The latest plans for Millbrook Crossing include 46 rental units of affordable housing, including at least five low-income apartments, the Board of Selectmen learned this week.

Millbrook Crossing is a mixed-use development proposed by Ben Goodrich of Strawberry Lane and custom builders Floyd and Ronald Silvia of Silvia & Silvia Associates, Inc., who plan to redevelop portions of Railroad Avenue and St. George Street into residential and commercial space. The project involves five separate parcels of land totaling 6.2 acres, all owned by the Goodrich family.

Plans call for replacing the old Goodrich lumber building on Railroad Avenue and the buildings housing Millbrook Market and other businesses on St. George Street. Previous plans showing at least 16 apartments and retail/commercial space were rejected by the Board of Health in 2007 because of the need for a mounded septic system, which is prohibited for new construction in Duxbury.

Attorney Gareth Orsmond of Rackemann, Sawyer and Brewster in Boston presented the latest concept for Millbrook Crossing as a Chapter 40B development, which has filed for project eligibility with the Mass Housing Partnership Fund.

Attorney Gareth Orsmond of Rackemann, Sawyer and Brewster in Boston presented the latest concept for Millbrook Crossing as a Chapter 40B development, which has filed for project eligibility with the Mass Housing Partnership Fund. Known as the anti-snob zoning law, Chapter 40B is a state law that allows builders to bypass local zoning laws and town committee reviews when developing land, provided that 25 percent of the housing units are kept affordable. Chapter 40B is used in towns that have less than 10 percent affordable housing.

Orsmond said all the apartments will be considered affordable. The plans show 11 one-bedroom units, 32 two-bedroom units and four three-bedroom apartments. Forty-one apartments will be available to people who make sixty percent or less of the median income and five one-bedrooms will be reserved for those considered low income, who earn 30 percent of less than the median income, said Orsmond. The annual median income for Duxbury is $80,500. Sixty percent of this amount is $48,300 and 30 percent is $24,150.

“This new community will consist of thoughtfully designed buildings in a carefully planned site layout with exceptional amenities….Millbrook Crossing will…meet the needs of young professionals and independent mature adults who currently have few options for new high quality affordable housing in the town of Duxbury,” according to the project’s executive summary.

Orsmond said in deciding to make the project 100 percent affordable housing, Goodrich and the Silvias looked at the town’s housing plan, which was recently approved by the Department of Housing and Community Development. He said the plan noted that 288 employees of the town and schools do not live in Duxbury but would like to and that 600 households are considered below sixty percent of the median income.

“This project has a bent toward true affordability,” said Orsmond.

The developers felt that as Millbrook is considered a village area with housing and retail, it could handle a more dense development, including 7,000 square feet of commercial space, according to Orsmond. The lumber yard building would be razed and be replaced by a two-story building with apartments on the top and retail or commercial space on the bottom. Orsmond said the developers would like to keep some of the existing tenants, such as the market because it fit in well with the mixed use plan.

In response to Selectmen Chairman Jon Witten’s question as to whether the project would stay under the 10,000 gallons of effluent per day and not require an on-site sewage treatment plant, Orsmond said the number of apartments proposed would produce over 9,000 gallons a day, leaving some room for the commercial uses.

Two selectmen felt the project should have more commercial space and fewer apartments.

“I think the 46 residential units is too much and I would like to see more commercial space,” said Selectman Andre Martecchini. “I love the idea of a mixed project. It is smart growth. Marrying the two is a good concept. I would just like to see less rental units and more commercial.”

Selectman Betsy Sullivan agreed: “We as a town spend a great deal of money on open space and we’ve done a really good job at this. What we don’t have the ability to acquire is commercial space and there is a finite amount of commercial space,” she said. “We need to be advocates of the commercial space we have and the highest and best use of this space.”

Orsmond said the developers were open to comments from selectmen and the public. He said he didn’t know how much commercial space could be added before the project was no longer considered an affordable housing project by the state.

The developers have asked Mass Housing Partnership to hold off on asking for comments from the Board of Selectmen until public feedback could be sought on the latest proposal, said Orsmond. Witten said he would not comment on anything until he was shown the definite plans presented to MHP. Witten also questioned Orsmond on why the project’s executive summary said the development “is situated on a blighted site consisting of approximately 6-acres.”

Orsmond responded that the “lumber yard building is deteriorating badly.”

Surplus Street residents Jeanne Clark and Kay Foster told Orsmond that the proposed development sits on “marginal land” with bad soils, which had an old cranberry bog and has a stream that feeds into the Blue Fish River.

“We’re not going to build something that is not a good, safe project,” responded Orsmond, adding that $300,000 had already been spent on cleaning up contamination from the old lumber yard.

Forge Way resident Ed McGlinchey asked if the developers had done a market analysis to see if there was a need for this number of apartments.

Orsmond said a market analysis had been conducted.

“We obviously believe the market for these apartments is there,” said Orsmond.

Witten questioned Orsmond on a deed that sold the six acres to the Goodrich and Muncey Trust. Orsmond said he needed to look further into this issue.

Millbrook Crossing will cost approximately $13.6 million and it will be financed through a combination of conventional debt and substantial equity investment, according to the executive summary.