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The Autumn Agenda: Upcoming Fall Conferences

Posted on by alisa@barrettplanningllc.com

If you were reading our newsletter at this time last year, you know what’s coming next…Fall Conference season! While it feels like we just unpacked our conference bags (and sorted through last year’s swag!) we are once again packing up and hitting the road to learn, share, and collaborate with our partners across New England. They say, “when it rains, it pours”, and that is true for our calendar this October. The conference schedule is packed, and our staff is tag-teaming the region to cover them all. Hopefully, the skies won’t literally pour on us while we’re traveling, but we’re ready for an exciting month either way!

October 2-3: CNU New England Conference – Boston, Massachusetts

Tony Duong kicks off our October line-up at the CNU New England Conference in Boston. The New England Chapter of CNU (Congress for the New Urbanism) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating healthy, equitable, and sustainable communities through progressive urban design. Conference attendees will explore how local towns and cities can strategically plan their futures in the evolving era of “The New Localism”. Day two of the conference consists of a morning transect walk from Faneuil Hall to the Seaport. This interactive tour will unpack how shifts in density, land use, transportation, and public space reflect Boston’s urban evolution. 

October 8-9: SNEAPA – Foxwoods Resort Casino, Connecticut

The Southern New England American Planning Association (SNEAPA) Conference will be held at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut this year. Barrett Planning Group is excited to present on two different panel sessions!

Ever wonder what’s lurking in your city’s zoning code until a developer or an angry neighbor finds it first? Judi Barrett will be on the panel for  “Zones, Groans, and Unknowns: A deep dive into curious discoveries in zoning audits.” Attendees will learn how to run an “in-house” audit, spot hidden ordinance skeletons, and walk away with a practical checklist and handouts. This is sure to be a fun and interactive session!

Meanwhile, Jill Slankas will be moderating, and Brenna Trollinger will be presenting on the panel for “Planning for Local Food System Resilience: Tools, Partnerships, and Lessons Learned”. The panel will explore how municipal and regional partners can collaborate to strengthen local food systems and prepare for future disruptions.

October 21-23: NNECAPA – Manchester, New Hampshire

The Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association (NNECAPA) 2026 Planning Conference will be held in Manchester, New Hampshire. A highlight of this Conference includes six different Mobile Tours offered to registered attendees. Those who are registered can select up to two local tours to attend, ranging from an Arts Walk through Downtown Manchester, exploring the transformation of Rockingham Park Racetrack into a vibrant mixed-use district, or stepping inside “The Factory on Willow”, a reimagined former mill building, among others. 

We’ll be packing our bags full of swag for this one, as we are hosting an exhibit booth. We love catching up with familiar faces and meeting new colleagues, so please stop by and say hello to Judi Barrett, Jenn Doherty, and Laurel Mire. Whether you want to discuss your community’s latest zoning hurdles, explore innovative housing solutions, or simply pick up some fun conference giveaways, our team is eager to connect with you!

October 28-29: NHMA – Manchester, New Hampshire

As we wrap up October, Judi Barrett and Jenn Doherty are heading back to Manchester for the New Hampshire Municipal Association’s (NHMA) 85th Annual Conference. Judi will be sharing her zoning experience on the panel for “Regulatory Reform: Opportunities and Challenges”. This premier yearly event equips municipal leaders with the cutting- edge knowledge, resources, and practical tools they need to advance their communities and excel in daily operations.  We are proud to be a part of this year’s event and will also be hosting an exhibit booth throughout the conference with fun conference giveaways. Whether you are looking to solve specific local challenges or want to talk strategy for the coming year, make sure to stop by and say hello. We look forward to seeing you there! 

Food Is Love: Beyond the Resilient Food System Action Plan

Posted on by alisa@barrettplanningllc.com

Written by Jill Slankas, with contributions from Brenna Trollinger.

A dear friend once told me something I’ve never forgotten: food is love.

It’s why we bring meals to a family after the loss of a loved one, drop off dinner when someone is sick, or gather around a table to celebrate life’s biggest milestones. Food nourishes us, but it also connects us, comforts us, and builds community.

That perspective took on a whole new meaning while working on the Resilient Food System Action Plan for the Plymouth County Area. Food is foundational to our cultures, economies, environments, and health. The Action Plan we helped create is a piece of a much larger conversation about food, where it comes from, who can access it, and how it shapes our communities. 

