White River Junction
“We’re looking at a set of 12 townhouse units in the front of the property, with parking and a community garden in the middle, and in the back, a 28-unit building with parking underneath,” said Andrew Winter, executive director of Twin Pines, which directly manages about 390 rental units in the area.
Winter said Twin Pines has an option to purchase the 6-acre property, which includes an old hayfield near Lily Pond Road.
Winter said abutters have been notified of the project, and that he hopes to submit a formal application to the Hartford Department of Planning and Development Services for a building permit in early 2017.
The new project, which is being co-developed with Housing Vermont, a Burlington-based nonprofit, would include 12 units that will be open to those who make 50 percent of the median income (currently $73,200 for a family of four in Windsor County); 20 units for those who make 60 percent, four units for those who make 80 percent and four units at market price.
Funding sources have not yet been identified, but Winter said Twin Pines’ projects typically are financed with a blend of income sources, including low-income tax credits from the Vermont Housing Finance Authority and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board.
In a preliminary sketch plan review before the Hartford Planning Commission earlier this month, commission members indicated that they were “satisfied with the proposed amenities: play area, open space and a community garden,” according to meeting minutes. Members also suggested that the project be built in a way that would connect trails to abutting lands, protect Lily Pond, which lies downhill, from runoff, and maintain a pedestrian walkway to Lily Pond Road.
The project is the latest in a flurry of development activity in the Sykes Mountain Avenue neighborhood, which includes a commercial industrial zone that falls within a state-designated regional growth center on the south side of the street as well as the edges of the residential neighborhood that begins on the north side of the street and extends to downtown White River Junction.
Recent activity in the area includes the completion of a $2.2 million Riverbank Church, an expansion for White River Toyota, and another proposed housing development nearby.
Municipal planners are working to grow the neighborhood’s infrastructure at a pace commensurate with the development activity, with projects in the works to build a sidewalk and bike lanes along the north side of Sykes Mountain Avenue, a pair of roundabouts at the juncture of Sykes Mountain Avenue and Route 5, and sewer and road upgrades in the area.
That kind of economic activity is usually welcomed by communities, but it comes with a significant cost to renters who risk being priced out of the market, Winter said.
“Despite a modest effort to add units to the marketplace, we continue to trail what economists tell us is the overall need for new housing units in our region,” Winter said. “As a result, we continue to see landlords in a position where they can raise rents, particularly for units that are in good shape.”
The end result, Winter said, is low vacancy rates and higher rents.
Because Hartford is part of an employment hub that includes Hanover and Lebanon, it is more sensitive to these pressures than other areas of the Twin States, as demonstrated by a housing report released earlier this year by the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority.
The median gross rent in Grafton County is $1,134, more than anywhere in the state save the coastal counties of Hillsborough and Rockingham.
Over the past five years, the state as a whole “has seen almost a 15 percent increase in rents including utilities for two-bedroom apartments,” according to the report.
Just a few properties up the hill from the Twin Pines project, developer Earle Simpson, of Norwich, who has built several high-end housing complexes in the area, is working to build The Aventine, an 88-unit, $6.4 million residential development in four buildings with an entrance on Hickory Ridge Road.
Though it’s targeting a different demographic than the Housing Trust, Winter said he welcomes the Simpson development.
“For long-term economic viability, it is important that we as a region address the demand for housing units at all price ranges, so that it’s an attractive place for businesses to locate and expand. Businesses need to have employees who can afford to live where the jobs are,” he said.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.