However you “set the clock” — six years, 11 years, more — the dream of an affordable housing development in Westport has been a long time coming.

But, “if all goes as we hope and expect, we should finally be able to break ground next spring,” says Leonardi Aray, the town’s housing specialist. Mr. Aray and the Westport Affordable Housing Trust delivered that update to the Board of Selectmen recently.

The plan for housing on former farmland off American Legion Highway has indeed been a long process and one with more ups and downs than Mr.Aray can count since he got involved in 2011.

High points included town meeting support and, in August, word that the state office of Housing and Urban Development had finally approved the tax credits that make the project financially possible.

Among low moments were meetings at which some residents expressed opposition and especially two previous rejections for those tax credits.

The second time was a real blow, Mr. Aray said.

“We had not really expected approval the first time — it is fairly common to be rejected then … But the second time, we were much more confident.”

When when they learned that the second bid, too, had been denied, “I wondered what we might have done wrong.”

“That phone call alerting me to the rejection — I was just … I couldn’t believe it,” said Elizabeth Collins, chairwoman of the Westport Housing Authority, at the time.

One suspicion was the fact that tax credits had been approved for a larger project just over the line in Dartmouth — with a limited pool, the selection of two so close together was probably a long shot, he thinks.

Long as it may have seen, “the time was pretty typical” for projects of this sort, especially in rural and suburban areas. There are so many approvals needed, so much red tape to clear, Mr. Aray said.

Shovels in the ground

There is still work to be done on final approvals for the waste system — the DEP has signed off on the advanced wastewater system that will be located out in the open space sector of the property. Closing should happen in March or April, and then, “work should begin very quickly.”

He anticipates that construction will take around a year to finish.

Although Westport has senior housing in town, this will be its first affordable housing development for low income residents of all ages.

The proposed development plans call for the construction of 50 affordable apartments in six townhouse style buildings and a community center, with a portion of the site — woodlands bordering the Noquochoke River – to be preserved as open space for the public to enjoy.

The buildings will be clustered on the front portion of the site, on the approximately eight acres of land known as the Perry Farm, with about 22 acres near the river known as the Quinn property to remain undeveloped for passive recreation.

The development aims to be environmentally friendly, Ms. Collins said. 

In an effort to reduce pollution and further protect the Westport River, the project will use a state of the art nitrogen reducing septic system that should eliminate virtually all nitrogen output from the development.

“Seventy percent of the units will be reserved for ‘Westporters’,” said State Representative Schmid (D-Westport).  “This means those young folks who have grown up in town and want to stay here, as well as the seniors who wish to downsize but remain part of our community.”

“I surely believe that the continuous support shown by Westport’s state elective officials, Representative Paul Schmid and Senator Michael Rodrigues, local residents and town’s boards, including the Board of Selectmen, helped tremendously,” Mr. Aray said.