Long before the Archdiocese of Boston released the list of parishes it was planning to close, shuttered churches in places like Newton and South Boston already had been converted into luxurious housing.

With 82 churches slated to close in communities throughout Greater Boston, many local officials are pondering such development options and trying to see whether they can exercise some control over the future uses of church sites. Some have already started rezoning sites or working with neighbors and development groups to steer the redevelopment potential.

City and town leaders have mentioned various types of potential uses for the sites, according to Marc Draisen, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Some have indicated they would like the see the vacated sites be converted into libraries or recreation centers. Others have expressed interest in commercial uses.

A prominently mentioned use, according to Draisen, has been housing.

The archdiocese revealed the list of parishes it was planning to close in May as part of a reconfiguration plan. Officials at the archdiocese have said the reconfiguration is necessary because of financial challenges, a shortage of priests and the deterioration of some of its older churches.

At a forum organized by MAPC just last month, town and city leaders concerned about the church closures, and nonprofit development groups, were offered guidance on the acquisition and development of such properties, as well as design issues and financing. Communities were also urged to start planning and communicating with the archdiocese about their desires for the church property.

“The message we’re giving is try and put a plan together, to be intentional not reactive,” said Draisen. Instead of rezoning sites to freeze out development, according to Draisen, communities should try to determine what they would like to see happen with the church sites and work with community development corporations and neighborhood groups. The community desires should be shared with the archdiocese, said Draisen.

Whatever happens, MAPC doesn’t want to see sites subdivided into large lots for single-family homes. In some urban areas, where the preservation of open space is a critical concern, said Draisen, some local officials may prefer to see the church and rectory developed and the rest of the church land preserved as open space.

“We hope communities and purchasers will follow smart-growth principles and try to develop some sites with density and preserve [parts] of the site,” Draisen said.

A ‘Creative Approach’

Some are hoping that cities and towns take advantage of Chapter 40R, a measure approved by lawmakers last year that provides financial incentives to cities and towns that create smart-growth overlay districts where mixed-use development can take place. Chapter 40R is designed to encourage the redevelopment of unused commercial, industrial and institutional sites into housing, with a portion of the housing set aside for lower-income households.

At a forum last Tuesday, Barry Bluestone, a Northeastern University professor who helped craft the legislation, said communities can utilize Chapter 40R when determining future uses of affected church sites. “Most of the church property is precisely in areas where this could work best,” said Bluestone, director of Northeastern University’s Center for Urban and Regional Policy.

Last week’s forum, organized by the Boston-based law firm Nixon Peabody, drew real estate professionals who are interested in the development potential of the church property, which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In April, before the list of churches to close was revealed, the archdiocese sold its 43-acre property in Brighton for $107.4 million. The property was acquired by Boston College.

The church faces a dilemma between its fiscal responsibility and its moral imperative, Bluestone said at the forum. In the past several years, the archdiocese has emphasized its commitment to creating more affordable housing. In fact, the archdiocese’s Planning Office for Urban Affairs has developed low-cost housing. But with resources diminishing, the church may be forced to sell properties to large retailers or residential developers making the most lucrative offer.

Communities are concerned about such possibilities and some already have started planning. In Watertown, where one Catholic church closed four years ago and another is slated to be shuttered next month, town leaders approved the creation of an overlay district in August designed to encourage the preservation of vacant churches and schools.

With the overlay district, developers are offered more flexibility in developing closed churches and schools into housing or a mix of commercial space and residential units. In exchange, developers are required to preserve any historical characteristics and aspects of the existing buildings.

Most churches in town are located in areas that are zoned for single- or two-family housing, according to Greg Watson, director of community development in Watertown. The overlay district is more intriguing to developers because they have greater flexibility in developing the sites.

“I would say Watertown has taken a very creative approach to this issue in a way that will encourage smart-growth development on the site,” said MAPC’s Draisen.

The overlay district already has been applied to St. Theresa’s of the Child Jesus, a church on Mount Auburn Street that closed in 2000. The developer of the site is building six high-end residential units in the church and two in the rectory, said Watson.

“It ultimately didn’t yield [more units] than if they had razed the buildings,” said Watson.

The overlay district also can be applied to Sacred Heart Parish, which is scheduled to close in November.

In West Newton, the Board of Aldermen voted to rezone the site of St. Bernard Parish, which is set to close in October, from multifamily zoning to single-family zoning.

Brian Yates, chairman of the Board of Aldermen’s Zoning and Planning Committee, said parishioners and neighbors were concerned about the traffic congestion that might result on the heavily traveled street on the church property’s north side if a multifamily development was built.

But Yates also said that the rezoning was meant to send a “message” to the archdiocese by cutting into the potential profits the archdiocese could get from selling the property.

Salem city officials have been working with a local community development corporation to do a reuse study for the St. Joseph Parish, a Catholic church in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood of the city that the archdiocese intends to close.

The city has issued a Request for Proposals to hire a consultant to look at the existing conditions of the property and to meet with neighbors to identify key development issues and possible reuse options. Salem officials also have talked with archdiocesan officials about the study, and will continue to “work with the archdiocese as closely as possible,” said Lynn Duncan, Salem’s director of planning and community development.

The Salem Harbor CDC, which is working closely with the city, is eyeing the property. The CDC is envisioning converting the rectory and school into housing and possibly building new affordable homeownership units.

James Haskell, the CDC’s executive director, said there is a big desire in the community to preserve the church. Haskell said the group has talked with social service agencies in Salem about possibly using the church for community purposes.

But Haskell acknowledged that the CDC may be competing with for-profit developers to acquire the site and it may be tough “to make those numbers work.”