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Advocates pitch site for homes
by Peter Crabtree
Herald Staff

DORSET — Affordable housing advocates told the District 8 Environmental Commission on Thursday that they have found the ideal site for a $4.5 million mixed-income project.

Housing Vermont is seeking an Act 250 permit to build 20 apartments and four single-family houses on Route 7A, just south of the East Dorset Cemetery.

"To me, there is no better location," Ellis Speath, the project's engineer said.

The 8.9-acre parcel is within the East Dorset Commercial and Industrial Park. It was once slated for a car dealership.

Speath emphasized the site's proximity to Route 7A, noting that project residents could take advantage of free bus service to Manchester, where jobs and shopping are available.

"I truly believe this area … needs this," Speath said. "If I were going to look for a location in Dorset … where is there a better location than this?"

The town's affordable housing committee examined about a half-dozen sites before identifying the Route 7A parcel as its best hope.

The committee has little choice, according to Ralph Colin, a Dorset resident who serves on the district Act 250 commission.

"Land is so expensive in Dorset that there are very few places … available to put a project of this magnitude," Colin said. "That's the simple answer to this."

Housing Vermont plans to build six triplex-apartment buildings and one duplex, for a total of 20 units. Four would be leased at market rates.

The remaining apartments, ranging from one to three bedrooms, would cost $500 to $800 per month, according to Town Manager Joseph Bamford.

The houses would be priced at about $150,000, according to Housing Vermont's permit application.

The project is expected to add three to four children to local schools and generate property tax revenues of about $20,000 per year for the town.

It has been designed to resemble a traditional New England neighborhood, with sloped-roof houses fronting tree-lined streets, according to architect Gary Corey. That look was criticized at a public hearing for being too uniform.

"There are economies to being able to build the same thing," Corey said. "The whole idea is to create a sense of community."

Harmony Road will provide access to the project from Route 7A. Commissioners asked if the road would be improved, saying at its worst it resembled a washboard.

"I've damn near broken axles," Colin said.

But according to Corey, Housing Vermont was looking for ways to cut project costs, and so the road may have to stay gravel. "We're battling that now in the budget," the architect said.

The project will add few cars to Route 7A and thus a traffic study is unnecessary, according to Corey. Nor is it necessary to build another lane for traffic to enter the highway safely. The sight distances at the Harmony Road intersection "go on forever," Corey said.

Housing Vermont hopes to break ground in the late spring or early summer and have the project complete in six to eight months. Nancy Owens, the agency's vice president for development, assured the commission that the property would be maintained once residents were living there.

"We have a plan in place and money attached to that plan," Owens said.

Contact Peter Crabtree at peter.crabtree@rutlandherald.com.