Sturbridge Planning Board Unanimously Adopts New Housing Production Plan

Planning Board · Meeting of June 8, 2026

Sturbridge Planning Board unanimously adopts five-year Housing Production Plan targeting the state's 10 percent affordability goal. Consultant Karen Sunderborg told the board only 5.47 percent of the town's 4,020 year-round units, 220 total, currently count toward the state's Subsidized Housing Inventory, with a median home price of $540,000 against a median renter income of $54,000. Producing 20 units a year would earn Sturbridge "safe harbor" from unwanted Chapter 40B developments, Sunderborg said.

Board member David Bourbeau pressed for cost-control options beyond financing, while resident Jonathan Rosen asked how many units it would take to move rental vacancy off roughly zero percent. Residents also raised the town's 85-percent-residential tax base and its lack of remaining commercial or industrial land. The board also endorsed a boundary-correction plan for 129-131 Shore Road and heard that the town's affordable-housing coordinator has awarded two buy-down grants this year, with one recipient possibly closing on a home July 15.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 2,913 words

Source: the Planning Board meeting of June 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.