Facing a September 3 deadline to submit articles to the October Town Meeting warrant, the Westfield Review Committee on Monday night finalized wording on a citizen's petition article recommending the Westfield affordable housing project as well as discussed how to best update statistics for a conjoined affordable housing report.

The committee expressed hope that the two-pronged approach - offering a report in conjunction with a citizen's petition with their recommendation to develop affordable housing on the town-owned Westfield parcel, provided that the remaining acreage of the parcel be set aside for recreation and open space - would accomplish several objectives.

First, they hoped to educate residents on why they chose to recommend the project - a project that was defeated at this spring's Town Meeting by five votes and at previous town meetings been sent back for further review three times.  The review committee, the first to be appointed specifically to do the studying, was formed at this spring's Town Meeting after the article was defeated.

This need for education was demonstrated in discussion with guest Pamela Sequeira, executive director of the Wareham Housing Authority.

Sequeira said that many of the current residents of senior affordable housing felt that approving Westfield would mean that they would be forced to leave their current homes.

"You need to get the message out that this is not an either/or for them," said Sequeira.  "Any time they read or hear something about Westfield, they want to know if they will have to move."

Committee Chair Jane Donahue (also chair of the Board of Selectmen) emphasized that this was not the case.

"Our intention is not to displace anybody but to serve a population in need," Donahue insisted.  She urged that the committee not only work to better educate current residents at senior-housing facilities Agawam Village and Redwood Park, but also that they try and better reach the people who were currently not served by subsidized housing.

This echoed the committee's second goal in presenting a conjoined report and citizen's petition article: to demonstrate that the town has a tremendous unmet need for affordable housing.

Specifically, the committee focused on seniors who are younger than 60, the minimum age to qualify for senior affordable housing, and seniors who make too much money to qualify for affordable housing that is currently available but not enough to afford a private home or rental.

"Nobody is talking about other seniors who are in that demographic," said committee member and Council on Aging Director Richard Boucher.  "Even if Agawam Village and Redwood Park were expanded, there's a whole demographic that wouldn't be served."

Finally, the committee needs to complete an Request for Proposal for potential developers.  Even more important than the wording on the warrant article, this document ensures that developers meet certain requirements in line with the town's needs.

For example, Sequeira recommended that this include language for a town representative to oversee the selection process to ensure that Wareham residents have first shot at the new units.

The committee hopes that their further research on the town's affordable housing needs will yield similar suggestions to incorporate into the document, and they plan to start developing a questionnaire on affordable-housing needs at their next meeting on September 13.