Community Input To Be Sought On Affordable Housing Project In North Falmouth
Local affordable housing developer Michael B. Galasso recently provided an update on a 31-acre project in North Falmouth, saying the project is progressing well and he is looking to engage the community in the planning process later this summer.
The 31 acres were up for purchase in December. The town chose to pass on exercising its right of first refusal and instead allowed the property, which has a sale price of $2,995,000, to be purchased by Mr. Galasso, with the condition that he be ready to close on the project in two years.
The first step, Mr. Galasso said, was getting a phase one environmental report for the project. The report has been completed and is undergoing final modifications.
“What’s really planned going ahead is to start engaging the neighborhood and the community, and we’ll probably do that later this summer,” Mr. Galasso said. “We like to start with a clean slate; I don’t like going into community meetings and telling them what we’re going to do, I want to hear from them.”
Some community input has already been received from neighbors in the area of what was formerly known as the Ballymeade Country Club, now the Cape Club. Those neighbors expressed their desires for a local grocer in the area, which is now being considered for the project. Other things being considered are a nature trail and a co-working space for residents.
“What we’re looking at is a mixed-use, mixed-income development with rental apartments, first-time homebuyers [and] single-family homes,” Mr. Galasso said. “We want to do something that’s going to be net-zero energy, so it will have renewable energy and create enough energy to power the units and the homes that will be there.”
The site itself is a challenge; it is located right off Route 151 and poses traffic issues, in addition to the tough terrain of the site, which abuts a railroad and contains a power easement through the property. Thanks to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, Mr. Galasso was able to work with a team of architectural design students from the Boston area over the winter as part of the organization’s annual affordable housing design competition.
“Our site was one of six selected throughout New England to compete in that competition,” Mr. Galasso said. “[It] was a lot of fun working with the students…. They came up with a great concept of using underneath that power easement as an amenity for the project as far as a nature walk or trail through the property. That was a lot of fun working with them, they came up with some great ideas.”
Students in the competition have only six weeks to put together a proposal, so while it is not a fully detailed plan that is ready to be implemented, it serves its purpose of getting the students thinking and showing them what really goes on behind the scenes. After the competition, students are invited to stay on with the project to see it through to completion.
“It’s great working with the students,” Mr. Galasso said. “These are obviously very bright, very talented students and it gives them an opportunity to see what it takes to put together an affordable housing project.”
The goal is to make the 31-acre parcel into a prime example of a modern, accessible mixed-use project. Since it will be a Chapter 40B development, Mr. Galasso said he is hoping to have a submission into the zoning board of appeals by late fall or early winter, following his community outreach with the Ballymeade community and the North Falmouth Village Association. He also mentioned making the project an LIP, or local initiative program, in partnership with the town, in an effort to increase accessibility and involve more people.
“That’s how we like to put together a project,” he said. “I don’t like to do a project and go to a community and say ‘this is it.’ I like to involve them at the very beginning so that when we then go to the ZBA and the other folks that we have to get approval from, they had a chance to put input into the project and hopefully we gained their support.”