LYNNFIELD — Residents have an opportunity to learn more about the MBTA zoning bylaw amendment and share their thoughts and concerns at a public hearing during Wednesday night’s Planning Board meeting. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be held at the Al Merritt Center on 600 Market St.
Director of Planning and Conservation Emelie Cademartori said she hopes the meeting will better educate the public so they will be better informed when it comes to discussing and voting on the issue at the upcoming Town Meeting on Nov. 13.
“Zoning is always a confusing issue, so the more people can learn about this and are better prepared they will be at Town Meeting,” Cademartori said. “My hope is we address people’s questions so they understand what this bylaw means and why we are doing what we are doing.”
The Town has designated three primary areas of the proposed overlay district that will comply with the state law: the MarketStreet apartments parcel, the Michael’s Landing apartments on Route 1 South, and the Lynnfield Commons apartment complex and part of the adjacent car dealer lot.
“There was a lot of research and analysis that went into this for months,” Select Board Chair and MBTA Zoning Committee member Dick Dalton said. “As a member of the committee, I am absolutely confident that this is the best possible alternative going forward.”
Cademartori said the town posted a fact sheet on the town’s website Tuesday. The sheet contains information about the bylaw and its potential impact in Lynnfield.
“The law does not require that multi-family units be built, it is only a zoning change that could allow for multi-family housing as certain locations in town,” the sheet states, “To comply with Section 3A, Lynnfield needs to rezone to allow for 607 multifamily units.”
However, due to the preexisting multifamily dwellings at MarketStreet, it states only 149 units are required.
Of special importance is that all of the proposed locations under consideration are located within the Lynnfield Water District, so there will be no adverse water or sewer implications due to the fact that LCD is attached to MWRA.
The sheet goes on to say that the town estimates that if all 149 units were built, the impact on the schools would amount to approximately 30 new students.
To date, 77 other Massachusetts communities have already voted to comply. Those who have yet to do so must comply by Dec. 31 or risk the loss of access to many state grant programs.
“Lynnfield’s MBTA Zoning Committee has really done a good job trying to find that balance between complying with the law and maintaining our funding from these sources,” Cademartori said. “People need to know that there is a significant amount of funding at risk here. When the state law was first passed (in 2021), there were far fewer funding sources that were affected than there are today so almost all of our discretionary funding is at risk.”
The sheet states that the potential loss of grant funds affects local infrastructure projects such as sidewalks, open space acquisition, historic preservation, planning, and other funds.
Cademartori said that non-compliance could also jeopardize the Rail Trail funding.
“Standard contract language makes the grant conditioned on 100% compliance with state law. Failure to comply in the case of TIP (Transportation Improvement Program) money results in an automatic five-point deduction, which could effectively knock off the TIP funds we have,” Cademartori said. “The bottom line is the financial implications could be far more reaching than originally thought. We are doing our best to preserve that pipeline of money so I hope that residents will understand how far-reaching this is and will accept it so we don’t lose all that funding.”
Dalton agreed with Cademartori.
“Every grant application that the state puts out requires that we are in full compliance with all laws, so right away the funding could be taken away,” Dalton said.
If Lynnfield votes the bylaw down, it is also possible that the state Attorney General could take legal action against Lynnfield, “as has occurred in another town,” the sheet states. “This could result in the AG mandating a location that does not take advantage of our pre-existing multi-family dwellings, potentially forcing Lynnfield to rezone areas of town that could result in 607 units rather than 149 units.”
