The Affordable Housing Committee hired a consultant to develop requests for proposals for housing sites including the former town garage location.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Affordable Housing Committee on Tuesday decided on a consultant to help develop a request for proposals to develop a pair of town-owned brown field sites.

 

It also decided not to pursue a formal request of its own to remove two other town-owned parcels from the care, custody, control and management of the town's Conservation Commission.

 

The AHC considered filing its own request to the Con Comm in light of Monday's decision by the Selectmen to withdraw its request regarding the Lowry and Burbank properties. But in the end, the housing panel decided that the sites and their legal status can be studied without having a request before the commission.

 

Meanwhile, the AHC is moving forward with its quest to develop housing on the former town garage site (59 Water St.) and the former PhoTech mill site on Cole Avenue.

 

The committee is looking for help to draw up RFPs for both sites, and it received interest from a pair of consultants — one in Boston and one in Amherst — who joined forces to make a proposal to the AHC.

 

The committee reviewed the proposal from Boston's Jennifer Goldson and Amherst's Connie Kruger and decided to engage them, pending a discussion of their fee. The pair submitted a sealed bid along with their proposal.

 

Chairwoman Catherine Yamamoto said the bid would be opened by the town's procurement officer, Town Manager Peter Fohlin, who would negotiate a price with Goldson and Kruger in consultation with two members of the AHC, Yamamoto and Leigh Short.

 

In keeping with the scope of services developed by the AHC, Goldson and Kruger outlined a work plan that included two sessions to gather community input on the sites — one in the Water Street neighborhood and one on Cole Avenue.

 

Kruger is the chairman of the Amherst Housing Authority, serves on the town's Planning Board and is a former member of the town's Board of Assessors. Goldson has done consultant work for a variety of eastern Massachusetts towns after forming "JM Goldson community preservation + planning" in 2006. Prior to that, she managed Newton's Community Preservation program, which funded more than $12 million in community housing, open space, recreation, and historic preservation projects during her time with the city.

 

Since Goldson and Kruger were the only respondents to the AHC's call for proposals, their selection was made with little discussion.

 

More hotly debated was whether the committee should continue to press the Con Comm for a definitive answer on Lowry and Burbank.

 

It was clear from Monday's meeting, telecast live on the town's community access television station, that several members of the AHC were disappointed by the Selectmen's action on Monday.

 

Bilal Ansari once again pointed out that the AHC asked the Con Comm to talk informally about both properties last fall and only sought a formal request (through the Selectmen) this summer after it became clear that was the only way the commission would discuss the matter.

 

Ansari said the town needs a definitive answer on both Lowry and Burbank in order to make an informed decision at a town meeting or special town meeting in the future.

 

"Our intent was to explore that [question]," Ansari said. "If it was going to be closed, let it be closed. By October, the town could be fully informed before it voted. Last night, the choice was not to do that.

 

"The affordable housing problem in town still exists. ... We need to address it without relying on the town leaders. They don't have the political will. We have to put forth the question and hopefully the Con Comm will acknowledge us."

 

Short argued that rather than submit its own version of the request for a change in the lands' status, the AHC should engage Con Comm Chairman Philip McKnight in a dialogue about the properties.

 

And Short suggested that the committee pursue answers to the questions the questions the Con Comm submitted to the Selectmen last week (when the board's request was still active).

 

"I'm not at all sure that to find the data we're looking for, you have to take that action," Short said, referring to the action of changing the lands' status. "I think we can get the data without taking it out of conservation."

 

Ansari immediately withdrew his motion, and two members of the committee added their own reasons why the time is not right to press the issue witht he Con Comm.

 

"Give it a breather," said Van Ellet, who serves on the Con Comm as well as the Affordable Housing Committee. "And if we want to move ahead at some point in time, we can always do so.

 

"I think [Selectmen Chairwoman] Jane [Allen] talked about trying to be realistic. That's not saying quit altogether on [Lowry and Burbank], but we do have a full plate. Let's try and get focused and do waht we can do to make something happen."

Yamamoto agreed that there are plenty of other avenues for the Affordable Housing Committee to pursue, but she also made it clear she believes Lowry and Burbank could be developed someday if the town decides to do so.

 

"It's town land," she said. "There needs to be a discussion about what potential uses might happen in the immediate future or the far, distant, unforeseen future.

 

"Even if the land is Article 97 land, that doesn't mean it's forever out of reach. it's up to the townspeople of this town. ... If a town meeting voted to change the status of the land, would the Conservation Commission go against the majority decision of the town?"

 

"I can't answer that," Ellet said.

 

In other business Tuesday night, Yamamoto reported that the Affordable Housing Committee has been notified by the attorney general that it has concluded its investigation into an allegation that the AHC violated the Open Meeting Law in March and that the case was closed as far as the AG's office was concerned.

 

The AHC had circulated by email a letter to the editor drafted by Yamamoto and decided to sign it as a body. Such a decision should have been made in a public meeting. After an Open Meeting Law complaint was filed by resident Kenneth Swiatek, the Affordable Housing Committee admitted the error and issued an apology; Yamomoto acknowledged the misstep again on Tuesday.

 

"We did make a mistake," she said.