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Tag: community and stakeholder engagement

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. 

Berkshire Housing Development Corp

Posted on by fuelmedia

Berkshire Housing Development Corporation (BHDC) asked Barrett Planning Group LLC to assist with program design for a Housing Resource Center focused on homelessness in downtown Pittsfield. Well known for its many years of work as an affordable housing developer and provider of regional housing services, BHDC decided to take on a project specifically focused on homelessness by filling a gap in the existing network of services in Berkshire County.

Our work followed an agreement between BHDC and the City to develop a housing resource center alongside affordable housing, thereby co-locating services to better serve people experiencing homelessness and housing instability in Pittsfield.

We led an extensive consultation process with other Berkshire County groups working to address homelessness, including emergency shelter, mental health, substance abuse, family services, domestic violence, health care professionals, faith communities, and others, along with City staff. In addition, we met with people experiencing homelessness in order to learn from them how the Housing Resource Center could be most beneficial to them.

These conversations influenced our program design recommendations and the Request for Proposals (RFP) we prepared for BHDC to find an organization to manage the Housing Resource Center.

BHDC is using our work to obtain funding from the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance (MHSA) and other agencies.

From the client: “Berkshire Housing needed a consultant to undertake a non-traditional project that would engage community partners and people with lived experience as well as research national best practices. Barrett Planning Group enthusiastically stepped up to the challenge.

With their strong technical skills, adaptability and committed team, we not only had a lot of fun working together, but we also got just what we needed! The technical report was well researched and well written, and will serve to effectively guide our community in future decisions.”

Town of Bridgewater Comprehensive Master Plan

Posted on by fuelmedia

Town of Bridgewater MA Comprehensive Master Plan

Bridgewater, Massachusetts

Barrett Planning Group began working with the Town of Bridgewater in 2018 to develop Phase I of a master plan. Our initial scope of work included developing a plan vision, overarching goals, and existing conditions reports for the master plan elements described in G.L. c. 41, § 81D, with our partners at McMahon Associates crafting the transportation element. Home to several state institutions including Bridgewater State University, an MBTA Commuter Rail station, and the Old Colony Correctional Center, the Town has unique opportunities and challenges that shape conversations about land use and comprehensive planning that we considered from the outset of our work.

We began the process working with an appointed Comprehensive Master Plan Committee (CMPC) and conducting focus groups with staff, Town officials, business owners, and other stakeholders. We launched the public face of the project with a community visioning session for citizens to share their aspirations for Bridgewater’s future. This event was closely followed by a workshop for residents to discuss the continued relevance of the Town’s 2002 master plan goals. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we shifted to virtual engagement opportunities, including an online survey of draft goals and strategies developed with the CMPC to ensure our understanding of the community’s priorities was on target.

At this time, the Town approached us about continuing the project beyond Phase I to develop an implementation program. After addressing CMPC and staff comments on draft existing conditions reports, we finalized our work with the CMPC and began developing implementation program with Town staff. We held a public implementation workshop to allow the community to provide additional input on draft recommendations.

Final recommendations and an accompanying implementation program were paired with our Phase I work to create a complete master plan. In the early months of 2022, we worked with the Planning Board to refine the final plan, which the Board unanimously approved in May 2022.