Affordable housing, walking trails request funding at Town Meeting
Apr 11, 2023
The Woodland Cove housing project is currently under construction on Cranberry Highway. Photo by: Wes Cipolla
Construction has only just begun on the Littleton Drive housing project. Photo by: Wes Cipolla
A diagram of the planned renovation of Bayview Park in Onset. File photo
A map showing the trails and the pieces of land owned by the Wareham Land Trust and the Onset Water District. Image courtesy: Wareham Land Trust
Voters at Town Meeting will decide whether various businesses and organizations will receive over $1 million in Community Preservation Commission funding for affordable housing projects and walking trails throughout town.
Community Preservation Commission funds are a combination of local and state revenue which must be used for affordable housing, historic preservation or open space.
Town Meeting will be held in the Elementary School “cafetorium” on Monday, April 24 at 7 p.m.
The biggest price tag voters will have to approve is $1,080,000, which Town Administrator Derek Sullivan is requesting for the renovation of Bayview Park in Onset.
Speaking to the Select Board in January, Sullivan said that the revamped park would have a widened sidewalk, more walkways, accessible paths that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, increased lighting and new landscaping.
The Pennrose development company is requesting $300,000 in funds for its $45 million affordable housing project on Littleton Drive. The project will consist of 93 housing units and a community center. The project is being built on town-owned land, which Pennrose signed a 99-year-lease on in March.
The Dakota Partners development company is requesting $400,000 for Woodland Cove, its own affordable housing project on Cranberry Highway near the intersection with Red Brook Road. The project is currently under construction. Some buildings are ready for people to live in, but 63 more rental units are planned. Forty-eight of those units will be set aside for those making 60% of Wareham’s median income. Nine are set aside for those making 30%.
The Wareham Land Trust is requesting $48,000 to purchase 12 acres of conservation land, also near Red Brook Road. The land will be used to unite a series of abandoned walking trails on property owned by the Land Trust and the Onset Water District.
In February, Wareham Week reported that the owners of three historic properties — the Depot Train Station (owned by Depot Auto), the Tremont Nail Factory office building (owned by the Town of Wareham) and the West Wareham School (owned by Patricia A. McArdle & Associates PC) — were requesting preservation funds. All three have since withdrawn the requests, and they will not be voted on at this month’s Town Meeting.
