Column / Champion: Quality housing in East Milton Square is needed and will aid business
Columns share an author’s personal perspective and are often based on facts in the newspaper’s reporting.
Milton is a beautiful town and a great place to live. We have great schools, great parks, and great neighborhoods with wonderful neighbors and leaders who have always lived up to our moral responsibilities. We demonstrated that when we pledged to make education a priority and we provided our children with new schools. Let’s not stop there — we have more work to do.
Housing is a necessity. Living up to our responsibilities means we look for ways to adhere to rules requiring that a certain percentage of our housing meets the state’s 10 percent affordable housing guidelines. Currently, our town is far under that threshold. In fact, Milton’s housing stock is just at five percent affordable. Let’s work together to boost that number to the 10 percent required by the state. We are not alone in taking care of our responsibilities.
The Falconi family and J. Joseph Corcoran Company — local developers who care about the neighborhood and our community — are looking to build much-needed housing on an underutilized property in East Milton Square. The town has designated that parcel as a preferred site for increased density and possible housing expansion, in line with a master plan for the redesign of the deck over I-93.
The Corcoran/Falconi project, the Residences at East Milton, coupled with the town’s approved master plan to redevelop and improve East Milton Square, will help keep the neighborhood a pedestrian-friendly shopping and retail district. It will take a big step toward helping the town meet its affordable housing requirement while creating density to support our retail businesses.
In all, 25 percent of the 111 units at the site will be deemed affordable, meaning that a single person making approximately $63,000 a year — such as a new teacher, police officer, firefighter or State Street employee — will qualify. The other 75 percent will be market rate. The development will create quality new units for young couples, single professionals and empty nesters looking to downsize but stay in Milton. It will also create opportunities for our young people returning from college who can’t afford to live in the town where they grew up. We need this type of new housing so our children don’t lose the opportunity to live, support and thrive in the community they love.
The Residences at East Milton will bring in residents who would rather walk to local restaurants, the grocery store, pharmacy and other services, which will add to the vibrancy of the town’s greatest commercial asset without additional traffic and parking concerns.
Other proposed 40B developments in town are not near commercial amenities and will increase density in rural neighborhoods, while adding vehicles to the overall traffic flow across town and in East Milton especially.
Milton’s tax base is painfully reliant on residents. Supporting local businesses in East Milton Square, as this development will do, will ensure that the area remains a thriving economic hub that will fuel the city’s tax coffers for many years to come. Without more diverse housing opportunities in East Milton Square, the neighborhood will suffer and taxpayers will pay more in the long run. Already we see how Amazon and other big box stores put small retail out of business. The mom and pop stores in East Milton need residents who will shop local.
Supporting smart, targeted development in East Milton Square will meet the town’s obligations, comply with the towns’ own master plan and help Milton grow responsibly.
Linda Champion is an attorney and community housing advocate.
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Originally published at https://www.patriotledger.com.