The Action Plan is a 10-year roadmap for the region, organized around six goals: 

  • Protect and strengthen working lands and waters 
  • Strengthen the viability of farms, fisheries, and food businesses
  • Build food infrastructure and supply chain capacity
  • Improve food access, food security, and community well-being
  • Foster education, workforce development, and food system awareness
  • Strengthen regional coordination, inclusion, and accountability

The plan was a collaboration with the Old Colony Planning Council, Plymouth County, and the Marion Institute, and was funded by a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant.

During this planning process, I learned how deeply we rely on our local food systems, and how important it is to keep them strong. However, many challenges create vulnerability in our local food system, including rising rates of food insecurity, higher food costs, a changing climate, and declining farm viability. According to the Greater Boston Food Bank, New England Feeding New England, and the USDA Census of Agriculture: 

  • In 2025, 40% of households in Plymouth County were food insecure
  • In 2022, only 2.7% of food spending in Massachusetts went to local food, even though the state spends more on food overall than any other New England state 
  • Plymouth County accounts for 12% of total farmland in Massachusetts, but only 2% of the farmland in Plymouth County is permanently  protected
  • In 2022, 54% of farms in Plymouth County operated at a loss

Taken together, these numbers describe a system under strain, but they are only half of the picture. There is an incredible amount of work already underway in Plymouth County and elsewhere to address these pressures. In Cohasset, Holly Hill Farm was one of 72 organizations to receive a 2026 Food Security Infrastructure Grant for deer fencing and truck refrigeration. In Abington, the Town used MVP 2.0 funding to build a new “Growing Greener” community garden. The Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD), Old Colony Planning Council (OCPC), and Wildlands Trust have launched a regional initiative to permanently protect vulnerable farmlands in southeastern Massachusetts. 

These are just a few of the ongoing projects that will continue to strengthen and support the region’s food system. What struck me most, though, wasn’t any single project. It was the people behind the work. Through conversations with farmers, food pantries, municipal leaders, regional organizations, and community members across 31 cities and towns, I came to appreciate that a resilient food system is about so much more than agriculture or economics. It’s about ensuring everyone has access to healthy food, supporting the people who grow and harvest it, and strengthening the connections that help communities thrive. 

In a conversation with a cranberry grower, they said that this work is not easy, but it is important and we do it because we love it. Farming is a way of life, it is a cultural heritage, and once it is gone, you can’t get it back. We talked about how cranberry growing connects them to the land and the heritage of cranberry farming. That is what my friend meant. Food is love, and a resilient food system is how a region makes sure that love can actually reach people. 

I’m grateful to everyone who shared their time and perspectives throughout this process and proud to have played a role in creating a roadmap for a stronger, more resilient future for the region. A plan is only as good as what happens next, and we are not finished talking about this one. We’ll be sharing the planning process and the lessons learned during a panel discussion at SNEAPA on October 8th, and again in our upcoming quarterly webinar on November 4th.

If you are working on food systems in your own community, we would love to hear from you. For more information and to read the full Action Plan, please visit the Old Colony Planning Council’s website at  https://oldcolonyplanning.org/foodresiliency/.

Dennis Housing Production Plan Update

Posted on by alisa@barrettplanningllc.com

Our update of the Dennis Housing Production Plan (HPP) is currently underway. The Town of Dennis has a history of supporting the creation of affordable housing and is taking steps to continue making housing affordable for Dennis residents. The local affordable housing bylaw itself has resulted in the approval of 58 developments totaling over 400 units, 164 of which are deed-restricted affordable units. 

Since the previous 2021 HPP,  twelve developments have been approved under this local bylaw. The Town also adopted the Seasonal Communities Designation earlier this year and has repeatedly proposed amendments to its affordable housing bylaw to promote more affordable housing. The Dennis Community Preservation Committee additionally funded a rental assistance program that offers direct subsidies to low-income families, highlighting other community efforts to support housing. 

This HPP update seeks to continue and support these Town-led initiatives and incorporate community input in recommendations for creating affordable housing opportunities for the next five years. 

Over the past few months, the project team facilitated several public outreach activities to involve Dennis community members in shaping the plan: stakeholder interviews, tabling events, a survey, and in-person community meetings. Residents identified priorities to include, but not limited to, support for year-round housing, housing opportunities for all income levels, and helping families stay in their homes. However, the HPP must identify ways to overcome limitations related to infrastructure and the preservation of natural resources. 

The project team drafted the Housing Needs Assessment and Development Constraints sections for the HPP. The full draft, including draft Affordable Housing Goals and Implementation Strategies, is anticipated to be available and posted for public comments in mid-October. 

