Hojun Choi
The site redesign of Barre City’s Prospect Heights development will reduce the number of new homes the much-anticipated project can support by at least 20%, according to multiple people closely involved with the project.
After sitting on ice for more than three decades, the project has gained significant momentum in recent years, including about $9 million in state and federal funding. Last year, city officials learned they needed to redesign the project after a feasibility study showed that existing site plans, dating back to the early 1990s, were incompatible with current wetland regulations.
Original plans for the development envisioned up to 128 potential new housing units, but that number is expected to decrease with the redesign.
“It’s hard to say definitively, but we know it will be under 100 at this point,” Barre City Manager Nicolas Storellicastro said.
Still, Prospect Heights would be the largest housing development the city has seen in decades.
The city has a purchase option for the 30-acre property and all of the funding sources needed to build the infrastructure for the project, Storellicastro said. The redesign process is expected to be completed in six to eight months, he added.
“There’s a big tax burden on people who live here because we don’t have room to grow and this [development] is going to expand that tax base in a way that spreads out the burden and helps not only the housing but also the workforce challenges in the area,” Storellicastro said.
Josh Jerome, executive director of Barre Area Development, also told The Bridge he expects the site redesign to lower the number of possible new homes at Prospect Heights development to fewer than 100.
He added, however, that he thinks the “stars are aligning the right way” on the project.
“From my perspective, we have just gotten to the point where we have all of the committed funding,” Jerome said. “Up until this time, we didn’t know if we’d be able to move the project forward.”
The organization helped the city secure funding from the Northern Border Regional Commission and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Prospect Heights development.
At least 32 of the new housing units at Prospect Heights will have to meet the needs of low- and moderate-income households, as required by conditions of the HUD grant, Jerome said.
He said the development, which has low risk of flooding, will include a mix of single and multi-family housing options that will “improve the region’s resiliency.”
“We are in a labor market center in close proximity to major employers and services for the region; that’s why I think it will be important to see this project through,” Jerome said.
