Around the Monadnock Region, a number of new developments, some under construction and some still in the planning stages, could slowly bringing relief to the region’s housing shortage. 

In Peterborough, as of mid-April,  the Peterborough Planning Board has approved applications for a total of 281 new housing units, 96 of which are part of an affordable housing  project to be built by Catholic Charities at 10 Vose Farm Road. According to Peterborough Town Planner Danica Melone, Catholic Charities is hoping to break ground on the project in July.

“People need housing, and they need affordable housing,”  said Sadie Halliday of Halliday Group. “What I’m seeing is that people are ready to list and sell their homes, but they don’t know where they’re going to go, so we have a bottleneck. Once people have an option for downsizing, they can sell their home, and then it opens up an option for a young family to come in.”

One of Halliday’s projects, Trail’s Edge at Southfield, offers three bed, three-bath condominiums and includes age-in-place features for older people looking to downsize. The project, which is 50% built, will have a total of 22 town homes. 

“There are a lot of people in the area who are not ready for assisted living, but they don’t want to maintain their larger homes anymore, or they are not able to. An option like Trail’s Edge provides an interim space for those people where they can stay until they need assisted living, or will allow them to age in place,” Halliday said.

Halliday said the Trail’s Edge units are selling before the foundations are even in the ground. 

“We are seeing every kind of buyer purchase  at Trail’s Edge. They really run the gamut, from older people to young professionals and families,” Halliday said. 

Also in Peterborough, Halliday Group is marketing Cranberry Meadow Estates, as well as Carley Woods, an eight-home, single-family development. Both developments are by LR3 Group. 

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Other projects being discussed, but which have not actually been proposed, in Peterborough include a 116-unit apartment complex off of Mercer Drive and the 66-home Equestrian Village off Burke Road at the existing Shadow Fox Farm property. Both projects are conceived by Miami-based developer Star Mountain Properties, but applications have not yet been submitted for either project.

Carl Staley of Peterborough Planing Board clarified that both Star Mountain projects are “purely speculative at this point.” 

“Neither of these projects, Mercer Road and Burke Road, have submitted actual proposals. They are in preliminary stages only; we have not seen any formal application or a proposal for these projects,” Staley said April 16. 

On Middle Hancock Road,  the 19-unit Walden Eco Village, which is being developed by Akhil Garland, is close to completing preliminary conditions of approval required by the Planning Board. Melon stated that “once they have completed conditions of approval, they will start submitting the building applications so they can hit the ground running.” 

Eco Village has had a difficult history. In December 2020, after Peterborough Code Enforcement Officer Timothy Herlihy and Fire Inspector Lt. Scott Symonds inspected the property on Middle Hancock Road and determined that the buildings were being rented without being properly permitted and violated numerous violations of town code, zoning ordinance and site-plan review regulations, Fire Chief Ed Walker evicted the tenants.

Multiple lawsuits followed, and after more than two years in front of Peterborough’s zoning and planning boards, the Planning Board approved a revised subdivision plan and conditional use permit in November 2022.

Former Peterborough state Rep. Ivy Vann received final approval for a 14-townhouse development off of High Street on April 15. According to Vann, each unit on the new private road (proposed name “Pocket Lane”)  will have two bedrooms and two baths. 

“This development fills a real niche for a number of populations,” Vann said. “We are likely to  see people in their 60s who maybe have a another home somewhere don’ t want to leave Peterborough. Single people might want to live there.  The fact is that 25% of all households in the U.S.  are one-person households. If you include two-person households, that number goes it is well over 50%. Fewer than 20% of all households  in U.S. have school-age kids. There is a real need for attractive, well-built housing in town. People want to live in town, and this project will allow people to do that.”

On Church Street/Route 202, a 16-condo project at  the former site of Woodman’s Florist has been slowed by the need for a slope easement for a larger retaining wall, according to Melone. 

“Homes should start to go up at the old Woodman’s site in the next few months,” Melone said in early April.

On Old Street Road, the Old Stone Barn property has received approval for a 79-unit,  55-plus senior housing development. The project will include 12 workforce housing units on an adjoining three-acre parcel. According to Melone, the project is close to finalizing conditions of approval. 

Battaglia project gets OK in Antrim

In Antrim, two new developments are in the works. Antrim-based Battaglia Foundations received Antrim Planning Board approval Thursday for a seven-unit townhouse development just north of downtown Antrim, adjacent to the Battaglia Foundations building.

Developer Patrick Battaglia said the location is a perfect for a multi-family housing development.

“We were thinking of building single-family homes on that site, but the town approached us about possibly doing a multi-family project, so it will probably be seven duplexes on that site total of 14 townhomes,” Battaglia said in early April. “The site is connected to town water and sewer, and the access is right off of 202, so it is a a great location for that kind of development. There is just a huge need for housing; it’s really a crisis for people.”

