Time’s run out for 9 of the 12 communities that haven’t signed on to the MBTA Communities Act.
Beneath that statute — a 2021 regulation requiring municipalities served by or adjoining to MBTA transit to create zoning for multifamily housing — the vast majority of the resisting communities had been required to conform by July 2025.
The holdouts: Dracut, Tewksbury, Wilmington, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Holden, Marblehead, Middleton, and Winthrop. Carver and Rehoboth — which had till Dec. 31 to affix the fold – and Freetown – with an upcoming zoning board assembly that may convey it into compliance – have up to now been spared any authorized penalties.
The opposite 9 have been slapped with enforcement lawsuits by the state’s legal professional common.
In July, AG Andrea Campbell warned that her workplace may pursue enforcement in opposition to noncompliant cities starting in January 2026.
Campbell lately reiterated her earlier enforcement warning. And now she’s made good on that promise.
We’ve already seen some samples of what type that motion may take.
Tewksbury Public Colleges came upon in December that it gained’t obtain sure state funding in fiscal 2026 on account of the city’s noncompliance.
In Middleton, the city misplaced a $2 million MassWorks grant that had already been awarded, together with funding for a Council on Ageing passenger van.
Wilmington City Supervisor Eric Slagle mentioned the city had been speaking with Campbell’s workplace because the second half of 2025 after the zoning did not cross at City Assembly final 12 months.
“They requested if we deliberate to place it on one other City Assembly agenda, however there was no urge for food on the Choose Board for that,” mentioned Slagle.
For now, he mentioned Wilmington is in a “wait-and-see mode” because the grievance filed by Campbell’s workplace didn’t specify how a choose would power compliance.
So, what’s the top sport for these 9 municipal outliers?
Greater than 90% of the affected communities, 165 out of 177, have created a multi-family zoning district per that MBTA regulation.
A number of holdouts can’t change that truth, or the inevitability of this laws. Fairly than persevering with to withstand, these communities may adhere to the letter – if not the spirit — of the regulation.
Whereas the MBTA Communities Act compels designated municipalities to create zoning districts that permit multifamily housing by proper, it doesn’t require them to really construct housing or assure reasonably priced housing manufacturing.
A Boston Globe evaluate in Might of a number of preliminary and already-passed zoning methods discovered that some cities have intentionally designed plans that cleverly circumvent the state mandate.
In some circumstances, cities have created zoning to permit house buildings in locations the place such constructions exist already, making it economically impractical to create a brand new considered one of related measurement.
Others have written zoning guidelines that cap constructing heights and densities in ways in which successfully discourage new improvement.
These artistic strategies have apparently happy the regulation’s mandate.
It’s the blueprint these sued communities ought to take, as a substitute of tolerating the substantial authorized and monetary penalties additional resistance will precise.
Sentinel and Enterprise
