The Board of Selectmen (BOS) officially approved a contract between the town and NeighborWorks New Horizons, a New Haven-based non-profit that will begin building an affordable housing development near the train station on a parcel of land known as the Woodruff Property.

Town Planner George Kral called the approval a “significant step” toward actual construction beginning on the project. It must still be approved by town meeting, as well as other town boards and commissions, Kral said.

That meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 4 at the community center.

The development of an affordable housing project on the property dates back to 2016, when the property was selected after the town commissioned a study for possible locations for affordable housing in Guilford.

The State of Connecticut has pushed for towns to create offer 10 percent of their total housing units as subsidized or government assisted. Guilford is at 2.39 percent, according to a 2018 report by the Department of Housing.

Though rent will be subsidized at the development, which is expected to total between 15 and 20 total bedrooms, it will still require a “moderate” income level, Kral said. The target market for the development will be single parents with children.

The town’s contribution is through selling or leasing the property to NeighborWorks at essentially no cost, Kral said.

The project’s approval by the BOS was delayed in November due to legal issues, which were described by First Selectman Matt Hoey and Kral as largely procedural.

On Jan. 13, the Guilford Free Library hosted a public information sessions on the project with representatives of NeighborWorks available to answer questions. Town officials said that meeting was generally positive and had good turnout.

If the project is approved by town meeting, NeighborWorks can then actually begin the final design phase and begin soliciting grant monies from federal and state agencies. That final design must still be approved by Guilford’s Planning & Zoning Commission and the Inland Wetlands Commission.

Kral said that the contract being approved is especially important because it involved a long, very detailed legal process.

“Probably in much more detail than anyone really anticipated—much more detail than I thought,” he said.

According to Kral, “everyone is optimistic” that the project will continue and be completed, though it is hard to set a timeline as construction still depends on NeighborWorks securing funding. Kral said his understanding was that there would be plenty of momentum for the development on that front.

“It is such a terrific project, and it’s a community that the state has set as a priority one for affordable housing development. It’s in a location that is in a priority for affordable housing development—namely, close to public transportation,” he said.