LYNNFIELD — The Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend to Town Meeting the MBTA Zoning Committee’s proposal to create three overlay districts that will comply with the MBTA Communities Act (Ch. 40A, Sec. 3A). The proposal will appear as Article 5 on the warrant.
The law requires the establishment of “at least one district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right” in 177 cities and towns.”
Board member Brian Charville said, “Looking at it legally, we really don’t have much of a choice here. If you read the statute, (it says), ‘An MBTA community shall have,’ so there’s not an option there, we gotta do it.”
Planning Board and MBTA Zoning Committee Chair E. Page Wilkins said, “The law does not require that multi-family housing be built. It’s only a zoning change that could allow multi-family housing to be built in certain locations designated by the town.”
Wilkins said the law requires 607 units and the committee has been operating under the advice of a consultant paid for by the state.
The proposal targets the MarketStreet apartments, Michael’s Landing apartments on Route 1 South, and the Lynnfield Commons apartment complex and part of the adjacent car dealerships. Because those parcels have existing multi-family units, the number of units is reduced from 607 to 149.
Wilkins said any new housing at MarketStreet, if built, “will only allow what is currently in place meaning a four-story building of 182 units.” The complex currently has 180 units.
“So, practically, that won’t change so there’s no new buildings at MarketStreet,” she said.
Board Vice Chair Kate Flaws said, “The only change that could possibly happen is if someone tears down the existing apartments and puts up the exact same thing. They could only add two more units so there is no change at all.”
At Michael’s Landing, which currently has 68 units, “we created a zoning overlay over that five acres that would allow exactly what’s there to be built,” Wilkins said. “Nothing more or different could be built in that area.”
Lynnfield Commons has 200 units. Another five parcels along Route 1 at the Kelly and Herb Chambers dealerships currently with no housing units would also be included in the overlay district.
In response to a question from board member Amy MacNulty, Director of Planning and Conservation Emilie Cadamartori explained a developer could opt for the original zoning or overlay zoning.
“In this case, the general business zoning could continue if they so choose,” she said.
Wilkins noted the deadline for compliance with the state law is Dec. 31, 2024 and the importance of not jeopardizing the town’s eligibility for state grants.
“If we are out of compliance, we won’t be eligible for many grants,” Wilkins said. “Many are street and sidewalk grants so there would be a significant impact to the town. The other concern is we get sued by the Attorney General. So the real risk to Lynnfield is the state could ultimately determine the location of the zoning district if the town doesn’t comply on its own. I don’t know that the state would come up with the same low-impact model. People that don’t live here, that don’t know what’s good for us could decide.”
Resident Wallace MacKenzie said the law only mentions “three specific grants (and) it doesn’t list a slew of them.”
Cademartori said while the statute only lists three, the compliance guidelines have added 12 additional programs and, “those additional programs are where the town has received funds.”
She added every grant requires municipal compliance with state law. “That’s a standard provision that we now realize could jeopardize every state grant,” she said. “So that’s a pretty significant broadening… Section 3A is a state law and if we are going to have a contract with a state to get a grant, the town must be in compliance with all state law, period. It doesn’t matter what the state funding is, it could jeopardize any grant. To me, that’s pretty frightening.”
Resident Alan Dresios congratulated the board for the “unique” work it has done.
During the discussion on the motion, Charvile noted the law was enacted to address the Commonwealth’s housing shortage, “but it seems to me that somebody goofed up that towns like us are able to get away with using existing multi-family to check the box and meet the requirement. That seems like a big loophole and the fact that we are able to reduce the number so much and make the zone so small is pretty remarkable, so let’s jump on the loophole and take advantage of it.”
