The City Council of the City of Beacon acknowledges the high
cost of housing compared to average earnings in the City and county,
and this trend has grown more noticeable as land and housing values
have increased in recent years. Maintaining and ensuring a balanced
mix of housing types and sizes that are affordable to a range of incomes
is essential to ensuring the long-term health of the community. Such
balanced housing stock enables a variety of residents to live and
work in the City, maintain family ties, and participate in community
services, such as emergency services. Balanced housing is also essential
to attracting and maintaining an adequate workforce, a healthy business
environment, and a balanced tax base that supports local services
and the quality of life. The primary purpose of this article is to
allow the City to maintain an appropriate mix of housing choices by
creating a required number of quality new or rehabilitated below-market-rate
(BMR) units in future renovation and development. The goal is not
to offer a limited number of high-end units for a few qualified households,
but to provide as many quality affordable and workforce housing units
as possible, integrated throughout the City.
To achieve the purposes above, the approval authority shall require that 10% of all projects containing 10 or more apartment dwellings and/or attached dwellings (townhouses), as defined in §
223-63 of this chapter, shall be comprised of below-market-rate units as defined and regulated in this article. Any fraction at or above 0.5 shall be rounded up to the nearest whole number, and any fraction below 0.5 shall be rounded down. Subject to the Planning Board's approval, developer shall provide BMR units mixed throughout the same building(s). Units designated as BMR units must remain affordable for a minimum of 50 years from date of initial certificate of occupancy for rental properties and from date of original sale for owner-occupied units.