Drafts and project materials can be viewed at the Town Planning Department’s HPP webpage: https://www.town.dennis.ma.us/1225/Housing-Production-Plan-Update-2026

Wenham Local Historic District Design Guidelines

Posted on by alisa@barrettplanningllc.com

Barrett Planning Group is pleased to be working with the Town of Wenham Historic District Commission (WHDC) to update the WHDC’s local historic district design guidelines. Using the Massachusetts Historic Districts Act, GL c. 40C, Wenham Town Meeting established the town’s local historic district in 1972. It encompasses about 100 properties along Main Street running between the town’s borders with Beverly and Hamilton. The district is almost exclusively residential with a handful of religious, commercial, and municipal properties.

Enacted by the legislature in 1960, at the beginning of the modern preservation movement, Massachusetts’ Historic Districts Act provides limited guidance on how local historic district commissions are to review projects within the historic district. General Law C. 40C, §7, “Factors to be considered by the commission,” provides some basic guardrails: commissions should consider “the historic and architectural value and significance of the site, building or structure, the general design, arrangement, texture, material and color of the features involved, and the relation of such features to similar features of buildings and structures in the surrounding area.” The “Definitions” section provides some more information, such as what “altered” and “exterior architectural feature” mean in the context of the legislation. But the Historic Districts Act does not refer to more detailed guidelines, such as the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, that have now become best preservation practices.

The WHDC adopted some basic design guidelines, outlining the application process and providing some further detail on how the WHDC reviews specific items. But here again, detail is lacking, and the guidelines are not illustrated with drawings or pictures depicting either good or bad preservation practices. This makes the review process difficult for both applicants and WHDC members. Applicants have a limited idea ahead of time of what might or might not be acceptable to the WHDC, and the WHDC must start anew with each application to determine if a proposed change is appropriate or not for the district. Additionally, the guidelines do not incorporate current concerns such as green technologies and alternative materials. 

Barrett Planning Group Preservation Planner Jenn Doherty will be working closely with the WHDC over the next few months to prepare new design guidelines for the commission. The goal is to produce guidelines that are practical and usable for both applicants and the WHDC, incorporating current preservation best practices while providing the WHDC with an evaluation framework for the variety of projects and applications that might come before them.

For Conway, NH, A Zoning Rewrite to Implement the Master Plan

Posted on by alisa@barrettplanningllc.com

Barrett Planning Group’s New Hampshire practice has grown again, this time as lead consultant for the Town of Conway’s comprehensive zoning update. Although ski country visitors may think North Conway is a town, it is actually one of Conway’s five distinct villages – and every part of Conway has a “feel” that zoning needs to recognize. That idea is front-and-center in Conway’s recently completed master plan, Conway Forward (2024), prepared by SE Group. We’re grateful to have SE Group on our team for planning and community engagement support. 

The Conway Planning Board has asked us to tackle several tasks:

  • A zoning audit (a technical and policy-level review of the existing ordinance);
  • A “clean,” readable reorganization that is consistent, clear, and easy to use;
  • Public education and community engagement; and
  • A final version that includes land use policy recommendations from Conway Forward.

Judi Barrett and Jenn Doherty met with the Planning Board and Town Planner Ryan O’Connor in April 2026 for an update on the zoning audit. To explain some of the issues covered in the audit report, we provided drafts that show how portions of Conway’s existing code could be rewritten and simplified to be clear, internally consistent, and easier to navigate. Our work was well-received, and the Planning Board gave us a “green light” to move forward with a complete recodification. The Board plans to present the recodified zoning ordinance at next year’s (2027) town meeting, to be followed by substantive land use policy changes and possibly Zoning Map amendments in 2028.

In May 2026, we supported the Planning Board at a public meeting to explain the zoning revision project and overall project schedule. We also provided display boards and interactive activities for community members. One activity, a visual preferences survey, was designed to help us understand what community members consider appropriate (or not!) in Conway’s villages and along the main highway through town, Route 16. Many of the responses reinforce what we imagined and what the master plan consultants observed as well. In many cases, the types of development residents say they prefer are largely prohibited in Conway’s existing zoning – a situation we find in so many of our client communities.

For our work with Conway, we are hosting a project website on Social Point to provide timely updates, engage and interact with community members, and support the Planning Board throughout this effort: https://bpg.mysocialpinpoint.com/conway-forward-zoning. We are excited to work with Conway on this project! Helping communities implement their master plans through zoning reform, modernizing land development regulations, and building local government capacity are all cornerstones of our work at Barrett Planning Group. Let us know how we can help you, too!

