Sturbridge Planning Board Unanimously Adopts New Housing Production Plan
Sturbridge Planning Board unanimously adopts five-year Housing Production Plan targeting the state's 10 percent affordability goal.
Planning Board · Meeting of June 8, 2026
Sturbridge Planning Board unanimously adopts five-year Housing Production Plan targeting the state's 10 percent affordability goal. Consultant Karen Sunderborg told the board only 5.47 percent of the town's 4,020 year-round units, 220 total, currently count toward the state's Subsidized Housing Inventory, with a median home price of $540,000 against a median renter income of $54,000. Producing 20 units a year would earn Sturbridge "safe harbor" from unwanted Chapter 40B developments, Sunderborg said.
Board member David Bourbeau pressed for cost-control options beyond financing, while resident Jonathan Rosen asked how many units it would take to move rental vacancy off roughly zero percent. Residents also raised the town's 85-percent-residential tax base and its lack of remaining commercial or industrial land. The board also endorsed a boundary-correction plan for 129-131 Shore Road and heard that the town's affordable-housing coordinator has awarded two buy-down grants this year, with one recipient possibly closing on a home July 15.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 2,913 words
Source: the Planning Board meeting of June 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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