That specific sentence being quoted needs to be taken in context of the full paragraph from my email:
"However, because Civico has said they do not want to go through town meeting again (slide 34 of the SOTT deck linked below), the HCAWG wants to rezone the mall area through HCA, even though the acreage does *not* count towards our compliance requirement. Rezoning through HCA also means that we lose the ability to vote on actual plans/blueprints. I am not against redeveloping the mall area. However, let's not reduce our residents' input by bending to the will of a developer. Let's remember we gave Civico a $1M no-interest loan for the 15 affordable apartments in Oriole Landing, and they turned around and sold the building for $32M. Like someone else has said on this thread, it is indeed troubling." The reason I think it's troubling is *not* due to the affordability requirement (which by the way, in the case of Oriole Landing is not 15%, but 25% or 15 units out of 60). I think it is troubling because we gave a no-interest loan to a developer that very shortly afterwards offloaded said property, realizing a very substantial profit. Given the span of time elapsed between the loan and the sale, it must have been obvious to many observers that the project was more than financially viable for Civico. It is also troubling that this same developer now states they do not want to go to town meeting to redevelop the Mall, and the working group is bending over backwards to accommodate that wish by forcing this a la carte rezoning through our HCA compliance exercise. Rezoning through HCA means that the town loses the ability to vote on actual plans/blueprints for the project. We also lose the ability to control how much, if any, commercial space survives in the new development. And most troubling of all, zoning through HCA allows us to require only 10% affordable housing - we lose the ability to require more. I question the assumption that we needed to give Civico a $1M giveaway to compensate them for the concessions they had to make. For a similar project in Winchester, approved in 2022, Civico had to actually pay the town $1.5M, add more public parking and increase the number of affordable units. Winchester gave Civico a $500K loan at 5% interest, to be repaid in 13 years. Seems like we have a lot more room to negotiate with Civico than some would like us to believe. https://homenewshere.com/daily_times_chronicle/news/winchester/article_73f9c2b0-e672-11ec-8b7c-5fe0df0538d2.html On Wed, Nov 1, 2023 at 8:20 PM RAandBOB <raand...@earthlink.net> wrote: > Scott, I think your nasty tone is completely uncalled for. I did read your > post and this is what the final sentence said: > > . Let's remember we gave Civico a $1M no-interest loan for the 15 > affordable apartments in Oriole Landing, and they turned around and sold > the building for $32M. Like someone else has said on this thread, it is > indeed troubling. > > It may not be what you meant, but this statement could lead someone to > believe that it’s troubling because the 15% affordable housing disappeared > with the sale. Margaret is just clarifying that point in a very reasonable > tone. > > Ruth Ann > (She, her, hers) > > On Nov 1, 2023, at 7:01 PM, Scott Clary <scottclar...@gmail.com> wrote: > > . Let's remember we gave Civico a $1M no-interest loan for the 15 > affordable apartments in Oriole Landing, and they turned around and sold > the building for $32M. Like someone else has said on this thread, it is > indeed troubling. > >
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