Building Climate and Community Resilience in Mattapoisett, Mendon, and Westborough Through MVP 2.0 Planning

Posted on by alisa@barrettplanningllc.com

The Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) 2.0 Planning Grant program, administered by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, helps communities revisit and refine their climate resilience priorities. Building on the foundation established through the original MVP planning process, MVP 2.0 brings together municipal staff, community members, and equity-focused partners to identify how social vulnerabilities, such as food and housing insecurity, contribute to a community’s resilience during climate impacts. Barrett Planning Group is pleased to support three communities that received MVP 2.0 grants during this grant cycle.

Working alongside equity partners, municipal staff, community liaisons, and local stakeholders, our team is supporting the Towns of Mattapoisett, Mendon, and Westborough as they plan for the impacts of climate change and identify practical projects that address local needs and concerns. We are pleased to be collaborating with Food System Consultant Lydia Sisson and look forward to helping these communities strengthen local partnerships, gather community input, and turn ideas into actions that will provide lasting benefits for residents.

Each of these communities faces a unique set of climate challenges. While coastal Mattapoisett navigates sea level rise and storm surge, inland towns like Mendon and Westborough contend with extreme precipitation, heat waves, and winter storms. Despite these geographic differences, their vulnerabilities speak to needs for resilient infrastructure, healthy ecosystems, and safe neighborhoods. Our team is well-versed in the land use and environmental considerations necessary to support these towns and address climate resilience, community safety, and environmental justice. 

Having previously partnered with cities and towns on resilience, housing, and food systems planning, we understand the unique challenges and priorities facing municipalities today. We look forward to collaborating with planning and public works departments and community members within the framework established for MVP 2.0. Our experience and skills will allow us to help Mattapoisett, Mendon, Westborough, and other MVP 2.0 recipients ensure that climate planning and social resilience account for and include everyone in the community.  We look forward to supporting our clients and visiting each community this summer as these projects kick off. 

Fair Housing and Housing as a Human Right in 2026

Posted on by alisa@barrettplanningllc.com

In an essay inspired by a town administrator’s recent post on LinkedIn, Judi Barrett dives into fair housing, exploring housing as a human right – or as the Fair Housing Council of Metropolitan Memphis says, “We Belong. We Ain’t Beggin.” Her expert perspective challenges us to rethink our approach to community development and social equity. We invite you to read her full reflection and join the conversation on creating a more just housing landscape.

Article by Judi Barrett

“Whenever you diminish the poor, you diminish everybody else.” (Martin Luther King, Jr., paraphrased)

“For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for bread, would give a stone?…” (Matthew 7:7-9, NRSV)

I read a commentary recently by a municipal official I respect and admire. His essay was about the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Law known as Chapter 40B (or simply “40B”), and since a lot of my work for cities and towns involves Chapter 40B, I try to pay attention to what is said about it.

As I read on, I realized he was using an experience with a large, unwanted Chapter 40B development as a springboard to talk about something bigger and in some ways, more important. He wrote about collaboration, understanding the tools at your disposal when you have a problem to solve, and thinking and planning strategically to avoid being boxed in by circumstances you think you can’t control. In Massachusetts, most communities think they can’t control Chapter 40B, that it’s forced upon them, and that once “a 40B” knocks on the door, their municipal officials are essentially boxed into a corner. This is true, sort of, but it’s only part of a more complicated picture.

The essay left me uneasy. The short version is that his town chose to buy the proposed Chapter 40B site and a neighboring property, placing both under conservation restrictions to protect the land in perpetuity. These steps put an end to the proposed housing development. The case he described is not the first time a Massachusetts community purchased land to block a Chapter 40B development. It will happen again, too. Far less prominent are accounts of communities acquiring land specifically for affordable housing, even if it makes existing neighbors unhappy. I don’t mean land for a couple of single-family homes tucked away from public view. I mean land for a development of many units – not large apartment buildings, but enough neighborhood-scale homes that can actually put a dent in housing insecurity. Something that means lots of new friends and neighbors. Homes that change the trajectory of a child’s life. What kind of society are we if we don’t take care of our children?

My positions on housing justice won’t help me win a popularity contest. What most people don’t know about me is that 42 years ago, I left a journalism career I loved and jumped feet first into organizing a community-wide effort to save 60 acres of watershed land from being developed into a large, very high-end continuing care retirement community. The site abuts forests owned by the Massachusetts Audubon Society and other large tracts the town had acquired over several years. The “Audubon A” award I received afterward hangs in my office today, and it still matters more to me than any other recognition I’ve earned over the years.

