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Draft Buildout Report for the Town of Fairhaven, MA

As part of their effort to project future wastewater facility capacity needs, the Fairhaven Department of Public Works requested that the Buzzards Bay NEP prepare a buildout analysis for the town of Fairhaven. On this page we have links to the 2010 draft report, GIS files, and some additional maps that show potential buildout on each parcel.

Table 7 from the reportZoning category and potential new residential units
Land Use Category AG B I MU P RA RB RC RR WRD Grand Total
1. Built on/out 0
2. Built on not/out, can't sub. 57 49 18 6 130
3. Built on not/out, can sub. 65 356 736 1,157
4. Not built, can't sub. 28 16 199 10 350 18 621
5. Not built, can sub. 110 284 20 827 1,241
6. Apts. 0
7. Comm. w/o apts. 6 3 3 12
8. Comm. w/ apts. 56 30 2 4 92
9. Olio 0
10. Town 17 12 307 5 148 42 531
11. Church 0
Grand Total 220 0 0 147 0 1,179 61 46 2,061 70 3,784


Based on the BBNEP's analysis, and as summarized in the table above, the Town of Fairhaven has the potential for an estimated 3,784 additional units to be built under existing zoning rules. The calculations took into account wetlands on each parcel using the state conservancy program wetland maps which show only the minimum extent of wetlands.

buildout key
When we conducted our analysis, we included in 11 different landuse categories that are contained in the GIS database, to make it easier for the town to decide what they wanted to keep in or remove from the buildout analysis. The table above shows buildout projections by each category and zoning district. For example, in category 10, we include "Town-owned unprotected open space." This category, which is not often included in buildout analyses, accounts for 531 of the projected 3,784 units at buildout. These potential residential units is the sum if each parcel were converted to a public housing development under existing zoning rules. In reality, these parcels could become schools, fire stations, or they might someday become protected open space. Some of these town properties already may have uses that preclude any possibility of development. The other categories use Town of Fairhaven zoning rules applied to privately owned land.

Read the draft Fairhaven 2010 Buildout Report for the results and an explanation of the methodology. The GIS coverage showing the number of buildable units on Town of Fairhaven parcels is contained in this zipped shapefile fairhaven_buildout_jun2010.zip (protected open space files and certain municipal files are not included in this coverage).

These are the map some additional maps as pdf files:
33"x54" poster size map (10 MB, map show parcel ID and possible new units. Open in your browser or right click to download on your computer)

11"x17" tabloid tiles (the same map above, broken into 7 tabloid size pages)

Do you have google earth installed on your computer (a free program)? Try opening this file:
Google Earth File

Companion Google Earth point file to show just new units>0 as labels

The draft report used a 2009 protected open space coverage. The new maps on this page used a September 2011 open space coverage. The final report will use the most recent protected open space data available. The open space coverage used on the new maps above is available at our GIS data download page.