The Wellesley Planning Board on Dec. 2 revived discussion of the town establishing a coordinator position to handle its seemingly endless housing-related initiatives. One approach would be to seek Community Preservation Committee (CPC) funds to support a part-time position on a three-year trial basis, and possibly even get Annual Town Meeting to buy into it this coming spring.
The Board has discussed this topic at least as far back as two years ago, and we wrote about it in February of 2023 (“Does Wellesley need a housing coordinator?”). The town’s 2018 Housing Production Plan, now in the process of being succeeded by a strategic housing plan, called for creation of a coordinator to take a proactive approach to housing.
Consideration of a housing coordinator in town emerged as Wellesley was also mulling creation of a transportation coordinator, and the latter idea has won out initially. Wellesley recently hired a mobility manager to report to the executive director after Town Meeting earlier this year approved spending on this additional headcount. Discussion about the potential positions addressed the fact that there might be lots of crossover between them.
Planning Board Chair Tom Taylor shared an overview of the housing coordinator concept at the Dec. 2 meeting (see Wellesley Media recording about 36 minutes in). He said a working group consisting of elected officials, town employees, and volunteers has been researching how Wellesley might go about establishing such a position, and determining what the hire would do. They’ve been benchmarking what other communities are doing in this area. In Wellesley, the coordinator would likely report to the planning director, though the position is set up differently in other towns and cities.
Wellesley is still trying to figure out what the role of a housing coordinator might be, Taylor said, “in that housing’s a complex system that runs across many boards and committees.” The idea is that the coordinator would be the “glue” that facilitates affordable and other housing efforts across town, he said. More specifically, this could include working with the Wellesley Housing Authority on the redevelopment of the Barton Road housing complex, evaluating Haynes and other privately-owned properties for potential purchase as housing sites, and being involved in possible uses of town-owned land such as the North 40 for affordable housing. Helping the town secure grants, including those made available through the state’s big new Affordable Homes Act, would also be a fit.
Discussion of this position comes in the wake of a Special Town Meeting in which MBTA Communities Act-related articles were approved, but other zoning articles that would have paved the way for multifamily housing developments in Lower Falls did not despite Planning Board and Select Board support. Takeaways from those results were that the community wants the town, rather than developers, to take the lead on housing strategy (the new strategic housing plan should be done in coming months). It also made apparent to town leaders that they need to do a better job of educating the community about housing needs, from the economics of it to the ins and outs of zoning and permitting.
During Planning Board discussion, member Jim Roberti said he’s supportive of the position but reluctant to try to get it through Town Meeting this time around. Still recovering from the zoning articles that got shot down in the fall, he said the position might have a better chance of being approved after the strategic housing plan is in place and once the job description and salary are firmed up (he cited pay equity concerns with the initial proposal of a $50K-$60K part-time job paying about a much as some full-time jobs in the department).
Hiring a part-time person for the job would be a concern, said Board member Patty Mallett, who fears the hire might not stick around for long if a full-time gig came along.
There are also some concerns about about how CPC funds could be used by the town to hire a housing coordinator (there are lots of rules about how the town can spend these funds, raised through a property tax surcharge to support affordable housing, open space, and other projects). Other communities do use CPC funds to supporting housing coordinator roles, so there is optimism that Wellesley can do likewise as long as its careful.
No decision was made at the Planning Board meeting on the housing coordinator proposal, and the Board will revisit the issue when the rest of its members are available to weigh in.
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