NAHANT — The Board of Selectmen is preparing comments to submit to the Department of Housing and Community Development in regards to the town being subject to a Multi-Family Zoning Requirement for MBTA Communities on March 16.
Town Administrator Antonio Barletta said Nahant has no MBTA train station and just one bus stop but, due to boundary lines that touch Nahant by the rotary connecting it to Lynn, the town is situated half a mile from the Lynn MBTA Commuter Rail station on Exchange Street and thus subject to the requirement.
“The line cuts through the rotary,” Barletta explained, “The law was triggered because of the half-mile mark at the rotary and the town only has single-family zoning. We have no MBTA station but the town is being pulled in because of the law.”
The Zoning Requirement for MBTA Communities is part of the economic development bill that was signed into law in January 2021. The law requires that a community with access to MBTA transportation shall have at least one zoning district of reasonable size where multi-family housing is permitted. The areas that fit into this purview have a minimum gross density of 15 units per acre, are not more than one-half miles from a Commuter Rail station, subway station, ferry terminal or bus station, if applicable do not have age restrictions and are suitable for families with children.
Because the boundary lines put Nahant half a mile from the Commuter Rail in Lynn, the town qualifies as an MBTA community, despite there being no MBTA stations in Nahant proper.
According to the law, if a community does not comply with the requirements, the state will withhold state grant money from three programs: the Housing Choice Initiative, the Local Capital Projects Fund and the MassWorks infrastructure program.
Barletta said he and the Board of Selectmen are trying to find a way to comply with the new zoning requirements while also telling the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) that Nahant finds itself in a position that makes it hard to comply, as their status as an MBTA community is based on proximity to the Lynn Commuter Rail, as opposed to having a station of their own.
“We want to comply but we are in a really weird spot,” he said. “Our mission is to figure this out and see how we can figure out this problem.”
