As previously reported in Fig City News, at the Zoning and Planning Committee meeting on January 23 (video), Councilor Pam Wright had said that since 2020, over 3,500 housing units were either approved or in the pipeline for approval — either by the special permit process through the Land Use Committee of the City Council or through the Chapter 40B Comprehensive Permit process through the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Because she had been questioned by colleagues on the validity and accuracy of that assertion, this week Councilor Wright provided backup to her statement with this memo detailing how she arrived at the number. According to the memo, the data was derived from a June 24 memo from the City’s Planning Department to the City Council charting out the approved and pending housing units for the years 2010, 2015, and 2020.
While the Planning Department’s data includes 2,306 units that were approved plus 206 units that were pending approval, Councilor Wright’s memo lists an additional 1,135 units approved or under active consideration, for a total of 3,647 units.
