By Barbara Smith,
Blogger and Social Justice Activist,
My comments are in italics purple. I am grateful that the Salem News is covering this situation….Thank-you, Julie Manganis…..
https://www.facebook.com/HWdemocrats/
SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT ASKED TO CLARIFY PERMIT PROVISIONS
The Salem News (newsmemory.com)
By Julie Manganis Staff Writer
SALISBURY — A provision of the state’s “Housing Choice” law that allows developers of affordable housing to ask that bonds of up to $50,000 be posted by opponents of a project in order to appeal a permit in court will come under scrutiny by the state’s highest court Monday.
The issue before the Supreme Judicial Court: Does the provision apply to “comprehensive permits” granted for an affordable housing project by a city or town, and if it does, shouldn’t a judge first have to make findings that an appeal is being made in bad faith?
Let’s begin with transparency. Anna Siedzik is president of the political lobby that she calls the Hamilton Wenham Human Rights Coalition (HWHRC). She is employed by Harborlight Community Partners selling housing units. Both organizations have evangelical connects to Gordon College and Gordon Conwell Seminary. Anna uses her influence on the Hamilton Wenham School Board to convince parents to join the Coalition and pretends to be working toward ending racism and hate. If you do NOT do as she dictates she calls you a “racist”, “bigot”, “anti-human rights” and a “hater”.
The issue came up during a legal challenge by neighbors of a planned 56-unit condominium development on Forest Road in Salisbury, after developer Steven Paquette asked a judge to require that the opponents post a bond to cover the cost of delays in the project due to the appeal.
Hamilton has met the legal Massachusetts 40B development requirements and is not obligated to comply with developers demands when the project is too large, too environmentally impactful, creates harmful density/traffic, unreasonable tax burdens on current residents, and unethically places previously homeless people on rural roads with no public transit or services.
Last fall, a Salem Superior Court judge ordered that the abutters post a $35,000 bond in order for their appeal to go forward. Lawyers for the group of eight abutters and nearby residents, who are appealing that order, argue that the language of the law doesn’t specifically include appeals of “comprehensive permits,” only to appeals of a “special permit, variance or site plan” and that even if lawmakers intended to include comprehensive permits, a judge should have to first find that the appeal is being made in bad faith, as well as limit the amount to a specific set of costs.
But the developer and others argue that’s a “nonsensical” misinterpretation of the statute because Chapter 40B specifically allows communities to create in effect a “one stop shop” for developers by issuing a comprehensive permit for a project.
It’s a case that is being watched closely by an unlikely coalition of housing advocates, public agencies, the real estate industry and a group that promotes economic development — all of whom, in friend of the court briefs, argue that the bond requirement is necessary in order to deter “meritless” appeals that are solely intended to hinder the construction of affordable housing.
“The developer may, and indeed frequently does, run out of resources before the case is decided on the merits, resulting in another lost opportunity to build more affordable housing across the Commonwealth,” wrote attorneys for a coalition of organizations and government entities, including the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.
When Harborlight Community Partner developers ran out of money in Beverly, the current tax-payers had to foot the bill. New residents living in nonprofit development such as the one Anna Siedzik works for do not pay real-estate taxes and the entire burden falls on the backs of middle class residents, often retired folks who make up 30% of the Hamilton population but receive next to nothing in terms of services because the School Board caters to parents. This does not make senior citizens racist, selfish nor unethical. I would rather not have to leave my home as many parents do after the children turn age 18. I want diversity and social justice in my town but the state needs to step in with the money and policy to support that. Anna Siedzik spends a lot of time lobbying in Boston. She is a lobbyist, that does not give her the right to attack all who stand in her way.
The group includes developers, housing providers and advocates, local officials, banks and mortgage lenders, as well as others, who support the creation of new housing. Among the members is Harborlight Community Partners.
OOPS, when developers run out of money….
In an affidavit filed with the SJC, Harborlight Executive Director Andrew DeFranza pointed to the nonprofit’s experience after it proposed a Chapter 40B development in Hamilton.
“After three years of working with the community and political leaders, and attending approximately 275 local meetings regarding the project, Harborlight abandoned its efforts because of the serious threat of an abutter appeal,” the brief says.
