Neighbors aren’t happy about affordable housing plans for 25 Worcester Street

Back in June 2020, Town Meeting enthusiastically approved the transfer of a long-empty vacant lot near Grafton Common to the Affordable Housing Trust to be developed as affordable senior housing.

As the trust examines renderings of what that housing might look like, however, neighbors near the site are alarmed by the thought of three story buildings holding 20-60 housing units.

“There needs to be architectural consideration for not diminishing the character of our Common periphery, which is a valuable treasure for the whole town, increasing our aesthetics, desirability, comfort, and property values,” Mark Blazis wrote in response to the trust’s first viewing of concept art. “Doing this development out of character would be a permanent, ugly scar for our whole town. Adding substantially more people will prove a burden to us all. The suggestion to add large numbers of people in many units transparently would benefit a few, of course — but not our community, which will experience more congestion, need for more service providers, more traffic, and diminishment of the charming qualities that have made Grafton so desirable. If construction must go up, there definitely should be no more than three two-family residences — limited to fifty-five and over seniors. We don’t want to have to build yet another school.”

The plot of land in question, 25 Worcester Street, is a 2.3 acre empty lot with a valuation of $143,200, according to the town accessors. It was sold to the town in 1899 for $3,500 to build the town’s second high school, later called the Norcross Annex.

The lot has been vacant since the building was torn down in 1980, save for a curving driveway frequently used for parking by neighbors and Grafton Common area businesses. It had been proposed as a site for the Grafton Fire Department (now on Upton Road) and floated as a home for the proposed Super Park. The Board of Selectmen at the time rejected it for the Super Park, suggesting it would better be used for affordable housing.

Grafton is now 335 units away from the goal of having affordable housing make up 10 percent of the town’s housing stock. Under Chapter 40B, developers may propose high-density housing plans and bypass zoning restrictions if the town is under the threshold and the project contains 20 to 25 percent affordable units. 

The concepts the trust are now reviewing include (see possible site plans in the slideshow above):

Option A: Three three-story buildings with a total of 60 affordable apartment units;

Option B: Four three-story buildings, one with 20 apartment units, the other three making up 15 townhome units;

Option C: Two three-story buildings with 40 senior housing apartment units;

Option D: Four buildings, 20 senior housing townhome units.

Letters to the trust cite traffic on Worcester Street and the impact the new housing would have on the aesthetics of the Common area. Several suggested that the property be used for a playground, dog park, splash pad, or public garden (to see full letters, see the attached file).

“This site is unsafe,” wrote Ron Warwick. “It’s on a curve, it’s on a hill, and it’s on a state highway. If safety were a major factor in the town not placing the new fire station at this site, then why would it not be a factor in placing seniors there? If these issues were pointed out to the voters at the 2020 Annual Town Meeting I believe they would probably not have transferred the property. Don’t allow momentum to force you to make a bad decision.”

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