A forum held last month at the Library highlighted three new affordable housing projects currently underway or soon to be started in town. The projects, though all unique in design, share the same goal: provide more affordable housing units to a market in critical need.

The project that is furthest along is a new development on State Street named Great Hill Cottage Community at the site of the former Bullard estate along the edge of I-95. According to the Chris Widmer, executive director of Green Planet Company, the non-profit development organization that owns the property, the company utilizes a unique design of small cottages clustered together for their projects.

“The community cottage concept is something that has always interested me,” Widmer said at the forum. “The idea is that the homes are clustered together around a central open space. Parking is not a key feature of the units themselves, and they are of a cottage nature. Essentially there is a lot of shared open space.”

Widmer said his company offers these properties with environmental and affordability concerns as a priority.

Widmer said the units are expected to sell for $250,000 to $270,000 and will be “deed restricted.” This classification allows potential owners to purchase affordable units, allowing for consideration for tax abatements but also placing restrictions on how owners can later sell the property.

Another development on its way is the Woodruff project, which will be located across the street from the Whitfield House Museum on Stone House Lane. The project is being developed in conjunction with Patriquin Architects, LaRosa construction, and Neighbor Works New Horizons, a non-profit developer that partners with municipalities in creating affordable housing.

The Woodruff project will have 16 units and is slated to be tucked in behind the Guilford Center for Children, overlooking Sluice Creek and a section of wetlands and marsh. The project is currently in the concept stage with four buildings with four units each. Some units are expected to be offered at full market price while others will be offered at 25 percent to 80 percent of Average Median Income (AMI) of the region, which is how “affordable housing” is calculated, according to Aaron Hoffman Director of Real Estate for Neighbor Works.

“Our projects are mixed income. The units will be broken down into different income restriction levels and that will be in place for the life of the project. As a developer, we build our properties to manage them. We are not looking to flip them or looking to come in and make a buck,” Hoffman said. “We want to be a partner for the community for this project and to be a good neighbor.”

The largest project is a 100-unit development called Memorial Estates which will be built at 90-100 Hubbard Road behind the Police and Fire Station property. According to Town Planner Jamie Stein, the current plan calls for two buildings with 50 units each, with 15 units being offered for those at 80 percent or less of AMI and 15 units offered at 60 percent of less of AMI.

No firm start or completion date has been set as of yet, but Stein said she expected the project to break ground sometime in the spring of 2023.

This project aims to comply with the 8-30g statute that allows for rapid approval of residential construction projects that include at least 30 percent of their proposed units be dedicated to “affordable housing.”

Stein said, Guilford’s goal isn’t simply providing affordable housing but a “diversity” of housing for potential residents.

“I think we’re trying to create, first and foremost, a diversity of housing,” Stein said. “The hope is that by creating a diversity of housing meaning, not just a single family home on a three-acre lot. A majority of our dwellings are single family, so we want to develop more multi-family units, rental stock — which Guilford has very little of and why the Hubbard Road development is so important.”