The Hamilton political leaders that Mr. DeFranza mentions are in the pocket of Anna Siedzik and her political lobby. Anna controls the Select Board and Town Manager because they don’t want to be called a “racist” as she called me. Her bullying tactics are immoral as well as effective. She is used to getting what she wants….. Hamilton has met the 40B requirements and the town still gets attacked as racist when Anna and her employer do not get what they want.
Department of Housing and Community Development officials signed onto the brief, telling the court that its mission is being “frustrated by frivolous appeals that unduly delay and interfere with affordable housing development.” The New England Legal Foundation’s Dan Winslow and John Pagliaro also submitted a brief in the case, citing the impact the state’s housing crisis has had on economic development, and why they supported the measure.
Hamilton is not obligated to solve the state and national housing crisis. People of diverse backgrounds DO live in Hamilton and I wish there were more. But these are not normal financial times. Someone bought a house on my street in May, paying over $900,000. It has no garage and a small yard and is an old house. The new residents likely have children who will attend the HW schools and expect the best athletic fields that Anna can promise. Parents can also make lots of new “social justice” friends as Anna, a political lobbyist turns rural Hamilton into a Newburyport of extreme wealth, density and urban streets. If I hadn’t bought my house 25 years ago, I surely would not be able to afford living here. It’s a state and national housing issue and calling anyone opposed to building large developments do not deserve to be called RACISTS.
Lawyers for the abutters argue, however, that the provision letting judges require a bond (which also sometimes happens in medical malpractice cases) deprives people who will be negatively affected by a project of their right to appeal.
“Compelling plaintiffs to remortgage their homes in order to bring a non-frivolous claim where the law presumes them to have legal standing would be too steep a price to exercise a statutory right to judicial review,” the neighbors’ lawyers Dennis Murphy and Daniel Hill, say in their brief.
Abutters who have legitimate concerns about traffic, drainage or noise would effectively have no recourse, they argue. They also say that the town has already met its 10% threshold of affordable housing, which allows officials to have more control over future development.
The lawyers for the developer disagree.
“This is a classic NIMBY appeal, in which the plaintiffs have successfully delayed a critical affordable housing project without producing any evidence that they will be negatively impacted in any cognizable way (apart from their clear distaste for affordable housing being developed in their neighborhood),” lawyer Jonathan Silverstein wrote on behalf of the developer.
This is typical lawyer BS. I live part time in Lowell where there are plenty of neighbors of color, immigrants and other types of diversity. There is a lot of run down, fire-hazard housing that should be fixed up and made safe for families. But that requires a different type of financing model. Anna and her employer would not make $$$ rehabbing in Lowell, Lynn or run-down urban area because they are not in the rehab business. They are in the “make money by building housing that pays no taxes business”. … And if you speak out against their business model you are called a “racist”, “bigot” and a “classist NIMBY”.
The 56 duplex-style units would be built on a 27-acre parcel. Fourteen of the units would carry a perpetual restriction as affordable, with 10 of those units being sold only to buyers with household incomes below 80% of the area median income and four available to buyers earning 60% of area median income.
The abutters appeal is still pending in Superior Court. After they appealed the order to post a bond in the case, the Supreme Judicial Court decided to take up the issue.
I suggest that Hamilton build a housing complex downtown where the COA and Winthrop School are located. Provide businesses to shoulder the tax burden… Have a combination of housing units for the wealthy, units for retired residents and a number of affordable units that comply with the 40B demands for new people who might bring in diversity. I’m no environmentalist , nor a community planner…. so let’s let the experts on the Steering Committee and Planning Board make that happen in an evidence based manner without any CONFLICT OF INTEREST.. Anna Siedzik and her employer both run evangelical operations that depend on servicing their god and not the community. That is not good for Hamilton. That is not good for people who spent their lives here and do not want to be priced out during retirement and that is not good for creating a welcoming and diverse community.
Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, by email at jmanganis@salemnews. com or on Twitter at @ SNJulieManganis
The group includes developers, housing providers and advocates, local officials, banks and mortgage lenders, as well as others, who support the creation of new housing. Among the members is Harborlight Community Partners.