As residents of Southeastern Massachusetts get ready to welcome a nearly 3,000-home development in Plymouth and the possibility of one of the region’s largest shopping complexes at a former Naval air station in South Weymouth, further evidence of the region’s surging development has surfaced in Taunton.

Late last month, a group of developers from the area submitted a permit request to the Taunton Zoning Board of Appeals that, if approved, would pave the way for nearly 500 new homes in the Bristol County community.

New Bedford-based Delphic Assoc. filed the permit request to build 471 single-family homes on behalf of developers Bruce LLC of Fall River and Malloch Construction Co. of East Taunton.

The application was filed in accordance with the state’s Anti-Snob Zoning Act, which streamlines the approval process and allows the developers to appeal directly to the ZBA. If the plan is not approved, the developers can take their case for a so-called comprehensive permit development to the state level. Local disapproval can be overturned if the town has less than 10 percent of its housing stock deemed affordable.

According to statistics from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, Taunton’s affordable housing percentage is currently 7.25 percent of total inventory.

Developers may file for a permit using the Anti-Snob Zoning Act if their proposal has a certain minimum percentage – in this case 25 percent – of the units set aside as affordable housing.

In the case of the project submitted by Delphic, the proposed Powhattan Estates, 118 of the 471 units would be affordable.

“I have a strong interest in affordable housing,” said Paul E. Cusson, a consultant for Delphic, a real estate development and consulting company with a concentration in the area of affordable housing. “We’re trying to build houses that anyone would be proud of, that won’t be stigmatized” by public perceptions of affordable housing.

The project would be situated on a 331-acre parcel in East Taunton off Staples and Wren streets near Route 140, described as being gently sloping wooded land.

“Environmentally, we’re being very aware of the property,” Cusson said. “We have full respect for the environmental restraints and the topographical restraints of the area. We won’t be filling in any wetlands.”

The proposal calls for the development to be comprised two non-connecting sections. One section would be known as Powhattan East and contain 236 homes. The other section, Powhattan West, would have 235 homes. Each section would feature curved roads and cul-de-sacs.

“We probably could have pushed it,” Cusson said, referring to the possibility of adding more homes to the project. “First we were presented with a checkerboard pattern development, and we rejected it. We feel we’ve come up with a plan that’s sensitive to the issues.”

Taunton Mayor Ted Strojny’s office said the city would not comment on the proposal until after officials have had a chance to review it fully, and Cusson said there has been no official dialogue yet between his group and the city. A public hearing on Powhattan Estates has been scheduled by the ZBA on Dec. 6.

“We don’t know much about the proposal yet, so I’m going to reserve comment on it until we begin working in earnest on the proposal,” said Mark Bobrowski, a Concord-based attorney providing technical assistance to the Taunton appeals board. “It’s going to take a number of meetings to get a good look at this. It certainly is a really big proposal.”

If the ZBA grants the permit for Powhattan Estates without the developers having to appeal to the state, the city of Taunton can set aside 83 of the 118 affordable homes in the development to be sold to qualified local residents.

Cusson said if the ZBA does not approve the permit and his team has to take its case to the state Housing Appeals Committee, there would be no preference for Taunton residents with the affordable units. Instead, they will be offered on a statewide lottery basis.

The affordable units will be interspersed among the market-rate homes throughout the development. “You’re not going to be able to tell which homes are designated affordable and which are not,” Cusson said.

Plans currently call for all of the homes to have three bedrooms. The homes will be of typical New England architectural style, Cusson said, including raised ranches, Capes and Colonials. “Some will have garages, some will have family rooms. It will be just like any other subdivision,” Cusson said.

The affordable units are expected to sell for about $125,000 to $135,000. The market-rate units are also expected to be relatively affordable considering today’s heated real estate market. They will sell for between $179,000 and $200,000, Cusson said.

“The affordable homes are designed for first-time homebuyers with a moderate income,” he said. “The development is designed around the average family.”

The developers anticipate a build-out period for Powhattan Estates of six to eight years, with total costs hovering near the $80 million mark.

‘No Ulterior Motive’
The Powhattan Estates proposal is not the first time that someone involved with the project has tried to develop the same 331-acre site in the Silver City. In March of this year, members of the Taunton Planning Board unanimously denied a permit requested by Malloch Construction to put a 125-lot subdivision in the same area. According to published reports, the board cited a number of reasons for the rejection, including insufficient water for fire protection in that area.

“The Mallochs tried to put a conventional development in there which didn’t work, then they began looking at their different options,” Cusson said. “They came to me and I said I thought it would make a great site for a comprehensive permit development.”

He added that the Mallochs continue to pursue the same site because they already have a lot invested in the parcel in terms of surveys and studies conducted. He emphasized that his team is not using the comprehensive permit to jumpstart negotiations on previous plans for the site.

“There is no ulterior motive here. We stand by our plan,” Cusson said. “I have a real problem with developers doing that, or the town doing that, for that matter. If a town doesn’t want affordable housing, they should go against it full force. The ZBAs don’t need to bend to backroom negotiations. That’s a misuse of the intent of the Anti-Snob Zoning Act.

“That’s not to say there won’t be any negotiations, but we’re not planning to say ‘we’ll pull our comprehensive permit request if you’ll let us build 150 trophy homes.’ We stand by our application.”

He explained that, while there are 471 homes proposed, Powhattan Estates would not be a densely packed development. “We had plans with greater density, and we rejected them. There aren’t this many homes proposed because it’s a comprehensive permit, it’s because this is a very large piece of land.” He estimated the development would be the second largest one in the region behind The Pinehills.

The Powhattan Estates proposal using the Anti-Snob Zoning Law comes as lawmakers are considering lowering the 10 percent threshold cities and towns must meet for affordable housing requirements.

Some legislators now say the statute, Chapter 40B, is being used by big, out-of-state builders to gain entry into suburban communities, where their primary intent is to build high-end developments. Rep. Carol Donovan, D-Woburn, has filed a bill to lower to 8 percent the affordable housing threshold that communities must meet to continue enforcement of the local permit process. Only 23 communities currently meet the 10 percent goal, and another 23 have at least 8 percent of their local housing stock as affordable.