By Bob Katzen

The Senate referred to the Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government a bill that changes the current law which requires that an MBTA community “must have at least one zoning district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right and meets other criteria including minimum gross density of 15 units per acre; and a location not more than 1/2 mile from a commuter rail station, subway station, ferry terminal or bus station. No age restrictions can be applied and the district must be suitable for families with children.”

Current law also provides that cities and towns that do not comply with the MBTA law would be ineligible for various state grants to the municipality. The amendment would strike that provision and specifically states that any MBTA community that fails to comply with this law will not lose eligibility for any state grants.
Co-sponsors of the measure, Sen. Patrick O’Connor (R-Weymouth) and Rep. Colleen Garry (D-Dracut), did not respond to repeated requests asking them why they sponsored the bill.
Amendment supporters say that the Healey Administration’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is not being flexible and is pulling funding from some cities and towns that are not complying. They noted this hurts cities and towns which are already struggling financially.
Amendment opponents say that current law already allows some flexibility for these adjacent communities or adjacent small towns by establishing lower capacity requirements and greater flexibility over where they site their districts. They noted that the Office of Housing and Livable Communities currently has the administrative ability to offer some flexibility to these communities and said the amendment is not necessary. They argue that the amendment is unfair to more than 100 communities that have already done the work and complied with the law; and sends the message that deadlines don’t mean anything.