AA Learn more about in-home care options for your loved ones

MILLBURY, Mass. - At Millbury’s annual Town Meeting, voters approved a temporary ban on permitting for new multi-family developments as Massachusetts communities grapple how to handle a worsening housing crisis.

What You Need To Know

Roughly 80% of Millbury voters opted to press pause on large-scale housing projects for 18 months, following through on an effort that began as a citizen’s petition. Town Manager Sean Hendricks believes those voters don’t necessarily have negative views on affordable housing, rather they’re concerned about doing too much too soon without the proper planning to back it up.

“The impetus behind this particular moratorium was just sort of make sure that before we do a lot more multi-family development in town, we get clearer, more substantive rules in place regarding multi-family housing," Hendricks said.

Millbury’s current zoning bylaws don’t address multi-family housing in any substantive way, but town officials had started to update them before the moratorium vote.

For some residents, concerns trace back to projects like the proposed Rice Pond Village at 17 Rice Street. In the small residential neighborhood, some neighbors believe its nearly 200 proposed apartments would put a strain on town resources and turn the mellow slice of Millbury into a traffic headache.

“There’s constant discussion about how do we balance between being the Millbury these folks grew up in, understanding the fact that population has exploded over the last 30, 40, 50 years," Hendricks said. "How do we retain our character without losing the folks who made Millbury what it is?”

The moratorium makes references to the rate and volume at which new multifamily projects have been getting permits compared to other points in the town's history. Given the demand for affordable housing across the state, it seems it's only a matter of time before every town grapples with this question of how much it can do to provide new housing opportunities.

“It is an important conversation, it is a big conversation, we’d like it to be a bigger conversation because I don’t think everyone understands or pays attention to how dire the situation is," Hendricks said. "It’s not going to get any better until we address it.”

Under the moratorium, large projects like Rice Pond Village still have a possible path to construction with a state appeal, but Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance Executive Director Leah Bradley believes it makes progress trickier.

“Moratoriums like this really exacerbate the issue because what we need is housing at all income levels," Bradley said. "When we talk about moratoriums, it slows down the process of us being able to house our recent graduates, seniors on fixed incomes.”

Before the moratorium takes effect, it will need to be reviewed by the state attorney general’s office to make sure it falls within state laws.

Special to the Telegram & Gazette

When your home has become a monster of horrific design and scary renovations, then you have a Frankenhouse, and a new HGTV home renovation series, "Fix My Frankenhouse," premiering April 23, shows how to get out of the nightmare.

As the name humorously suggests, this series focuses on turning houses that are a mix of mismatched parts and badly executed renovations into functional, flowing beautiful homes, and Worcester County is the focus of the first episode.

The series kicks off with a poorly functioning — but much loved — Millbury house dating to the early 1900s, which was in need of some expert TLC from "Fix My Frankenhouse’s" hosts, Stoughton-based home renovation/interior design duo, Mike and Denese Butler.

The husband and wife team, who head The Perfect Vignette home renovations company, are new to the reality TV world. But they had some help feeling at home during the filming from their fathers, John Butler and Peter Doyle, who are both master carpenters and appear in the series.

“Denese’s dad is a natural,” Mike says of his father-in-law’s TV appearances. “My dad is not so bad,” he laughs. “It was a fun journey for us all.”

Mike grew up in Lexington and Denese in Mattapan, but their careers took them to New York City, where Denese worked in design, while Mike was involved in major commercial construction projects. After moving to Jersey City and starting a family, in 2019 the couple decided to move closer to their families to raise their three sons.

The home in Millbury in Episode One shows the result of poor overall planning, with a kitchen that doesn’t function at all. Mike says he took one look and could see what needed to be done: So, dramatically, walls came down and space was opened up for a more free flowing environment, and walls went up to extend functional space.

As the series will reveal, unlike the disparate parts of the houses they get to work on, the Butlers are opposites that blend well together. While Denese concentrates on design details and creating something personal for the owners, Mike refigures the overall layout, but, says Dense, “We are both very detail oriented. When it comes down to aesthetics, I am very subjective, I see what the client wants. I am very confident in my decisions.”

But Mike sees the big picture.

“I have worked on homes, I have worked on skyscrapers,” adds Mike. “I always tell homeowners to slow down, consider the whole house. Otherwise, you limit the possibilities.”

Denese says she never considered a career in TV and calls this a dream gig. It certainly happened at the right time: in March 2020, just as the pandemic shutdown meant a considerable loss of work and income, it pretty much dropped into their lap.

“I was posting lots of photos on Instagram and a producer saw them and contacted us,” said Denese. She had no qualms about performing either: “I feel I’m always on stage. I think that comes from dance classes and I taught fitness classes in New York. I don’t mind feeling like all eyes are on me. It gives me a great sense of confidence.”

Mike was a bit more reticent about being on-camera, “I saw I had to help Mike feel more comfortable with it,” she added.

When all six episodes were filmed and done with, Mike admits he felt relief, but also satisfied with the work.

“I’m used to the pressure of performing in the work environment and I’m not scared of a challenge,” he says. “In construction, we do what we need to do to accomplish the goal. I feel I accomplished something with this.”

“But,” he adds, “I am naturally an introvert. I was extremely out of my comfort zone, so I had to figure that out. Denese was born for TV, she’s a natural star.”

"Fix My Frankenhouse" premieres Sunday, April 23, at 9 p.m. EST on HGTV, with simultaneous streaming on discovery+. HGTV.com