Concord Select Board Unanimously Approves Three Novo Riverside Commons Housing Agreements

CONCORD — June 1, 2026 — Concord Select Board unanimously authorized three agreements advancing the Novo Riverside Commons affordable housing project and approved a revised 2027 Annual Town Meeting calendar at its June 1 meeting. The board voted 5-0 to allow Town Manager Kerry Lafleur to execute a Local Initiative Program Regulatory and Use Agreement, submit a letter of support to the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, and sign a monitoring agreement for Novo Riverside — completing the town's formal commitments to the project, which shifted financing from the Mass Housing Program to the state's Local Initiative Program. Attorney Stephanie Kiefer, representing the developer, confirmed the updated agreements include 2026 Area Median Income adjustments and a revised unit mix. The board also voted unanimously to approve a 2027 town meeting schedule anchored to May 17-19 dates, with a Warrant Preview Meeting added for January 9, 2027, and a Tri-Board Capital Planning Forum moved to January 11. Lafleur reported the town has received $1.9 million in grants so far this fiscal year, including a $689,000 MassDOT award covering nearly the full cost of the Spencer Brook Road Culvert Replacement Project. The Concord Housing Foundation, a 20-year-old nonprofit, presented a proposed housing strategy projecting the town will reach 16 percent on the state Subsidized Housing Inventory — well above the state's 10 percent requirement — based on units already permitted, including Novo Riverside.