Housing Subcommittee to Review Draft of Updated Comprehensive Plan

In its last meeting before the start of the summer, the Westwood Comprehensive Master Plan Steering Committee's discussed Tuesday areas of town where new housing could be developed at some point in the future.

The committee met with members of the Westwood Planning Board to take discussions a step further after several articles they brought before in May were approved. 

"We passed four new bylaw sections, each of which have some housing component," said Town Planner Norah Loughnane Tuesday night. (For a full description of the bylaws, .)

One article of note that was approved at Town Meeting was in relation to a new zoning bylaw that would allow residential development in certain buildings along High Street, a move that was prompted after a proposal came forward to reuse the .

"(The bylaw is for) both sides of the street, as long as (the building) is town-owned," Wiggin said. "That's a considerable progress in terms of some things this committee has talked about."

Tuesday's meeting - the subcommittee's last before a summer recess, after which the subcommittee will reconvene to read an initial draft to be apart of the new Comprehensive Master Plan - was aimed at discussing areas in town where new housing units could be developed. 

The discussion on what types of housing that would benefit Westwood has been ongoing for months, and the group is no poised to look at where in the area those developments could take place.

"We talked in some detail about senior residential housing, what happened in the past and what changes need to take place," Planning Board Secretary Jack Wiggin told the Subcommittee Tuesday. "You've been involved right from the beginning, so you know what we're doing."

The Housing Subcommittee is one of five subcommittees of the Comprehensive Master Plan Steering Committee, which was assembled after a  last October that aimed at gaining perspective on how to update the town's Comprehensive Master Plan, which was adopted in 2000.

The two-year process looks to hold several discussions through meetings with the subcommittees and the Steering Committee in order to update the plan and shape the future of Westwood in various areas:

• Community Character (to see members,click here)
• Community Services, Facilities and Recreation (to see members, click here)
• Housing (to see members, click here)
• Open Space, Natural and Historical Resources (to see members, click here)
• Transportation (to see members, click here)
• Economic Development (to see members,click here)

Wiggin said Tuesday that the discussions have garnered an abundance of ideas and information enough to be able to reach the stage of composing an initial updated draft of the housing portion of the new Comprehensive Master Plan. 

The Housing Subcommittee, subsequently, will be able to review the draft come the end of the summer or in September, Wiggin said. The updated draft will only be for the housing portion of the Comprehensive Plan.

"We've sort of opened the door a bit to see whether the kinds of things the committee has talked about would work," Wiggin said. "There's always plenty of room to move further than that."

Much of the discussion focused on whether or not downtown Islington could be a prime location for further residential development, either for senior housing or housing that would include attached or detached units.

"It seems to me the question is what are the characteristics of the area that we can imagine a single family type might be appropriate," said Wiggin. "Where can you imagine some of this housing working and fitting into the neighborhood in a way the people in the area would find acceptable?"

Westwood Housing Authority member Jill Onerdonk mentioned that, at one point in the past, the  was looked at for residential development. 

Several of the members agreed that the area is a prime location, aesthetically, for such housing to take root.

"I think that Islington is a smart growth location by definition," said subcommittee member Barbara McDonald. 

But despite the appeal for the area visually, it was also mentioned that it might be difficult to realize. 

"Anything other than a single family, at least visually from the street, is not going to fit the landscape," said Subcommittee member Ed Musto. "But if you can somehow buffer it from the street, I mean isn't that more appealing to the town, to the community?"

All of the discussions will be considered by the Steering Committee and Planning Board, Wiggin said, and will be reviewed again at the end of the summer or early fall as the updating process continues. 

"We have sufficient input to create that draft," said Wiggin. "We will work off the policies of the past plan, and what we'll do is produce a draft section of the plan, then have the committee back to review that and make sure we agree with what we've put in. We have plenty to work with."