To the Editor,
Greg Federspiel, MBTS Town Administrator, raises important points regarding the DPW garage site on Pleasant Street, and possible future new uses (“Long-Range Facility Planning”, Manchester Cricket, August 16).
In a recent presentation to the Select Board, the Manchester Affordable Housing Trust (MAHT) emphasized approving community affordable housing on the Pleasant Street site. For many years the MAHT, working with the Housing Authority (HA), have identified the site as critical in the comprehensive development plan to create new units, and possibly rehab current units, at the HA’s sites at Newport Park, The Plains and Loading Place Road.
When developers did not respond to a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the sites in 2022, a primary reason stated was insufficient land for feasible unit density—at the time the Pleasant Street site, because of its uncertain status, was not included in the RFP.
In the past year, MAHT and HA have been working with Boston-based developer Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH), a respondent to a Request for Qualifications in 2023. In providing guidance to improve the development plan feasibility – and prepare HA/MAHT for a new RFP-POAH indicated land availability is a major impediment to a developer response. The shortage of vacant land for the plan—there is insufficient available land at the HA sites to support a feasible development—reduces the number of units possible and makes the plan infeasible. Likely state and private financing will not be possible with development solely at the HA sites. Without additional land the HA/MAHT plan will likely remain infeasible and without a developer.
Approving a housing use on Pleasant Street and including the site in the HA/MAHT housing plan, is crucial to the town and its housing goals. The HA/MAHT development plan is the town’s best ambition to meet important state affordable unit metrics and provide needed senior and mixed income housing. Going forward, I urge the Town and Select Board to approve housing on the Pleasant Street site.
John Feuerbach, Chairperson, MAHT
