EASTHAMPTON – The Easthampton City Council agreed to adopt a proposed Housing Production Plan (HPP) following a public hearing during its Feb. 17 meeting.

“When we set out to do this we were really looking to create a data-driven set of strategies for retaining our affordable housing and creating affordable housing. I think it becomes clear when you get into this that there is no silver bullet, no one thing that we can just do to make this happen. It is really a series of steps that we have to start taking,” City Planner Jeffrey Bagg said.

Bagg continued to say that they are trying to take these big projects, collect the data, and produce a report and then revisit them to tackle them to make a new master plan within the next two years.

So far they have done the Open Space and Recreation Plan, Downtown Strategic Plan, an arts visioning session, and the HPP.

Bagg shared that the HPP is a grant-funded project. They received $35,000 from the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, their planning grant program and the Community Preservation Act (CPA) contributed $15,000.

Judi Barrett from Barrett Planning Group LLC lead the HPP presentation.

Barrett explained that having an HPP means that the city has done an assessment of the makeup of the town to try to understand the housing needs that are currently not met, to also recognize what the community has already done, identify the housing development barriers, educate the public about Easthampton’s needs for more affordable housing, and identify specific locations and sites that would be appropriate for affordable and mixed-income housing.

Barrett shared five goals that stem from the HPP.

Goal one is to create a variety of affordable and mixed-income housing that helps to keep Easthampton a welcoming, inclusive community.

Goal two is to provide more housing options including affordable and market-rate housing options for low-income families, seniors, and individuals with disabilities through a variety of mechanisms to increase housing choice.

Goal three is actively striving to achieve the Chapter 40B 10 percent minimum for affordable housing by aiming to produce at least 38 units a year toward the Subsidized Housing Inventory.

Goal four is encouraging new development and repurposing of existing buildings for affordable and mixed-income housing that reinforces the development patterns of Easthampton’s downtown urban neighborhoods. Also to maintains a predominantly single-family character in established neighborhoods with single-family homes, strengthens the vitality of downtown with diverse housing types, and promotes housing in walkable areas convenient to shops, services, transportation, parks, and schools.

Goal five is to promote the development of surplus institutional or town-owned property for affordable housing.

She explained that affordable housing is four things: it counts towards the 10 percent minimum under Chapter 40B; it’s affordable to households with income at or below 80 percent of the median; it has to be housing that is safe and suitable for the size of the household size that lives there and protected by a long-term deed restriction; and is housing that is available on a fair and open basis to people who are eligible.

During the housing needs assessment portion, Barrett acknowledged that the city’s population growth rate has flattened out and the population is aging. She said naturally, every community wants to have a balance between young families and the senior population, but Easthampton seems to have more older residents.

Her report stated that household sizes in both homeowner’s and renter’s homes are declining.

“That is partially a function of the fact that your population is getting smaller. Household sizes are getting smaller nationally and have been for a long time so that contributes to the slowing of your population growth. It does not necessarily mean that you have less demand for housing because it is households that drive the demand for housing, not population,” Barrett said.

Due to the aging of the city’s population, the disability population is growing. Barrett said this should make them think about not only the type of housing that they want to offer but what kind of universal accessible neighborhoods and areas do they need to support the mobility of people to the extent that they retain mobility.

Barrett found affordability challenges based on the data that they have and reported that 30 percent of Easthampton households are paying more for housing than they can afford.

There are five barriers to affordable housing development in the city and they include regulatory constraints.

The first is that the city requires minimum lot area plus minimum land per unit for each unit over one. In her presentation, Barrett said the district’s formula is unrealistic and works as a disincentive.

The second constraint is that Easthampton requires too much parking for multifamily housing and the current standards discourage housing for families.

The third constraint is that special permits are required by the Planning Board for multi-family homes.

The fourth is a special permit requirement and lapse of the permit with ownership transfer.

The fifth barrier is the affordable regulations they have right now seem burdensome for small projects and the density bonus requires a special permit.

Barrett acknowledged that there are a lot of strategies in the plan and she did not want to include anything that may not work, but a revision of things like their ordinance will help.

After the presentation, Janna Tetreault, chair of the Easthampton Affordable and Fair Housing Partnership, expressed her excitement about the report.

“It has been a real honor to work with Judi and to work on this plan. We are really excited about it, it has a lot of great data and a lot of great information,” Tetreault said.

She continued that she has three reasons as to why she believes the HPP is important. The first being it shows that the city cares about affordable housing. Second, it helps the city become eligible for other grants and funding opportunities. Third, it gives purpose and focus to the housing partnership.

Councilor Thomas Peake shared the 2014 HPP and essentially called out the council for not doing their part after voting on it seven years ago. He noted that according to the document, the Planning Department, Planning Board, and City Council are responsible for exploring and adopting an inclusionary zoning ordnance, but they still do not have one. Peake did note that to his knowledge Councilor Salem Derby submitted a proposal for one but it was shot down.

