Let’s be clear. Something is going to be built at 119-135 Nahant St., the former location of Precision Honing.

At this point, the only question is, ‘What?”

Right now, it’s a blighted industrial site with a crumbling old factory building on it.

Developer Jason Kearney’s new proposal to build a six-story, 120-unit, 40B affordable housing project on the site understandably has neighbors and town officials worried.

But Kearney owns the property and, for the time being at least, private property ownership is still legal in the United States and comes with certain rights.

In 2019, Kearney wanted to build a 24-unit, garden-style apartment building on the site. But the Wakefield Zoning Board of Appeals told him that was just too big for the location. They noted at the time that Nahant Street has mostly single-family homes with some two- and three-families sprinkled in. Abutters raised safety concerns related to traffic in the area, noting that kids use Nahant Street to walk to school and that traffic already backs up at rush hour.

In March of 2020, the ZBA allowed Kearney to withdraw his 24-unit proposal “without prejudice,” meaning he was free to come back later with a different proposal.

Sometimes, when a developer’s attorney points out that “something much worse could go there,” it isn’t just an empty threat or a negotiating tactic.

Sometimes it’s true.

I’d say 24 units is looking pretty damn good right now.

Local communities have far less control over 40B projects. Chapter 40B is a state statute that allows developers to override local zoning bylaws in order to increase the number of affordable homes in municipalities where less than 10 percent of the housing is defined as “affordable.”

In the name of “equity,” the state has deemed that everyone deserves to live in a tree-lined, suburban neighborhood, whether they’ve earned the money to pay for it or not. There are limits, however. Once a town reaches the threshold of 10 percent “affordable” housing, it can shut out the riffraff. Even the socialists at MassHousing understand that there have to be limits.

But Wakefield still has some way to go before it reaches the magic 10 percent, and the more you increase the housing stock by building big 40B projects, the more elusive that 10 percent goal becomes. Funny how that works.

That’s what has brought us here. These laws were created by the legislators that you elected.

Remember, the developer isn’t the bad guy here. Neither is his attorney. And the ZBA can only apply the zoning regulations that the voters have approved.

Of course, 120 units will never be built on that site. Developers always ask for more than they expect to get, and the Board of Appeals has been very successful in negotiating 40B unit counts downward.

But, again, something is going to be built there, and 80 or 90 units is not out of the realm of possibility.

That’s still a long way from 24.
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[This column originally appeared in the June 1, 2023 Wakefield Daily Item.]