The Town of Lakeville received a housing production plan certification from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities and, as staff reported at the Oct. 16 Zoning Board meeting, the town has exceeded the 10% affordable-housing threshold required for a two-year "safe harbor."

"The town received it for the record ... we have hit our 10%. We are just over 11%," the planning staff member told the board, adding that the town is in safe harbor for two years from the February date the inventory reached the threshold.

Board members and staff cautioned that safe-harbor status does not retroactively remove or stop projects already in process. The board discussed several large projects and procedural points: Simmons Hill (also referred to at times as Rocky Woods/Rocky Hill), the Cranberry Heights hospital-site inventory entry, and other 40B comprehensive-permit applications that may already be in the state queue.

A board member asked whether projects that applied before the town entered safe harbor remain unaffected; staff confirmed pending 40B applicants remain in place and would continue through the state's process. "If they applied before we did the state harbor, then they're in," a board member said. Staff noted that the inventory and percentages are tied to census data and can change as new data arrive.

Several board members expressed the desire for more local influence over development if the town maintains compliance, and discussed the limits imposed when a 40B applicant has already applied under state rules. The board asked staff (Amy was asked to follow up) to clarify the town's authority and to provide the board with a written interpretation of how safe-harbor status affects local control over comprehensive permits.

The discussion emphasized that safe-harbor status is temporary and that changes in census-driven population counts or projects' permit activity (for example, if an applicant fails to pull a building permit within a statutory window) can alter the town's inventory and compliance status.

No formal vote was taken on policy at the Oct. 16 meeting; board members asked staff to research statutory specifics and return with guidance.