Salem News
Opinion
January 24, 2008

The YMCA of the North Shore and state agencies should move as quickly as possible to begin construction of the Powder House Village affordable housing complex in Ipswich.

Only shovels in the ground may convince opponents that the project, which has received the approval of local boards and withstood appeals that have gone as far as the Supreme Judicial Court, is going forward. Perhaps then the opposition will also cease its efforts to bully the town's elected officials into continuing the expensive and thus-far-fruitless effort to block the project.

After acknowledging that the project had proceeded with the town's encouragement and that continued opposition might give the impression the town was opposed to affordable housing altogether, selectmen nevertheless voted unanimously Tuesday to go on record with the state Department of Housing and Community Development that it opposes the project, at least in its present configuration.

Since proposing construction of the housing units five years ago on land it owns near its facility on County Road, the YMCA has repeatedly shown a willingness to modify the project to make it more palatable to neighbors and town officials. But it contends the 48 units planned is the minimum number required to make the development financially viable.

Even with those four dozen affordable units, Ipswich would still be below the 10-percent figure that would exempt it from the provisions of the state's anti-snob zoning law (Chapter 40B). But as Town Planner Glenn Gibbs pointed out once again Tuesday, it would bring the town close enough so that it could delay other 40B projects and draft its own plan for attaining the 10-percent threshold.

Based on its action Tuesday night, however, one has to question whether this board of selectmen would be capable of acting on such a plan, since affordable housing projects are bound to attract opposition regardless of where they are sited.

The YMCA has waged a courageous fight in its effort to provide housing for those who might not otherwise be able to afford to live in Ipswich. It ought to stop negotiating and start building.

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