Putney affordable housing complex begins welcoming residents after years of legal delays

The project’s total price rose from $10.3 million to $15.3 million, an increase of nearly 50%, as construction and borrowing costs climbed during the appeals process.

Putney’s new Alice Holway Drive Apartments are now home to 25 households, bringing fresh housing to a town that a 2025 assessment says needs 80 additional units by the end of the decade, including 44 for homeowners and 36 rentals.

For Stormy Gammon and her family, the move has been deeply personal. After living in a shelter unit in Springfield, she said she was overwhelmed when she learned they had been selected for one of the apartments. She, her husband, and their son settled in over the summer in a unit beside a community garden filled with sunflowers, in a town she had long felt drawn to.

The project had been years in the making. Windham and Windsor Housing Trust first began planning apartments on Alice Holway Drive seven years ago, after regional and local plans identified the site as a strong location for housing. The property is near Putney’s co-op and library and was once part of a wildflower nursery operated by Vermont political figure George Aiken.

Progress slowed after a neighboring property owner appealed the first permit. That challenge was followed by three more legal disputes over a two-year span. Opponents raised concerns about traffic, the town’s limited social services, and what they said was too little public involvement. Some nearby residents also wanted the land kept as park space and worried about the effects of adding new neighbors. Each case was ultimately resolved in favor of the developers, allowing the work to move forward in late 2024.

The delays came at a steep cost. Elizabeth Bridgewater, the housing trust’s executive director, said the project’s total price rose from $10.3 million to $15.3 million, an increase of nearly 50%, as construction and borrowing costs climbed during the appeals process. The developers also spent $85,000 on legal fees.

The apartments were built with a focus on efficiency, including ground-source heat pumps and solar panels. Five units were reserved for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, and Southeast Vermont Community Action is providing services on site.

Funding for the development came from federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits administered by the Vermont Housing Finance Agency, pandemic-era federal relief money distributed by the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, and a low-interest loan from the Vermont Treasurer’s Office, along with other sources.

State lawmakers have been working for years on ways to reduce the power of local appeals in housing cases, though no single solution has won broad agreement. As the next legislative session approaches, they are again considering ideas such as model codes and by-right zoning to make approvals faster and less vulnerable to case-by-case fights.