WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The board of the town's Affordable Housing Trust agreed last week to contribute up to $30,000 toward the Planning Board's efforts to create a new comprehensive plan.

 

The trustees convened their Feb. 16 meeting as a joint session of the trust and the Affordable Housing Committee. Last year, the seven-member trust board was appointed as the Affordable Housing Committee, which has been defunct for several years.

 

It needed to act as the committee because the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee was seeking the funds from an account dedicated to the inactive committee but on the books for about 10 years as the result of a vote at town meeting.

 

The old Affordable Housing Committee had about $53,000 in its coffers when it stopped meeting several years back; that figure currently is about $59,000, Andy Hogeland told his fellow trustees. The trust's board needed to be appointed as the AHC in order to access those funds.

 

Planning Board member Stephanie Boyd, who co-chairs the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee, explained the need for an infusion of funds from the housing committee.

 

"A significant portion of the comprehensive plan we're working on will be devoted to housing issues," Boyd said. "If you've been following the Planning Board, you know housing has been a hot topic. We feel we will be able to make better decisions with respect to housing and zoning with this type of work. We think it will make an impact on the town."

 

Boyd said the town has a contract with a municipal planning consultant to do $180,000 worth of work on the comprehensive plan, which is expected to be completed in spring 2023.

 

At the 2021 annual town meeting, attendees agreed to spend $100,000 on what was then known as the Master Plan process. Williams College has contributed $50,000 toward the project. That leaves a $30,000 shortfall, Boyd said.

 

Some members of the AHT/AHC had reservations about devoting the funds to the planning project when they could potentially be spent on direct housing assistance, as has been the Affordable Housing Trust's practice.

 

"I'm not sure where I want to go," Hogeland said. "I like the idea of supporting the comprehensive plan. … My own bias is I'd rather spend the money on building housing or acquiring property or something. The study is valuable. The request is reasonable. But it seems more than I'm normally comfortable with."

 

Liz Costley noted that the $30,000 sought for the planning consultant was the equivalent of two of the Affordable Housing Trust's DeMayo Mortgage Assistance Program grants for first-time homebuyers.

 

Costley and Hogeland both ended up voting in the minority of a 5-2 vote to grant the $30,000 request. Hogeland noted while voting that he likely would have voted "yes" for a smaller appropriation, but no motion was made to fund the comprehensive plan at a lower level.

 

Daniel Gura, who serves on both the Affordable Housing Trust and the Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee, said he was happy to abstain from the former body's vote if anyone perceived a conflict, but he ended up joining the discussion and voting in the majority to grant the request.

 

"I'm always a little wary of saving for the future for something that might happen when we have something we know is happening," Gura said.

 

Both Hogeland and town planner Andrew Groff told the AHT/AHC that the time the consultants spend on the housing portion of the comprehensive plan will be greater than 17 percent – the percentage of the total contract that the housing panel was asked to contribute.

 

Costley, who ultimately voted against the request, said at one point that she needs to consider the question from the perspective of the Affordable Housing Committee, which, when it was active, joined the nascent Affordable Housing Trust in funding a housing needs assessment from consultant John Ryan of Development Cycles in 2013.

 

AHT members Tom Sheldon and Ruth Harrison each noted during the discussion how valuable the housing needs assessment has been to the trust in its work.

 

"I think such a collaborative planning effort … is bigger than the Ryan Report," Groff said. "That was numbers and data. This takes the next step and asks how do we want to address our critical housing needs in the community and will identify how the Trust itself can play a critical role. It can help more cleanly define your role for the next 10, 15, 20 years."

 

In other business on Wednesday, the Affordable Housing Trust board voted to send the Select Board warrant articles for May's annual town meeting to help clarify the powers of the trust and remove a requirement that one trustee be a member of the now-defunct Affordable Housing Committee.

 

And, at the end of the meeting, Sheldon, the board's chair, announced that Stan Parese and Costley will be stepping down from the seven-person panel at the end of June. Sheldon encouraged anyone interested in serving the Affordable Housing Trust to reach out to a current member of the board or anyone at town hall about applying. The town's Government Engagement form is available here.