A preliminary proposal to build three new townhouses at 75 Croade St. went before the Warren Planning Board on Monday, Feb. 26 during their monthly meeting.

The plans, submitted under the State’s Comprehensive Permit Application, were put forth by Clark Wescott of Barrington, and would result in 12, two-bedroom condominium units (four in each of the townhouses, with one unit being listed as an “affordable” unit in each building).

There would be two parking spaces available for each unit, as well as some offstreet parking. An existing residential building, constructed in 1890, would need to be demolished to make way for the new construction, but the applicant said that the building currently has no occupants who would be displaced.

The meeting was purely informational, as new state laws that went into effect on Jan. 1 removed the need to earn a “Master Plan” approval for developments seeking a comprehensive permit to build affordable housing in communities that haven’t attained 10% of their overall housing stock as affordable.

The developer said that, at this preliminary stage, the affordable units would go for between $300,000 and $334,000 and the market rate units would be in the range of $400,000.

The board did have some comments, including some which came out of the Technical Review Committee’s review of the project that occurred on Feb. 15.

Among those questions included whether the applicant had considered the impacts of climate change and sea level rise into their plans, as most of the parcel falls within a flood plane. The developer’s team indicated they had considered this, but would also consider if they needed to build beyond the recommended height requirements set by FEMA.

Chairman Frederick Massie spoke to his continuing frustration with developments where only the minimum 25% of units are set aside as affordable (which is the minimum amount of units in order to qualify for a Comprehensive Permit application).

“Our town has plenty of affordable housing, it’s just not by-right. This is an issue that we’re facing,” he said. “This is an example. You have 12 units, three of which are affordable. That, in fact, increases our distance away from the 10% because there are more units that are market rate. So, this is a good project, it’s sound, but the problem is that it perpetuates the problem.”

The project will return to the board for deliberation at a later date to seek a formal, preliminary approval.