Housing Task Force Hosts Second Public Forum on Airport Road Proposals
The Housing Task Force continued its public review of development proposals for the town-owned Airport Road property with a second community forum focused on a mixed-income housing concept. Discussion centered on how different development models could address Manchester’s documented housing needs, including workforce and affordable housing, while balancing infrastructure costs, long-term town control, and development timelines. The proposal presented emphasized a mix of rental and ownership units, potential partnerships with nonprofit housing organizations, and a long-term lease structure with the town retaining ownership of the land. Public questions and task force discussion underscored the importance of defining clear criteria before advancing a recommendation to the Selectboard. These forums are part of an intentional effort to evaluate options transparently and ensure any path forward aligns with both community needs and long-term public interest.
“About 200 units of housing will need to be built over the next six years to meet the needs of the community… at our current pace, we’re not going to hit that target.”
Reposted from Manchester Journal
MANCHESTER — The housing task force, charged with analyzing three proposals received for how to best develop a 60 acre parcel of town owned property adjacent to Airport Road, held the second of what will ultimately be three public forums at the Manchester Community Library on Thursday, July 17.
Originally planned as a two-forum series, a third forum was added to allow each of the three developers equal time to make the case for their proposals. The third one will be held next Thursday, July 24, at Manchester’s Town Hall, at 6 p.m. The three developers are responding to a Request For Proposal, or RFP, made by the town to determinate interest and specific approaches towards how to best convert the property parcel into housing that would not only increase the size of town’s housing stock, but that would also add more affordable and workforce housing into the mix.
On July 10, the task force heard from DEW Properties, of Williston, Vt. The forum held on the 17th featured a proposal by Manchester Integrated Housing Initiative, LLC. They are a partnership that includes Paul Carroccio, an owner of the local real estate firm TPW Management and TPW Real Estate; Adam Kuperman, a housing developer who has worked in affordable housing both in California and New England; and Steven Rosenberg, the Principal of Rawsonville Investments.
“We believe our proposed development on Airport Road is innovative and will deliver the town a lasting asset while providing much needed housing for the current and future residents of Manchester,” Kuperman said, introducing their proposal.
They envision creating up 300 units of housing, half of which would be multi-family rental apartments targeted at multiple income levels. At least 20 percent of the total rental units would qualify as workforce housing, he said.
They would also seek to build “townhouse housing,” single family homes in the 2,000 to 4,000 square foot range. A portion of the site would be reserved for community housing, and their team was working together with the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity on that, with an eye towards building at least 10 homes, he said.
The town would retain ownership of the 60 acre property, leasing it to the housing initiative for 99 years at $1 per-year, according to their written response to the RFP. They would contribute $1 million towards the costs of developing the needed infrastructure, such as roadways, water and sewer service. They estimate the town will also eventually realize an estimated additional $5 million as individual property plats are sold. The town would receive 5 percent of the revenue from those sales.
A plat is a map that regulates the location of property boundaries.
But the exact details of the agreement between the town and the housing initiative was one that would be negotiated as they reached agreement on the long-term lease, said Steve Rosenberg, who joined the meeting from a remote location.
“We are proposing to develop a relationship with the town in which the town defines the criteria of what gets built on those 60 acres of the lease,” Rosenberg said.
The biggest challenge to the project would be finding common ground on what those criteria were and matching them to the developer’s capacity for meeting them, he added later in response to a question from Jonathan West, a select board member who is chairing the Housing Task Force. The granular details of what would be built, and the infrastructure needed to support that, would be resolved during the negotiations over the lease agreement, Rosenberg emphasized.
Their proposed timeline, assuming an acceptance of their proposal this summer, anticipated a start of construction in the spring of 2027, once permitting and environmental reviews were completed.
In his introduction to the second round of the public forums on the proposals, Jonathan West said that about 200 units of housing would need to be built over the next six years in order to meet the needs of the community for housing, especially in the affordable and workforce housing ranges. But the town was only averaging about 13 permits per year, and at that rate, “we’re not going to hit that target,” he said.
Task force members and members of the audience followed the presentation by Kuperman and Rosenberg with several questions. Bill Drunsic, who has also developed several properties around Manchester asked who would pay the potential additional costs beyond the $1 million the housing initiative would post up front.
Rosenberg replied that they didn’t yet have a clear sense of what those infrastructure costs would be, and that would depend on what the town officials would push for during the negotiations, if their proposal was accepted.
The role of the Housing Task Force will be to make a recommendation to the select board after hearing all of the presentations. On Thursday, July 24, the task force and the public will hear the proposal submitted by Manchester-based Herrmann Construction. According to their proposal, they envision building about 40 houses on 20 acres, which would be 800 to 1,000 square feet in size. They anticipate selling them for $258,522.
After the task force makes its recommendation, it will be up to the select board to make a final decision on which developer’s proposal to accept. The written responses to the town’s RFP by the developers are posted on the town’s website at manchester-vt.gov. A video link to watch the meeting on the 24th remotely is also posted.
https://www.manchesterjournal.com/community-news/final-proposal-given-to-housing-task-force-but-recommendation-delayed/article_11383473-1938-44a5-b233-f2383df0f39c.html
As always, I can be reached directly at (802) 768-7900 or at west.j@manchester-vt.gov
