran for longer than four hours, plus the April 28 deliberations) concerns were raised about a wide variety of topics, including: Parking in Lakeville in general and at 11 Holley St. in particular; possible bias on the part of P&Z members; the historic significance of the site; the effect on the immediate neighbors; traffic safety; trees; lighting; the federal style of architecture; access for emergency vehicles; rights of way on nearby properties; suitability of the site for affordable housing, and discussion of other sites; financial viability of the development; and complaints about the online format.
Interest in the SHC proposal and in affordable housing in general was high. On Jan. 27, a special meeting of the Affordable Housing Commission on Zoom ended abruptly because the online format could not handle the number of people who wanted to sign in.
A condensed version of this article appeared in the May 20, 2021 edition of The Lakeville Journal.
