SAUGUS — The town’s plans for compliance with the state’s MBTA communities law, which requires municipalities that are adjacent to rapid-transit or commuter-rail stations to implement a zoning district allowing multi-family housing by right, remain murky. And, with little appetite for zoning change in town, officials may have difficulty producing a plan residents can stomach.
But, the town really has no choice but to press forward and come into compliance with the law because noncompliance means losing out on a number of grant programs. Under state guidelines updated last week, which allowed municipalities to require commercial use on the first floor of new developments, non-compliant communities will lose out on 13 different programs, including one that provides key funding for the town’s housing authority.
The new law and the town’s plan to comply with it were discussed at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting this week at the urging of Precinct 2 Town Meeting member Joe Vecchione, a former member of the Planning Board who is one of the town’s leading voices on zoning issues. Vecchione, in a letter to the selectmen, called for additional transparency from town officials on how Saugus will update its zoning.
“I know this state mandate is an unpopular one within our town given the recent downzoning and rejection of neighborhood-scale mixed-use districts along with (the) Planning Board’s support of these measures,” Vecchione wrote. “It is going to take a substantial amount of time and effort to socialize these changes with Town Meeting given its recent voting record on zoning matters.”
The town’s action plan was approved by the state earlier this year, but a more detailed compliance application will have to be certified by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities once Saugus adopts a new multifamily zoning district.
A copy of the action plan submitted by the town, attached to Vecchione’s letter, indicates that town officials will “explore creating new zoning district(s) and/or overlay district(s) in appropriate location(s)” and “assess existing development projects and pipeline projects.” The plan indicates that officials are seeking consistency with existing zoning and neighborhoods, and intending for any plan to fit within the overall goals of the Business Highway Sustainable Development zoning district adopted along Route 1 several years ago.
But, no further details about how exactly the town will do so were offered, either in the plan or by Town Manager Scott Crabtree during the meeting. Instead, Crabtree provided only vague remarks about the town’s plans, essentially saying that shifting guidelines from the state have made it more difficult for town officials to formulate a concrete strategy.
“It keeps evolving and changing, communities are trying to adjust to it,” Crabtree said. “People have obviously been concerned about the amount of housing and the people that are being placed in some of the housing throughout the state.”
“Obviously we want to try to satisfy the planning department’s goals, satisfy the requirements, and also how is it going to have the least amount of impact on the community,” he continued, adding that the law could change the character of a municipality.
Crabtree noted that Saugus has until December 2024 to implement the new zoning district.
Crabtree said outside counsel is working to identify how Saugus’ current zoning might satisfy some of the requirements, and later noted that under the new guidelines, the town may be able to “get credit” for some of the development that has already taken place along Route 1.
Vecchione, speaking during the meeting, stressed the importance of raising awareness about the consequences of failing to comply with the law, particularly given the open hostility Saugus has often shown to the idea of new housing and development.
At Town Meeting in 2022, members voted to cap the height of new developments along Route 1, a move that came after the town had instituted a moratorium on the construction of new housing years prior. At Town Meeting this year, members narrowly voted down a proposal brought by Vecchione to implement a zoning overlay district in Cliftondale Square that would have permitted new housing there.
Under the new guidance, Vecchione’s proposal, which mandated commercial use on the first floor, would have satisfied the need for a new zoning district in town.
Vecchione pushed for additional details regarding the public process by which the town plans to outline its plans for compliance, noting that the action plan indicates public outreach by way of Planning Board meetings and other means beginning this October. But, Crabtree offered little in the way of answers.
While Vecchione conceded that the new guidance represents — as Crabtree said — a shifting of the goalposts from the state, he lobbied for the town to seize control of its future.
“If we don’t do it, they’re going to do it for us,” he said.