What I learned from that experience 42 years ago is that protecting open space and creating affordable housing are really hard. In the early 1980s I attended a workshop on “limited development,” i.e., when a municipality or land trust acquires land and sells some of it for house lots to pay for preserving the rest as open space. The case study featured four enormous homes (“McMansion” hadn’t been coined yet) set against a magnificent open field. The enthusiastic presenters said the sale of those four lots paid the entire cost of saving the land. While other workshop attendees applauded, I flinched. Wait a minute. Developers already build houses just like that on their own. They don’t need town-owned land – right? In my naïve way, I thought if a town wanted to pair open space acquisitions with housing, the housing ought to be reasonably priced, something that opens the door to people who couldn’t begin to afford the homes in that case study. What about basic social fairness? Isn’t housing a public benefit, too?

It was an epiphany. It changed my life.

Fast-forward to today, I don’t think most towns consider housing a public benefit. Yes, some communities take affordable housing very seriously. They have used Chapter 40B, zoning, land acquisitions, and other tools to their advantage. However, those towns are not the norm. When I consider my own firm’s experiences with the MBTA Communities Law, very few towns took seriously the chance to identify and upzone places to encourage new housing. Most picked places where nothing will happen. They achieved what we call “paper compliance,” i.e., they adopted zoning for already-developed sites with no infill possibilities. Here was an opportunity to identify areas where communities would zone for housing growth, unlike the Chapter 40B process, where most projects show up on the town’s doorstep at the developer’s initiative. Instead of taking the ball and running with it, communities willingly dropped it. And they will holler loudly when the next Chapter 40B development arrives on the scene. 

As planners, we don’t want multifamily housing to end up in half-vacant office and industrial parks and we don’t want to see cookie-cutter “snouthouses” dropped in the middle of established neighborhoods. We want communities to plan where and how to meet their fair housing obligations and be thoughtful about how to get there. We want to see them acquire sensitive land to protect their water resources rather than wait until a Chapter 40B development lands on their doorsteps. In this month when we recognize the Fair Housing Act and the persistent roadblocks that prevent people from being your neighbor, I hope to read a different essay by a municipal official who asked a lot of good questions, pushed forward with a plan for housing fairness and, through hard work, got the neighborhood and community on board. That, in my view, is victory.

Plymouth, New Hampshire’s Housing Chapter & Upcoming Design Charette

Posted on by alisa@barrettplanningllc.com

Plymouth, New Hampshire, is updating its Master Plan by adding a new component – Housing. Funded by the Housing Opportunity Planning (HOP) grant program, this project aims to provide goals and strategies for Plymouth to meet housing needs and guide future development. Our work with Plymouth builds on recent efforts by the Plymouth Planning Board to remove regulatory barriers to housing growth by updating the Town’s zoning ordinance.

A regional hub linking New Hampshire’s White Mountains and Lakes regions, Plymouth is home to a lively downtown, Plymouth State University (PSU), Speare Hospital, the Tenney Mountain ski area, and many other assets. In recent years, Plymouth’s housing market has changed. Declining enrollment at PSU has reduced the demand for off-campus housing. In addition, rising housing costs and high property taxes have diminished Plymouth’s affordability, especially for people who work in the town. Meanwhile, Plymouth is experiencing growth in demand for seasonal housing and short-term rentals.   

With a grant from New Hampshire’s Housing Opportunity Program (HOP), the Plymouth Planning Board engaged Barrett Planning Group to prepare a housing needs assessment and an audit of Plymouth’s land use regulations. This work resulted in numerous recommendations to clarify Plymouth’s zoning and subdivision regulations, allowing more multifamily residential use by-right, and modernizing parking standards. Since then, the Town has implemented many of these recommendations, including new overlay districts for Fairgrounds Road and Tenney Mountain.

Today, we are working with the Planning Board to develop a new element for the Plymouth Master Plan, focusing on housing. To do this, we launched a Six-Word Story exercise to have community members share their vision of “home.” We also conducted stakeholder interviews and hosted a community meeting in March 2026. Residents explored opportunities for neighborhood-scale density, small units for young adults and seniors, and balancing housing needs with natural resources. They also noted some of the town’s challenges, notably the lack of developable land and the cost of infrastructure and utilities. The new Housing section of Plymouth’s Master Plan will draw from community input, data, geographic analysis, and consultations with the Planning Board.

