Funding for a home for adults with special needs, to help build a 138 unit affordable housing complex, and to replace the elevator at a historic home owned by the City of Watertown were approved by the City Council Tuesday night.
The three projects came recommended from the Community Preservation Committee. The funds come from the Community Preservation Act (CPA) surcharge on Watertown properties, which are to be spent in three areas: affordable housing, historic preservation, and open space/outdoor recreation. For each area, 10 percent of the funds collected go into a reserve. Another 5 percent can go to administrative expenses, and the remaining 65 percent goes into a general reserve that can be spent on projects in any of the three areas.
Group Home
The cost of the group home at 108 Nichols Ave., which includes five bedrooms, is $2.5 million. It will be owned by Nichols LLC and the Watertown Housing Authority Development Corporation (WHDC).
The Watertown Housing Authority raised $1 million, and the CPC recommended appropriating $1.5 million of funds from the CPC’s housing reserve funds.
The project took many years to get final approval, noted Councilor Tony Palomba. Allen Gallagher, interim chair of the Community Preservation Committee, said that there were a few factors for the length of the process.
“In the first couple of years, certain people were throwing roadblocks in our way. And it took us a while,” Gallagher said.
One of the main objections, Gallagher said, was concerns that the site was polluted.
“Some of us, and Mr. (Dennis) Duff here and I, used to go down that neighborhood when we were kids, it was a gas station,” Gallagher said. “And when the Housing Authority bought it, it was remediated. So, there was a lot of brouhaha about that: ‘You can’t build any kind of a home on this type of a lot. It’s not clean.’ Well, we had to prove it three times, at our cost of two additional times, so that that drew things out for a couple of years.”
Duff, who is also a member of the Community Preservation Committee, added: “Our committee is not there to rubber stamp projects because they’re popular. We have a grave of responsibility to make sure what we pass is very appropriate. I don’t want to put anyone in any kind of housing that could be dangerous.”
The cost of the project was another subject of debate. Councilor Lisa Feltner asked why it cost so much. Joe Bednar, from the Cambridge Housing Authority, was a consultant on the project. He said he has seen similar costs for projects in Cambridge and is what is seen in public construction.
He added that the house may sound like a typical home, but there are more requirements with it being public housing.
“This very much looks like a single family home. … It’s wood construction, nothing special, but it is built to a higher standard. There’s fire protection, sprinkler systems, generator connection — things that you wouldn’t typically have in a single family home,” Bednar said. “But beyond that, and the existing requirement for prevailing wage. I think those are the main cost drivers.”
Councilor Nicole Gardner said she is glad to see the project getting funded, having followed it for many years.
“When I first was elected was when the first community engagement meeting was held,” Gardner said. “And I remember the excitement in the room, not only from the residents in my district where this property sits, but from people who have families with disabilities, etc., about the possibility of having a, you know, a house like this built, and I view this as really meeting every single thing that the CPC is designed to do.”
Feltner asked whether Watertown residents would be the ones living in the home. Jackie Sullivan, executive director of the Watertown Housing Authority, said that there is a local preference but there is not a guarantee.
The Department of Developmental Services (DDS) manages the list for people who will live in the group home. The DDS goes through an extensive background process to figure out who would be best suited for the home, Sullivan said, including speaking to caretakers, family, and each client.
“The mission of DDS is geared towards preferences for people within the community, but the fact of local preference, like there will be three residents that are from Watertown, we can’t commit to that,” Sullivan said.
The Council unanimously approved the funds for the group home on Nichols Avenue.
Willow Park
The Council also approved $2 million to go toward the affordable housing project known as Willow Park at 8 Quimby St. The total cost of the project is $121 million, Gallagher said, and will include demolishing 60 existing units and creating a new building with 78 more units (138 total).
The $2 million in Community Preservation funds is on top of $4 million previously approved by the City Council. Gallagher said the money is helping to replace funds that were lost.
“We have gotten to the point where, unfortunately, the state, and with the financial picture of the federal and the state government, (the project) lost a couple of million dollars,” Gallagher said.
Councilor Vincent Piccirilli recommended adding the stipulation for the funding, as was done with the previous allocation, that it is based on the condition that the rest of the funding be secured for the project.
City Council President Mark Sideris said he looks forward to the Willow Park project being built.
“I can’t wait to see this get going, and hopefully this can get going sooner rather than later,” Sideris said. “This is a much larger project which has a much bigger effect on a lot more people, and I think it’s really worthy, and I’m fully supportive of adding additional $2 million to help move the process along. And hopefully our state delegation can help us move that part of the process along as well.”
The Council approved the project unanimously, with $1 million coming from the housing reserve fund and $1 million from the unreserved fund.
Commander’s Mansion
Charlie Breitrose The Commander’s Mansion in Watertown.
Another $610,000 in Community Preservation funds was approved to be spent to refurbish the Commander’s Mansion, the former home of the commanding officer in charge of the U.S. Army Arsenal. The home, which opened in 1865, is now owned by the City.
A large portion of the funds, $390,000, will go to the design and upgrade of the mansion’s elevator.
“I’ve been in that building many times. I never knew where the elevator was, but, with ADA accessibility issues and so forth, you have to have it,” Gallagher said.
The project also includes work on the envelope of the house, including restoration of the windows, and landscaping. Gallagher said some of the project includes designs for future restoration work on the Commander’s Mansion, noting that this is phase one of the work.
The Council unanimously approved the funds from the Community Preservation historic preservation reserve to go to the Commander’s Mansion project.
Sideris thanked Gallagher the other members of the Community Preservation Committee for their work reviewing the projects.
“Thank you to you and your committee for all of these proposals. Thank you for considering one of the most beautiful buildings, historic buildings, in the community, and thank you for working through all the challenges you’ve had to this point for all of these proposals,” Sideris said. “And it’s good to see that we’re actually utilizing CPC money, CPA money for worthy projects.”