LAKEVILLE — A housing community of 200 units, 50 of which would be deemed affordable, to be located on 188 acres of land off Freetown Street has been proposed to the town.

The development, currently called Rocky Woods, was proposed by Simonds Hills, LLC. 

The Select Board discussed the proposal during a meeting on Monday, April 24. Among the issues discussed were traffic and the potential impact to nearby Native American ceremonial sites.

Select Board Chair Brian Day said the board’s comments would be sent to the developer for consideration.

The housing units will be “homeownership housing,” according to an email to the Select Board from Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency Relationship Manager Michael Busby. That means units would only be for sale, not for rent.

The proposal was made under the state’s 40B statute, which enables local zoning boards to approve housing developments under flexible rules if 20% to 25% of the units have long-term affordability restrictions.

Of the 200 units, 50 will have affordability protections. When a town’s subsidized housing inventory reaches 10%, zoning boards can decline 40B projects.

This development would mean 7.2% of housing units in Lakeville are subsidized, as opposed to the current 6.5%, based on the state’s latest tally of Lakeville’s subsidized housing inventory from the end of 2020.

Town Planner Marc Resnick recommended that there should be an age-restricted portion in the development, which adheres to the town’s goal of creating more housing for seniors as stated in the housing production plan.

He recommended conducting a traffic study to determine the impacts to nearby intersections including County Road and Highland Street, Freetown Street and County Street, and Freetown Street and Howland Road.

Select Board member Evagelia Fabian also voiced her concerns about the potential development’s impact on traffic, particularly how it would add to congestion at the nearby Howland Road campus of Apponequet Regional High School, Freetown-Lakeville Elementary School, and Austin Intermediate School.

Perkins said that because there is a Rocky Woods Road that connects to nearby Howland Road in Lakeville, the developers should change the name of the housing development.

Fabian said the Rocky Woods property contains Native American ceremonial sites, which she wants to ensure are protected whether or not the housing units are built. 

Resnick said that he is unaware of any written documentation of ceremonial sites, but that an archeological survey should be conducted at the site.

“We owe it to history to find that small area,” Fabian said of the Native American sites.