This is the first of several posts about the Spring 2009 Town Meetings that - because of the subject matter - deserves a post of its own.
It was the third time in two years that the proposal to build affordable housing at 419 Woods Hole Road - a.k.a. Webster Woods - has been on the town meeting warrant. The first time, last spring, town meeting voted indefinite postponement based on the promise of an alternative.
The second time, last fall, members of the Affordable Housing Committee took action when the selectmen didn't and made a very powerful presentation. Unfortunately, the article also included a conservation restriction, which required a 2/3rds vote. Although a majority voted in favor of the plan, there wasn't 2/3rds, so it failed.
This time, Teaticket resident Marc Finneran put an article on the warrant - without a conservation restriction - and asked for my assistance with the presentation.
Only a handful of individuals got to speak before the question was called, and two - Precinct 6 Representative Mike Duffany and Selectman Kevin Murphy - spoke against the article. Mr. Duffany noted that Falmouth may have a lot of affordable housing that hasn't been counted. He is correct - I've actually spoken with landlords who rent their properties at what would be considered affordable rates.
Selectman Murphy stated that we'll never get to the state required 10 percent. He, too, is probably correct, given that market rate housing is also being built, which keeps pushing the magic number (of units needed) further and further out.
Unfortunately, both arguments are irrelevant to Webster Woods and affordable housing in general.
The Affordable Housing Development Plan was approved by the selectmen and Planning Board last fall. In it, Falmouth has committed to creating 72 units of affordable housing each year for the next five years. If we can accomplish this goal, the state will allow us more control over where and how 40B developments are built.
Those 72 units per year equal 1/2 of 1 percent - a total of 2.5 percent. So, contrary to what Selectman Murphy implied, we are not trying to reach 10 percent, but rather a small fraction of that.
And while there may be uncounted numbers of affordable housing units in Falmouth, the fact is that it doesn't matter. The state only considers deed restricted properties to be affordable, so even if every property in Falmouth was sold or rented at an affordable rate, if it's not in the deed, it doesn't count.
In the end, the article failed. Absent a poll of every town meeting representative who voted no, there may be no way of knowing why, but I hope that these misleading facts didn't play a part.
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