WELLESLEY, MA-After six years of winding its way through the state's legal system, a 52-unit apartment complex proposed for Hastings Street can finally move forward. Hastings Village received a $10-million loan commitment from the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency for construction and permit financing.

Logan Huffman, president and owner of Hastings Village Inc., applied for a comprehensive permit for the project, which will sit on a two-acre parcel off of Route 9, under the state's affordable housing law. Under the law, known as Chapter 40B, a developer can bypass local zoning laws if a town does not have 10% of its housing affordable and the project will have at least 25% of its units affordable. Richard Brown, Wellesley's town planner tells GlobeSt.com that the town has about 5% of its housing affordable.

But the town's zoning board of appeals declined to permit the project, claiming that its density was too high and its proximity to a town well was a concern. The town also wanted to ensure that the affordability of the designated units would remain so in perpetuity. The project ended up winding its way through the state's courts for six years, and, as is the case in the majority of 40B projects whose permits are declined, the state overturned the town's decision.