The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled the MBTA Community Law is legal. The Town of Franklin took action to bring it's zoning in compliance and is awaiting word that those action do indeed meet the requirements. The SJC decision can be found -> https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2025/01/08/h13580.pdf?
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SJC Decision coverage
Via CommonWealth Beacon:
"AFTER THE STATE’S high court offered broad approval for the attorney general to enforce a sweeping state housing law, the Healey administration is tinkering with new emergency regulations to abide by the court’s conclusion that previous guidelines were rolled out incorrectly and could not be enforced.With significant substantive changes to the rezoning requirements unlikely in the reworking of regulations that’s now underway, it seems only a matter of time until communities that are out of step with law will have to comply or face the music.The MBTA Communities Act, a 2021 law, requires cities and towns near public transit to zone a district of reasonable size to include multifamily housing by right. While the vast majority of the 177 communities are compliant or in the process of adopting new zoning to meet the law’s requirements, 28 municipalities are non-compliant because they missed their deadline to submit acceptable rezoning plans. Another three are on the cusp of following the path taken by Milton, with referendums scheduled to toss their compliant plans."
Continue reading the article -> https://commonwealthbeacon.org/housing/state-municipalities-prepare-for-next-steps-on-mbta-communities-law/
The Boston Globe editorial on the decision ->
Today, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts affirmed that the MBTA Communities Act is the law and that all cities and towns must comply with it.The decision affirms the dedication and commitment of people working together across the region to create a Massachusetts that is more welcoming and affordable. The SJC validated that building more homes is good public policy. Well over 100 communities have said yes to zoning that creates more housing supply and Abundant Housing MA is hopeful new regulations can be enacted swiftly to maintain this momentum.“Today’s decision reinforces our mission to alleviate our state’s current housing crisis. The MBTA Communities Act allows cities and towns to use zoning to meet the growing demands of housing production and create diverse housing opportunities for Massachusetts residents”, said Jesse Kanson- Benanav, Executive Director of Abundant Housing Massachusetts. We applaud MA Attorney General Andrea Campbell and the Healey-Driscoll Administration for their fight for more affordable, abundant housing across Massachusetts. We look forward to continuing work with our partners to bring to life a vision where people can move where they want, when they want, and not when they have to.”“The SJC made clear that each MBTA community must comply with the law, forcefully rejecting the argument that communities could simply ignore the state’s mandate to permit a “fair share of multifamily housing” near the MBTA stations from which they benefit,” said John Infranca, Contributor to AHMA’s Amicus Brief, Professor of Law & Director of Faculty Scholarship & Research. “Given the thoughtful and thorough process through which the existing guidelines were drafted, I suspect most communities will simply choose to proceed with their existing compliance efforts in the expectation that any new guidelines will not be substantively different.”
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