By Dolores Sauca Lorusso

“With Hull already having missed potential opportunities for inclusionary housing, I believe that the time to address the issue is at hand, so future opportunities will not be lost,” said George Boylen, who filed a citizens’ petition for the May 1 town meeting to create a requirement for “inclusionary housing of 10% of proposed units for any development over 10 units.”

Boylen said the motivation behind his petition came after a meeting with the select board where a developer, when asked about affordable housing, “seemed to indicate that it did not fit with his business model.” Boylen, who is the town moderator, is sponsoring Article 17 as a private citizen.

Although the advisory board voted to refer the inclusionary bylaw for further study, the planning board will recommend favorable action at town meeting. Both boards agree that the issue of affordable housing in Hull must be addressed in some way. Boylen’s plan would give preference to Hull residents and employees.

“The reason we are recommending favorable action is we got stung three times in the last six months with preliminary subdivisions which served to make zoning changes inapplicable once filed,” said planning board Chair Harry Hibbard. “The Aquarium … Paragon Dunes, and also the HRA, all filed preliminary subdivisions. The planning board is committed to working the kinks out of this; a lot needs to be fixed.”

Advisory Board member Dan Sullivan, who presented Boylen’s article in his absence, agreed. “May only be one more big project in this town, and if someone jumps in with a subdivision application, then we lost any chance of this article to work,” he said.

Steve Kiley of the advisory board countered: “I think the timing of the next project, while unfortunate, can’t be a deciding factor in us making a decision on this article.”

“It is important for a board like us to step in and say if there are flaws to be addressed, not just with this particular article, but in general,” said advisory board Chair David Clinton. “We are recommending refer to study because we believe it should be part of a more comprehensive study related to housing policies in town.”

Boylen said he developed his bylaw by researching other towns, data from the Pioneer Institute, and by material from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. In addition, he found “140 towns or cities in Massachusetts have inclusionary housing bylaws in place.”

“Many communities try to copycat what others have done, but one size doesn’t fit all because there are a variety of considerations,” Town Manager Philip Lemnios said.

According to Boylen, the “language utilized is taken from currently existing bylaws in other towns and modified to address some Hull-specific concerns.”

The proposed inclusionary housing bylaw will give preference to Hull residents and those employed within the town. The bylaw proposal states that “affordable units shall be initially offered to current residents of the Town of Hull who qualify under the income guidelines and who have resided in town for a minimum of five years, to persons employed within the Town of Hull for at least five years, and to persons who, although not currently residents of the town, have previously resided in the Town of Hull for a minimum of five years.”

“I like George’s bylaw because of the local preferences,” said zoning board of appeals Chair Patrick Finn. “If we have too little affordable housing and it is too late, we better use every loophole we can to make preferences for Hull residents, and the elderly… No one wants to create the last remaining units, and finally pass 10% affordable housing, for people to come from out of town.”

Community Development and Planning Director Chris DiIorio said that if state or federal grant money is received for the affordable housing project, there cannot be a local preference; however, preferences for the elderly and disabled can still be made.

Boylen said when he was developing this potential bylaw he was not aware of any action being taken to develop an inclusionary affordable housing regulation.

“When I became aware that the zoning bylaw review committee was considering a potential inclusionary housing bylaw, I forwarded my citizens’ petition to the committee, which decided not to include a bylaw of their own concerning this issue,” he said. “The right action would be to approve this bylaw, so we have something in place that locks in an inclusionary housing requirement, recognizing that it may need certain elements to be potentially amended at a future town meeting.”

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