Sudbury boards defer vote on draft Housing Production Plan, request edits

SUDBURY -- October 8, 2024, Sudbury boards defer vote on draft Housing Production Plan, ask staff for revisions. The Select Board and Planning Board met jointly Oct. 8 to review the 2024 Sudbury Housing Production Plan prepared by consultant Kadineyse Paz of JM Goldson, but took no vote after members raised concerns about duplex-by-right zoning, a lack of measurable production targets, and the addition of Broadacres, Sewataro and the Peters Way parcel to the plan's developable-land list. Director of Planning Adam Burney said Sudbury sits at roughly 11.8 percent on the Subsidized Housing Inventory, above the state's 10 percent threshold, and confirmed there is no deadline for adoption. Member Daniel Carty said the plan lacks a "galvanizing metric" comparable to the 10 percent standard; member Charles Russo asked that the contested parcels be moved to the study-parcels section, which Burney called acceptable. Planning Board Chair Steve Garvin and member Justin Kazanjian warned that duplexes by right could spur teardowns of smaller capes for $800,000-per-unit duplex replacements. Staff will produce a red-lined revision; the boards will take it up separately at future meetings.