Ayer Affordable Housing Committee votes to advance draft trust bylaw to Select Board

AYER -- January 22, 2021, Ayer's Affordable Housing Committee voted unanimously to advance a draft Affordable Housing Trust bylaw to the Select Board, targeting a vote at the April 26 annual town meeting. The four-member panel, including Ken Diskin, Karen Schwanfeldt of the Council on Aging, and Ron Morrison, cleared the draft at its January 22 remote meeting and set a February 16 date to present to the Select Board, with a public information session planned for February 24 at 7 p.m. The committee also began compiling a candidate list for the trust's seven-member Board of Trustees, including Pauline Connolly, Jeff Tillotson, Sean Copeland, Nick Lagasus, Kevin Horgan, Pat Magny-Latimer, and others, with plans to develop a one-page volunteer overview and a candidate questionnaire. Diskin noted that a new state economic development bill, signed days before the meeting, lowers the voting threshold for certain affordable housing zoning changes from a two-thirds to a simple majority and eases multifamily development near commuter rail, provisions that apply directly to Ayer.