BRATTLEBORO-New housing development in the pipeline could result in an additional 400 homes in town in the next five years if all the projects come to fruition.
The individual projects, in various stages of development from conceptual planning to putting together funding, address the area's urgent need for workforce housing, affordable housing, and refugee housing.
In 2021, Brattleboro's Housing Action Plan reported "a pressing need for more than 500 [housing] units." While none of the projects in the works are currently under construction, a few are slated to begin early next year.
Housing developers presented their projects to members of the Housing Coalition of Southeastern Vermont, a cross-sector planning body focused on housing and homelessness, at its Aug. 12 meeting.
Planning Director Sue Fillion told meeting participants that changes made to the town's zoning regulations last year that allow for increased density are resulting in more permitting for "infill housing."
Sometimes called "missing middle" housing, infill housing includes duplexes, triplexes, quadruplexes, town houses with five to nine attached units, cottage court developments with three to nine homes, and small apartment buildings with five to nine units.
Fillion noted, as an example, a single-family home at the intersection of Maple and Pleasant streets that is being demolished and replaced with a "cottage cluster" of five one-story units arranged around a shared green.
According to Fillion, these market-rate homes are being constructed at under $200 per square foot per cottage.
Additionally, 13 new, market-rate town homes are being developed at the corner of Maple and Guilford streets by Brunelle & Son Construction of Brattleboro.
"We've had a couple of single-family permit permits issued, and a couple of apartments in existing buildings. We're starting to see some of the projects that we were hoping to see come to fruition," Fillion said. "It's pretty exciting."
'We're just plugging away'
The potential for adding about 300 new homes to the area's housing stock lies in the development of the Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development campus in West Brattleboro.
Winston Prouty Executive Director Chloe Learey told Housing Coalition meeting participants that the current project design includes buildings of six, 10, 12, and 24 units, and a central green space.
Learey said the housing will be accessible to people whose earnings span all income levels.
"If you live in our community, we want you to be able to live here," Learey said.
She touted the future development as "a great place to live," as it is connected to existing infrastructure like roads, water, and sewer. It is accessible through public transportation, and the Winston Prouty campus already has a vibrant community.
The project's water and sewer study, environmental assessments, market study, and traffic study are all complete.
Traffic is "the biggest thing we hear about," Learey said. "The speed of traffic is a problem [for our neighbors]. It doesn't take rocket science to address this, and there are lots of traffic calming strategies we could use."
Additional egress for the development is being considered off Maple Street, as the campus has only one entrance/exit.
Project developers are seeking $150,000 to finalize development plans, pursue permitting, and develop a finance strategy by the end of the year.
"I will talk to anybody," Learey said. "I'm open to suggestions, ideas, and critical thinking, as it takes all of us to make this work."
Workforce housing is a priority
World Learning Inc. in Brattleboro, is in the "conceptual stage" of developing affordable housing on its 200-acre campus on Black Mountain Road, according to Paul Dery, executive director of corporate finance.
He said two factors raised the nonprofit's awareness of the need for more housing: its involvement with the state's Afghan refugee resettlement program and the difficulty World Learning has had attracting workers over the past few years.
World Learning has provided temporary housing for 305 refugees since the program began in 2022, according to Ian Hefele, community engagement manager at the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), which supports refugees locally.
In response, World Learning has begun discussions with the Brattleboro Planning Commission to rezone 100 acres of its campus to allow for up to 200 units of affordable workforce housing.
"We're trying to get a much more definitive understanding of what we can do, and then we can have more constructive conversations on what that could look like and how it would affect the area," Dery said. "This is certainly a new space for us."
Refugee housing in the works
M&S Development of Brattleboro is developing housing for refugees at two sites in town: the historic Leonard Block at 1214 Elliot St., which formerly housed the Boomerang clothing store, and the Estey Organ complex on Birge Street.
According to Dan Ridlehoover, manager of project development with M&S, preliminary designs for a 10-unit project in the Elliott Street space are complete, with plans to begin construction in the spring of 2025.
The larger Estey Organ building project is further behind in its design, as M&S works to find the right mix of unit sizes to offer the refugee families.
One of the biggest hurdles the company has faced is in ensuring that it would not violate fair housing laws by giving tenant selection preference to refugees.
Ridlehoover said that while nationality is a protected class under the law, immigration status is not, and cited precedence established by Washington and Ohio in this area.
Flood-resilient housing
M&S has also been working with Tri-Park Cooperative Housing to relocate 20 households in the Mountain Home Park in West Brattleboro, where Tropical Storm Irene destroyed 16 homes in the park in 2011.
The 20 units lie in the floodplain of the Halladay and Whetstone brooks that run through the park.
Ridlehoover said the project is "approaching the finish line," with the construction of new lots "up the hill" for 20 newly manufactured homes beginning in the spring of 2025. Residents will plan to move into their new homes in the fall.
Once residents have moved into their new homes, the old homes will be removed and the floodplain will be restored.
Farther south along Whetstone Brook lies Melrose Terrace, where 60 apartments were badly damaged by the flooding of Tropical Storm Irene.
In an email to The Commons, Christine Hazzard, executive director of Brattleboro Housing Partnerships (BHP), which owns Melrose Terrace, stated that BHP has received documentation from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) outlining the new flood area and the area for flood mitigation.
That step is essential for redeveloping the current structures into 31 one-bedroom apartments.
"Our hope is that this property will be ready to house people in 2025 [or] early 2026," Hazzard said.
A call to arms for more housing
Fillion characterized the need for 500 units measured in 2021 as a conservative number. In an email to The Commons, she said the need could be as high as 700 units.
Since January 2022, the town has reported a "change in dwelling units" of 126 units.
Brattleboro measures progress toward its housing goal based on the number of housing units that have been permitted minus the number of units lost in a given year, based on demolition permits.
After hearing developers' reports, state Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, co-chair of the Housing Coalition of Southeastern Vermont, expressed dismay at the gap that remains between housing supply and demand.
"Those are not the numbers we need to be seeing," she said.
Kornheiser urged fellow housing advocates to remain optimistic.
"Rather than me being a bummer, it's like a call to arms about how important our work is and all that we have to do going forward," she said.
This News item by Ellen Pratt was written for The Commons.