Armed with spreadsheets and piles of documents, they are fighting the developer’s application to MassHousing , the state agency that oversees affordable housing projects.

A rocky 13-acre parcel that straddles the Winchester-Stoneham border is being eyed as the site for an affordable housing project, much to the dismay of neighbors who say the 296-unit complex would exacerbate traffic tie-ups and flooding.

“MassHousing is forcing us to spend our tax money to defend against a proposal that should never have been sent to the town for review, because it fails to meet the agency’s own guidelines,” said Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a homeowner on Forest Street near the site, referring to legal deficiencies and other issues.


That tax money is the 14th highest in the state, according to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. The average tax bill for a single-family home in Winchester in fiscal 2016, which ended June 30, was $10,948, based on an average home value of $937,364.

“If this project goes forward, it will be a catastrophe,” Fitzgerald said. “They’ll be murdering neighborhoods.”

Dozens of other residents have echoed Fitzgerald’s concerns, prompting Winchester town officials to pledge to “defend the neighbors” from any “attempt to make a rock into a profit center.”

“We’re under attack,” Selectman David Errico said during a recent public meeting that drew more than 200 Winchester and Stoneham residents to McCall Middle School in Winchester. “We’ll do whatever it takes to defend our town. We’re going to lawyer up. We’re going to engineer up. Whatever it takes, as long as it takes, we’ll do it.”

The vitriol is directed at developer Justin D. Krebs, who in June submitted a proposal to MassHousing for the apartment building, to be called Forest Ridge Residences, on 13.34 acres off Forest Circle in Winchester. The site borders the Middlesex Fells Reservation and includes mature woodlands and wetlands.


Krebs said he would rent 25 percent, or 74, of the units to households earning no more than 80 percent of the area’s median income, making the project eligible for a comprehensive permit under Chapter 40B, the affordable housing law. If granted by the state, the status would allow Krebs to avoid some local zoning regulations.

At last count, in December 2014, just 1.9 percent of Winchester’s housing stock was classified as affordable by the state. To avoid 40B developments, a city or town must reach a 10 percent threshold.

As MassHousing reviews the Forest Ridge proposal to determine whether it can move forward, Krebs is vowing to “take a collaborative approach, despite the very aggressive approach the town has taken.” He seemed perplexed by Winchester’s opposition.

“A large project in one location is something most towns find favorable, rather than six or seven projects in different locations,” Krebs said, noting that his proposal would address a dire need in Winchester for affordable housing.

Though the town’s zoning board in April approved plans for 96 apartments at 416 Cambridge St., that project would increase Winchester’s subsidized housing inventory only to 3.1 percent, John Suhrbier, chairman of Winchester’s Housing Partnership Board, wrote to MassHousing.

The fate of the Cambridge Street development remains unclear. In May, a group of residents appealed the zoning board’s approval in Middlesex Superior Court.


Residents who live near the Forest Ridge project site agree the town needs more affordable housing, but say this location is not suitable.

In a Sept. 1 letter to MassHousing, the town’s land use counsel, Mark Bobrowski, called the project “ill-conceived and downright dangerous.”

He cited concerns about drainage, ground water, and extensive ledge outcroppings. He noted that the ledge is likely to be the target of extensive blasting should the project be approved, and that “such blasting will alter the pattern of existing ground water flow, exacerbating the existing conditions on Forest Circle and Polk Road.”

Residents on those streets and others in the area already contend with drainage problems after heavy rains, resulting in flooded basements and yards. Fitzgerald and her husband, for example, have one sump pump in the ground and three more on a shelf. A neighbor, Paul White, who has lived on Forest Circle since 1985, has invested thousands of dollars in a drain system.

“If there’s blasting, it will ruin all of us,” White said.

White also voiced concern about the developer’s plan to use Forest Circle as an access point for emergency vehicles and as a school bus stop. It’s a narrow lane that was originally used as a trolley turnaround. When there was a fire in a home on Forest Circle a few years ago, the fire truck could not get to the house, White said.

“They couldn’t make it up the street,” White said. “And that wasn’t during the winter months, when there’s ice and snow.”


Krebs said he has “one of the top engineering firms in the state” working on the challenges posed by the site.

Residents in neighboring Stoneham have also opposed the Forest Ridge development, and officials in both towns have pointed out that if a comprehensive permit is ultimately awarded for the project, Stoneham would get all of the traffic but none of the affordable housing. (Stoneham’s housing inventory is 5.3 percent affordable.) Under the developer’s proposal, traffic from Forest Ridge would flow from the Winchester parcel onto Fallon Road in Stoneham, which would require an access road to be built across wetlands in Stoneham.

Gary Hebert, a traffic engineer hired by the town, concluded that the Forest Ridge Residences would “add nearly 2,000 trips per day to an already congested roadway system that will soon have another 2,000 trips per day.” Hebert was referring to the 2Twenty5 Fells apartment complex now being built on Fallon Road in Stoneham, just east of the Forest Ridge site.

Stoneham officials, already upset that MassHousing allowed the Commons at Weiss Farm to move forward — the Stoneham zoning board in April approved a 124-apartment project off Franklin Street after years of debate — have sent a letter opposing the Forest Ridge proposal to the agency.

Krebs said he is confident the development team he has put together can address the concerns raised by residents and town officials.

“I look forward to proceeding through the process under the MassHousing guidelines,” Krebs said. “I expect a robust and open process with Winchester. My hope is that we can work toward mitigation, rather than litigation.”


Things to know about Chapter 40B

10% The minimum goal that Chapter 40B asks municipalities to set aside in their housing inventory as affordable.

60,000 Affordable units the law is credited with producing since 1969.

48 Number of the state’s 351 cities and towns that have met or exceeded the 10 percent threshold.

12 Municipalities north of Boston that have met the goal: Beverly, Burlington, Chelsea, Danvers, Georgetown, Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Salem, and Wilmington.

Winchester is at 1.9 percent; Hamilton is at 3 percent.

Chapter 40B, also known as the Comprehensive Permit Law, was enacted in 1969 to help address a statewide shortage of housing that is affordable to households with low to moderate incomes.

The goal is for municipalities to have at least 10 percent of their housing inventory be affordable.

A city or town also may meet the state goal by dedicating at least 1.5 percent of its developable land to subsidized affordable housing or by meeting short-term planned production goals.

In municipalities that fall below the threshold, a developer may propose a 40B project.

The law streamlines the process by enabling local zoning boards of appeal to approve housing developments under flexible rules if at least 20 to 25 percent of the proposed units have long-term affordability restrictions.

The statute remains controversial because a developer may appeal if the local zoning board rejects a project or imposes costly conditions.

If that happens, the developer may appeal to the Housing Appeals Committee if the proposed project is in a municipality that has not met the affordable housing threshold and has not received an exemption from the Department of Housing and Community Development.

To see the most recent inventory of affordable housing in your city or town, go to mass.gov/hed/docs/dhcd/hd/shi/shiinventory.pdf.

SOURCES: Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, Department

of Housing and Community Development