FAIRLEE — Residents will have an opportunity to learn more about a proposal for a 19-unit affordable housing project planned for downtown during a public hearing Monday night.

Fairlee resident Jonah Richard, who has revitalized several properties in town including the store Chapman’s General and apartments at 501 Main St., is asking town officials to support an application for a $1 million grant through the Vermont Community Development Program.

The hearing is scheduled to take place at 6:30 p.m. at Fairlee Town Hall and can also be streamed via fairleevt.gov.

Last summer, Richard, who owns Village Ventures and is co-owner of Real Hazen Construction, purchased four buildings containing 11 units on Bridge and Main streets for around $325,000.

Richard’s plan calls for renovating the existing buildings and constructing two new ones for a total of 19 units.

Richard said the goal is to begin construction in late 2025. He expects the project — called Bridge + Main — would take around two years to complete and is projected to cost between $6 and $7 million.

All of the existing units are occupied, Richard said. Since he purchased them, new boilers and hot water systems have been installed.

“We’re not kicking anybody out,” Richard said. If a current tenant decides to move, the spot will remain vacant. “Ideally the way this works is we tackle our new construction first.” Then current tenants can move to the new spaces before having the option to move back after the renovations.

Richard’s current plans include having studio- one-, two-, and three-bedroom units available. They will be open to people who make below 60% of the area median income, he said. Rents will range from $500 up to $1,300 for a three-bedroom unit.

“There’s not a lot of new units being developed for working class families,” he said. “Part of the goal of this project is to try to address that.”

That’s one part of the project Fairlee Zoning Administrator Chris Brimmer is particularly excited about.

“The lack of suitable family housing is killing us,” he said.

The town does not have enough variety of housing for people to move up and down the market as their incomes and life circumstances change, he said. That could be older adults who are looking to downsize, people with expanding families looking for larger spaces, or those who might be sleeping on a friend’s couch because they can’t afford their own place in town.

“We don’t have enough slack to allow the market to stabilize,” Brimmer said.

The Vermont Community Development Program grant is just part of the funding Richard is seeking for the project in order to make the rents affordable for working families. He also is seeking money from the Vermont Housing Finance Agency’s low-income housing tax credit program and a grant through the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board’s HOME Investment Partnership Program.

“The tricky part is lining all these capital sources up so they all fall into play at the same time,” Richard said, adding that private funding sources will also be involved.

Brimmer emphasized that taxpayers will not be on the hook for development costs.

“There is no town money being put into this project,” he said. “We’re basically a pass through.”

Selectboard Chairman Peter Berger said the town has long worked to bring more economic development and, in particular, affordable housing to its downtown area. One challenge has been putting together a plan that would be attractive to state and federal grant programs. They explored partnerships with neighboring towns for scattered-site housing — affordable housing units that are all part of one project but built in separate places — but haven’t been able to make it work.

“To a degree, we could never meet the criteria so a lot of those funds were going to the Burlingtons, the Brattleboros, the Hartfords and White River Junctions,” Berger said. “We could never crack that into bringing the affordable housing projects to small towns.”

Richard said it can be a challenge for developers, particularly smaller companies, to navigate and pay for the studies required to apply for state and federal programs. Through Bridge + Main, he is hoping to show how to build affordable housing that is a good fit in towns with smaller populations.

“Part of this is figuring out a model to deliver affordable housing to communities that don’t want 50-, 100-unit buildings being placed in their downtowns,” Richard said.

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.