Forest Road Housing Project

A Yarmouth local issue — researched from public records. Every fact below comes from the Yarmouth Housing Authority’s own documents and Town of Yarmouth meeting records, linked at the bottom.

What’s happening

The Yarmouth Housing Authority (YHA) owns about 18.89 acres of wooded land at Old Townhouse Road and Forest Road in West Yarmouth. Since 2023 the YHA has been working to turn a portion of that land over to a private affordable-housing developer — up to 49 rental units under a long-term lease. The project is currently stalled: as of early 2026, the YHA is “looking for solutions to environmental issues at the Forest Road site” before issuing a new Request for Proposals. No developer has been selected. That means right now is when resident input matters most.

The water question

This is not a rumor — it is in the YHA’s own site study. The parcel sits within a Zone II wellhead protection area, the state-mapped zone that feeds public drinking-water wells. The YHA’s 2023 due-diligence presentation states the site would need a Title 5 septic system (there is no sewer at the site) and that a septic design in Zone II requires a nitrate loading analysis and nitrate management plan. When neighbors raise water quality, they are raising the same issue the Housing Authority’s own engineers flagged — and “environmental issues” are the YHA’s own stated reason the project needs a new approach.

How we got here

• 1985–1989: Town Meeting approved transferring the land to the YHA for housing; the transfer completed in 1989. A 30-unit state-funded plan died when the state cancelled funding in 1991.
• 2009: Town Meeting approved elderly + family development and $1,026,100 in Community Preservation Act funds.
• 2011–2013: Residents petitioned to swap the site; the vote was ruled not legally binding. A 2012 rescission vote was also ruled to have no legal effect. In 2013 Town Meeting rescinded the CPA money.
• 2022–2023: New site due diligence; public forum August 2023; draft RFP parameters set at a maximum of 49 non-age-restricted rental units in multiple buildings.
• 2024–2025: The planned timeline (RFP early 2024, developer awarded mid-2024, construction closing fall 2025) did not happen. “Forest Road” remained a recurring YHA board agenda item.
• January 2026: Town committee records report the YHA is seeking “solutions to environmental issues at the Forest Road site to aid in developing a new approach for a future RFP.”

Who decides

The YHA is governed by a five-member Board of Commissioners — three of them elected by Yarmouth voters (plus one tenant-elected member and one state appointee). The state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities holds a funding lien restricting the land to affordable-housing use, and any disposition must follow the Chapter 30B public procurement process. In short: the board you elect sets the direction, and the terms of the next RFP are where the site’s future gets decided.

What residents can do

• Attend YHA board meetings — Yarmouth Housing Authority, 534 Winslow Gray Road, South Yarmouth (508-398-2920). Forest Road appears regularly on the agenda, and meetings include public comment.
• Ask questions on the record: What are the specific environmental findings? Will the nitrate analysis be public before a new RFP is released? What density does the water study actually support?
• Stay informed: the YRTC is following this issue and will publish updates as the new RFP takes shape. Email info@yarmouthrtc.com to get on the list.

Sources

• YHA Information Forum presentation, Aug. 14, 2023 (acreage, history, Zone II/Title 5 findings, RFP parameters, timeline)
• YHA Documents page (public meeting notice, board materials)
• Town of Yarmouth Planning Board packet, Feb. 4, 2026 (Community Housing Committee report on Forest Road environmental issues and future RFP)
• YHA Board of Commissioners agenda, Sept. 16, 2025 (Forest Road under New Business)

Paid for by the Yarmouth Republican Town Committee.