MEET THE NEW regulations, which are (basically) the same as the old regulations.
That’s the general feel of the MBTA Communities emergency regulations released late Tuesday afternoon by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. While the Supreme Judicial Court gave Attorney General Andrea Campbell the go-ahead to enforce the multifamily housing law, the court said, she could not enforce the existing set of rules because the housing office did not follow the proper procedure for rolling out regulations.
The new set of regulations is essentially identical to the prior set, with some calendar-based adjustments.
These regulations “do not substantively change the law’s zoning requirements and do not affect any determinations of compliance that have been already issued,” according to a housing office press release announcing the regulation filings. They do, however, give the roughly 30 communities that have balked at the state rules new deadlines to come into compliance.
That group of communities now officially includes Needham, the latest Boston suburb to pass a zoning plan aligning with the MBTA Communities rules via Town Meeting and then toss that plan by town referendum.
According to preliminary results posted to the Needham town clerk webpage, the ‘No’ side won by about 15 percent of the 12,000 or so votes cast. Some 6,866 residents voted “No” and 4,882 voted “Yes,” rejecting a zoning plan that would have rezoned to potentially allow 3,296 multifamily units to be built over time.
Objection centered on the scale and ambition of the adopted zoning. The state regulations required Needham to zone for 1,784 new potential units, but the plans passed by the town last year went well beyond the state baseline. Opponents worried that the plan, allowing multifamily housing development up to 4½ stories in areas near commuter rail stations, would strain the town’s infrastructure.
“Many believe this is about more than just rezoning,” opposition group Needham Residents for Thoughtful Zoning wrote on their website. “For residents who closely followed the [rezoning] committee process, it became clear that their voices and written input were ignored.”
“No” campaign leaders told the Boston Globe on Tuesday evening that the town should go back and adopt the base plan presented to Town Meeting. This, they said, could keep the town in compliance and lead to more reasonable growth.
Proponents of the more ambitious plan, like Greg Reibman, president of the Charles River Regional Chamber covering Newton, Needham, Wellesley, and Watertown, emphasized repeatedly the town population is stagnating and the pandemic has devastated economic foot traffic in the area. Plus, there was almost no chance that the number of new units would approach the maximum amount.
Prior to the vote, Reibman said on The Codcast that the “No” side began to argue after the court ruling that this is an opportunity to “re-do what we’ve proposed, come up with something that’s a little less ambitious.” The timing on the guideline ruling, Reibman noted, “has confused the conversation in Needham only because it came out six days before the vote. And actually a lot of people have already done early voting.”
The chamber’s public policy and government affairs manager Max Woolf wrote last week that a base plan to meet the state requirements might result in 411 new homes in Needham over the next decade, while the plan passed by Town Meeting was projected to result in about 1,288 new units over that time period.
It’s now back to the drawing board for Needham and the 29 communities that also missed their compliance deadlines under the old regulations. Milton, the canary in the coal mine on MBTA Communities resistance, has a discussion about new zoning on their Planning Board agenda scheduled for Thursday, January 23.
They must submit a new action plan to the state, outlining their strategy to achieve compliance, by 11:59 p.m. on February 13. These communities will have until July 14, to submit a district compliance application to the state. Only one group of municipalities – adjacent small towns – has an upcoming deadline for compliance. That December 31 deadline to adopt zoning still stands.
The emergency regulations are in effect immediately and last for 90 days. During that period, the housing office said it intends to adopt regulations permanently following a public comment period.
“These regulations will allow us to continue moving forward with implementation of the MBTA Communities Law, which will increase housing production and lower costs across the state,” said Gov. Maura Healey in a statement. “These regulations allow communities more time to come into compliance with the law, and we are committed to working with them to advance zoning plans that fit their unique needs. We look forward to soon celebrating more communities joining the 116 that have already said yes to housing.”
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