SAUGUS — The town’s action plan for coming into compliance with the state’s MBTA Communities law that mandates municipalities with access to public transportation to allow for more multifamily housing was approved by the Department of Housing and Community Development.
Saugus is subject to the requirement because it sits adjacent to a community, Lynn, that is home to a commuter rail station. The town is also served by Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority buses. As a result, the town has to implement a “zoning ordinance or by-law that provides for at least one district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right,” according to the state. While Saugus was among the last communities to submit a plan, it did so ahead of the state-mandated deadline on Jan. 31.
The town’s action plan was then swiftly approved, with DHCD marking it as such by Feb. 2.
Town Manager Scott Crabtree had chafed at the new state requirements, explaining that Saugus had been extremely proactive in recent years about luring “smart, mixed-use” development, and that having its hands tied by the state could lead to issues.
“We’re looking at what’s needed and being able to use the highest and best use that would generate significant annual revenues that allows the town to be financially sustainable with full services for the residents,” he told The Item in December. “But with that … the goal is to find those developments with the least amount of impact to the residents and to the community and that includes infrastructure issues that we’d have to deal with … how it impacts the schools and traffic, roadways, police fire, medical services, water and sewer.”
Had Saugus not come into compliance with the plan, the town’s housing authority would have faced budget cuts that could have impacted its ability to deliver services to the neediest residents in town.
Action plans represent communities coming into “interim compliance,” and the town has until Dec. 31, 2024 to come into “district compliance” with the law by actually implementing the ordinance or bylaw to create a district permitting multi-family housing.
Crabtree said the town worked directly with DHCD to craft its action plan, as he and other town officials wanted to craft a plan residents “could live with” as opposed to submitting something just for the sake of coming into compliance with the requirement, as he suggested other communities might have.
“We have a path to be compliant,” he said. “But we want to be true to the residents, and what the goals are here.”
Saugus is one of 46 communities to have their action plans approved by the state. Another 122 communities submitted plans that are still under review, and just seven communities failed to file plans ahead of the deadline.
