Elm Place proposal gets thumbs down from Swampscott selectmen
128-unit residential building too large for site
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The Swampscott Board of Selectmen has chosen not to support WinnCompanies’ 128-unit housing development proposed for the town, voting to express its opposition to the residential project’s current iteration in a so-called site-eligibility letter to the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.
The selectmen’s site-eligibility letter to the state comes as WinnDevelopment undertakes a process to obtain a Chapter 40B comprehensive permit and state financing to construct the 152,000-square-foot building with 109 parking spaces at 21 Elm Place.
Opposition to Elm Place project coalesces in Swampscott
Leigh Blander / Correspondent
Two new grass-roots groups are fighting a proposed five-story, 128-unit affordable housing project on Elm Place, saying the apartment complex is simply too big for the neighborhood and the town.
“It’s a behemoth,” said Anne Driscoll, chair of the Swampscott for Equity Association. “It’s a $60 million project and we re the ones that will be living with it. We need to slow down the process and take a breath. Everything has been happening at lightning speed.”
Driscoll’s group is calling for an independent study of the project and is hiring an attorney.