A small development at Thompson’s Crossing in Antrim is also proposed to begin construction in the next year. 

In Francestown, the Planning Board approved an application for the subdivision of seven lots on Woodward Hill Road in March 2023. The lots, which have mountain views, are in development by Native Construction, a local developer specializing in geothermal homes.  

Greenfield has no new major developments on the horizon. Greenfield Planning Board member Tom Bascom said the level of growth in Greenfield had come up at a recent Budget Committee meeting, which prompted him to look into how many new homes had been built in Greenfield in recent years.

“Over the past 10 years we have had about a 10% total growth rate, about 1% a year, Bascom said. “In the past 10 years there have been 39 new house permits in Greenfield. Eight of those were last year. In 2019, there was only one. Our explosive growth period looks to have been from 2003 to 2008, and the demand is much higher now.” 

Bascom noted that because towns rely 100% on property tax, growth is a critical factor in the well-being of a small community.

“We need to find ways to optimize growth, because we are between a rock and a hard place with our budget . We have a lot of things we need to fund,  and we only one way to fund them, which is property taxes,” Bascom said. 

In Jaffrey, the town has been working with developers MJ & MJ Realty Ventures to secure an InvestNH Municipal demolition grant to demolish the former St. Patrick’s School, to make way for the development of workforce housing.

The project was awarded $414,000 in grants for the demolition and removal of materials, and the town anticipates putting out a request for proposals for the work in June, clearing the lot to allow a major building project to move forward. While MJ & MJ Realty Ventures has yet to submit a formal plan for the lot with the town, Mike Shea, one of the four owners of the collaboration, which was formed specifically to put forth a plan for the former school, has presented an option to the Planning Board during a conceptual presentation.

The conceptual plan, which is not binding, was presented in March of 2023. It is proposed to have three sections on the 13-acre lot, one of which would be for some amount of condominiums, and another for two 24-unit apartment buildings, which would require special approvals because it exceeds the eight units per building allowed in the district. At least some of the units are proposed to be priced as “workforce” housing, which is defined by the state as affordable according to the average income of an area.

The town’s density calculations would allow up to 57.6 units on the property, but could allow additional units if some were workforce housing – up to a total of 68 – under Jaffrey’s zoning code.

Another Jaffrey development, known as Stony Brook Village, is underway, though only a few homes are up despite the development being in its second year of phasing. After builders ran into issues with ledge on the site, the plans are anticipated to come back to the town in May to make some adjustments to the location of the planned homes, though the number of units will remain the same, said Jaffrey Building Inspector Rob Deschenes.

The development, located in the town’s Mountain Zone, adjacent to the Shattuck Golf Course, was approved for a total of 28 new homes, which could be built in three phases over three years – 12 in the first year, 12 in the second and the remainder in the third.

Deschenes said the phasing has passed its second year, allowing Stony Brook to have up to 24 building permits.

Some progress is underway, with the town issuing its first occupancy project for a completed home on the project. Only a handful of building permits have been issued, while the project forged ahead on major infrastructure pieces, including constructing a new road through the development, which is mostly complete, Deschenes said.

The plans are expected to  be back before the Planning Board on May 14 for revision due to the ledge issues found on the property.

In New Ipswich, the Planning Board is considering a 29-lot cluster development on Appleton and Maki Road, known as Brook Haven Farm. The proposal has been before the board since December, and has undergone multiple continuances as the plan – which originally included 33 lots – has been adjusted due to feedback from the Planning Board and town engineer. The plans are expected to be back before the Planning Board on May 15.

In Rindge, there are multiple developments along the town’s major highways. On Route 119, a 13-unit mixed use development known as Kathleen’s Place has been completed. A development by Navian Development, also on Route 119, has been approved for 59 units. The development has completed its pre-construction requirements and submitted completed plans to the town’s Planning Department, but has yet to file for any building permits for the development.

There are three housing developments underway in Wilton. The Planning Board has conditionally approved a seven-lot subdivision on Gibbons Highway being developed by Better Built Homes, LLC, who is currently finalizing paperwork for a storm drainage system to be installed there.

Willreign Properties, LLC, which was previously converting the former Sacred Heart Church on Maple Street, has sold the property to a new buyer, who is preparing to do work after being granted a zoning variance and will have two years to start construction on four apartments in the main church. The rectory has already been converted into two apartments.

San-Ken Homes in New Ipswich, whose planned subdivision on Barrett Hill Road was denied by the Planning Board last year, has come to a solution with the Housing Appeals   Board, and its checklist of prerequisites will come before the Planning Board for approval  on May 15.

No major housing developments are currently planned in Mason, Greenfield, Bennington, Hancock,  Sharon or Dublin. 

Ashley Saari and Cameron Cashman contributed to this story.