“I think that my colleagues should honestly ask themselves, do you intend to make a good faith effort to work on this place because I do not want to see another repeat of this where we go and tell the state that we have our plan to produce more affordable housing units and then the Planning Department does what they do and the mayor does what they do, and the council spends seven years sitting on their hands,” Peake said.

He continued to say that if the council feels they do not have the political will to move forward then they should be honest. Peake did express that he believes in his team and wants to challenge people to not repeat the same behavior.

Resident Kae Collins spoke in favor of Peake’s initiative. “Working in the community, one of the things I have heard from a lot of people is the fear of being priced out of Easthampton.”

“I think having some initiatives for affordable housing, particularly the accessory home option. Easthampton is a wonderful community that I have been privileged to be part of for 10 years and part of the richness of the community comes from intergenerational and different income levels and artists that are looking to have homes here,” Collins continued

Resident Sara Amoroso spoke on goal four. “I feel that our position on regulation should be that it is here to keep us safe, make sure that we do not put a pork rendering plant in our backyard but it is not to keep different kinds of people apart. It is not to suddenly decide that renters are a different class of people than owners and to say that we cannot have these people together”.

Barrett said what they were trying to say was that if the city is looking for a smart growth approach they want to think about intensifying and building on the areas where they already have developed and not necessarily on the outlying parts of town where they have open space.

Bagg emphasized that goal four says that their best bet is to focus and encourage more development of multi-family in the downtown neighborhoods where there will be sidewalks and closer to goods and services.

After an hour and a half of conversation regarding the HPP, the committee vote to adopt the plan and now it is being sent to the state for their review.

The City Council also conducted a public hearing discuss the request to install one jointly owned midspan Main Street pole, one supplemental appropriation, an interdepartmental transfer, and a housing production plan.

The committee voted to allow Eversource to install a the pole on Main Street near the intersection of South Street between two existing poles. The purpose of this pole will supply a recloser.

According to Councilor Owen Zaret, a recloser is essentially a circuit break device that automatically gives electricity to certain areas of the city during power outages for improved power.

Before the vote was taken, City Council President Margaret Conniff asked Joe McCarthy, the representative from Eversource  why the recloser could not go on either of the existing poles.

“It is a fairly large piece of equipment and Eversource’s standards and just for the safety of construction, we can not have one pole with multiple different pieces of equipment on it, so reclosers have to be by themselves on the pole,” McCarthy answered.

A supplemental appropriation of $10,000 was also approved to be transferred from the Cannabis Stabilization Fund to the Emily Williston Memorial Library. Conniff made clear that this appropriation is not replacing the regular appropriation that they make to the library, it is an additional one.

Mayor Nicole LaChapelle added that when they are done reviewing the budget, there may be another appropriation of $15,000 for the library.

Samuel Williston, a resident, expressed that the city currently supports its library in the lowest 10 percent of all libraries in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

“The library really needs your support more and I am just saying that it is a great resource for the community and I hope you support this transfer,” he added.

The City Council approved an interdepartmental transfer of $132,000 from the cable television public, educational, and governmental (PEG) access account for revenue to the PEG access account for expenses. Conniff said the PEG access is for public access and Easthampton Media.

Conniff shared that in the past Easthampton Media ran their public, not for profit based on membership or subscribers to Charter. By a contract with Charter, based on a number of members or subscribers, Charter then pays the city and the city then pays Easthampton Media.

She added that the payments are quarterly, an amount of money that allows them to run their station and broadcasting facilities.

“Recently there was a law in Massachusetts whereby now the money needs to come into the city and then the City Council has to appropriate it out to Easthampton Media. We have never had to do that before, it was always a pass-through with the city,” Conniff said.

The council will now have to make this appropriation multiple times a year.

During the meeting Chair of the Commission on Disability, Angelique Baker introduced herself and explained who the commission is.

Baker expressed that while she is with the Commission on Disability, she is going to try to figure out how to do collaborations with people. She would like to take a little bit out of the stigma that surrounds disability and help the city where they need help when it comes to the disability component.

The committee also announced their new Principal Assessor, Randall Austin.

Councilor Lindsey Rothschild shared that her ad hoc committee unanimously agreed that Austin is an excellent candidate for the position.

According to Rothschild, he has experience and knowledge of the law, he has experience in working in the industrial commercial, and personal property, and is proactive.

Austin said his interest in Easthampton is the fact that it is a lot closer to home compared to his 37-mile commute one way to Lennox.

“It is nice to get back to somewhere I am a little bit more local and sort of understand a little bit better what is going on,” Austin shared.

He will serve as principal assessor until Feb 17, 2024.