In a related project, Plymouth is concurrently planning a Community Design Charette in May 2026 for Railroad Square: a street between its downtown center and the Pemigewasset River with a mix of different buildings and activities. Prior to the 1950s, the adjacent railroads connected Montreal and Boston via Plymouth. Today, only a tourist train runs through in the summer, though the area still has some activity with the nearby senior center, outdoor amphitheater, skate park, and Main Street shops. This two-day charette, organized by PlanNH, will ask community members to reimagine what this space could be.

For more information on Plymouth’s upcoming Housing Chapter visit: https://www.plymouthnh.gov/projects/housing_chapter.php

To learn more about PlanNH’s Community Design Charette visit: https://www.plymouthnh.gov/departments/railroad_square.php

Dover’s Housing Roadmap

Posted on by alisa@barrettplanningllc.com

Almost all of Dover, Massachusetts, is zoned for large-lot single-family home development, which makes it difficult to provide a wider variety of housing. Accordingly, the Dover Select Board formed a Housing Task Force in 2023 to identify a set of tools that can meet housing needs in harmony with other community goals, such as open space conservation. With support from Barrett Planning Group and Dodson & Flinker, the Housing Task Force aims to develop a Housing Roadmap this year to guide Dover’s long-term housing future.

Bounded by the Charles River to the north and west, Dover has abundant woodlands, wetlands, ponds, and open spaces. Though it is a suburb of Boston, Dover retains some of its historic agricultural heritage. Dover residents prize these natural features, yet the same qualities also make it challenging to provide a wider variety of housing. The town has a significant amount of protected land, and many areas require discretionary special permits. Another challenge is that Dover lacks comprehensive public drinking water and wastewater systems. 

Interspersed between Dover’s natural amenities, detached, single-family homes – typically on large lots – characterize Dover’s overall housing stock. Over the past few decades, housing construction has been minimal as home prices have increased. The average sales price for a single-family home exceeded $1,600,000 in 2025. During the community engagement process for efforts to comply with two new state laws, Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) and MBTA Communities Law, participants noted the challenges for Dover’s older residents to stay in town because they have no options to downsize. Moreover, younger families and local workers cannot find affordably priced homes.

The Task Force wants to find opportunities for thoughtful housing planning and development. The first Housing Roadmap forum in March 2026 introduced the project to the public and provided background information for future housing discussions. Barrett Planning Group presented a demographic and housing market overview and explained the town’s regulatory framework, and invited community members to explore questions about housing types that are missing and desired in Dover; the characteristics of Dover that should be preserved; and inspiration Dover could draw from in other nearby towns. Community members shared their interest in different housing types, their concern for the environmental impact of housing, and the obstacles posed by Dover’s current infrastructure. 

Barrett Planning Group and the Task Force will continue to engage the community and support the Task Force in identifying opportunities to address its housing choice goals. Two more community events will take place soon, including Dodson & Flinker’s support for visualizing moderate-density development to accommodate more housing types.

For more information on this project and updates, please visit: https://bpg.mysocialpinpoint.com/dover-housing-roadmap. 

The Stephen Palmer School Project

Posted on by alisa@barrettplanningllc.com

The Town of Needham is working with Barrett Planning Group and Gamble Associates to explore future uses for the Stephen Palmer Property, a former elementary school that was converted to multifamily senior apartments almost 50 years ago. The apartment building is managed by a private developer under a ground lease with the Town of Needham. Since the lease expires in 2027, the Town is considering options for repurposing the site.

Originally purchased by the Town of Needham in 1912, the property was developed as an elementary school in 1915. The school expanded to meet enrollment needs in 1930 and continued to operate until 1975. In 1977, the Town entered into a 50-year ground lease agreement with the current property management company to renovate the school as senior apartments, with space for the Town’s Council on Aging and Senior Center in the basement. As the end date for the current lease approaches, Needham must decide what is next for the property.

This planning process, led by Barrett Planning Group is intended to guide the process for determining the potential future uses on the site, including but not limited to preservation, open space, adaptive reuse, demolition, or new construction. The plan will answer questions like, should the site’s history as a school be preserved? What is feasible given site and market constraints? What future uses could meet the needs of the Needham community?

The project will include an analysis of site constraints and opportunities, three future land use scenarios, and one preferred future land use scenario for the site. Throughout the project, there will be a community engagement process that includes a project website with online engagement tools, three community meetings, and monthly steering committee meetings. The project will result in a vision plan for the future of the Stephen Palmer Property.