Hanover
Summer Park is an affordable housing facility with 24 units located on town-owned land between Lebanon Street and South Park Street. Built in the 1970s, the complex across from Hanover High School lacks elevators and modern energy-efficiency measures, and Twin Pines hopes to remedy that and make other improvements.
Summer Park is a “decent, safe place to live that’s convenient to the senior center and public transportation and all that Hanover has to offer,” said Andrew Winter, Twin Pines executive director.
Although estimates still are preliminary, with construction more than a year off — assuming that Twin Pines meets all of its funding goals — Summer Park’s capacity could rise to between 28 and 30 housing units, Winter said.
The existing 24 units are subsidized under Section 8 and are available to residents earning 50 percent of the Grafton County median income, or $25,550 for a household of one, according to a chart provided by Winter. Any new units likely would not be subsidized, but still would be affordable housing, he said.
Winter said further expansion could take place on other nearby pieces of town-owned land, depending on financing and the town’s willingness to use the parcels for that purpose.
Although the town of Hanover owns Summer Park, the Lebanon Housing Authority manages the property. Winter said it wasn’t yet clear how the facility would be managed under Twin Pines.
Current Summer Park residents must be 62 or older, or 18 or older if disabled, according to the LHA’s website.
Hanover Selectboard members on Monday voted, 5-0, in favor of an option agreement that supports Twin Pines’ bid to secure loans and other financing for the project.
In order to succeed in a competitive round of applications for loans with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, Twin Pines has to demonstrate “site control” over the area where it hopes to use the money, Winter said.
To that end, the Hanover Selectboard demonstrated its support for a land transfer that residents will have to approve at 2018 Town Meeting. This preliminary approval will allow Twin Pines to enter the upcoming application round this September and get a head start on the financing process.
The loan from the Boston bank, in turn, would bolster Twin Pines’ anticipated application, in 2018, for federal affordable housing tax credits, which would make up the bulk of the financing and are distributed by state officials in New Hampshire.
“Sounds good to me,” a board member said after Winter described his plans during Monday’s meeting.
“I do remember we did vote to support this transfer,” Chairman Peter Christie said, according to a recording of the meeting. “Now we’re kind of taking the next step.”
Monday’s Selectboard vote is only the latest of many steps in Twin Pines’ quest to begin work at Summer Park.
In May, voters at Town Meeting approved changes to zoning that allow greater density for senior housing in the surrounding district, as well as decreased requirements for onsite parking.
Assuming Twin Pines succeeds in all of its financing applications and in the subsequent permitting process before municipal officials, Winter said, construction could begin in the first half of 2019.
“It’s a lengthy process,” Winter said, “but we’re very excited to be moving forward.”
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.