Part of an article of interest to all residents. The whole article can be found on the Massachusetts Municipal Association website.


The Honorable James J. O’Day, House Chair
The Honorable Michael O. Moore, Senate Chair
Joint Committee on Municipal and Regional Government
State House, Boston
 
Dear Chairman O’Day, Chairman Moore, and Members of the Committee,
 
On behalf of cities and towns across the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Municipal Association is writing to express our significant concerns with H. 2420, An Act Building for the Future of the Commonwealth. The MMA’s Municipal and Regional Policy Committee has completed a careful and extensive evaluation of the language of this bill, and we must express serious reservations regarding the bill.
 
We believe that any reform to state zoning laws must contain strong protection of local decision-making authority, and we strongly oppose “by-right” language that would override zoning bylaws that have been established by citizens and their elected and appointed leaders. There are a number of concerning issues contained within the bill, and we have detailed the most significant of these below.
 
H. 2420 would mandate every city and town to establish "by-right" zoning districts for multi-family housing, removing any special permit or local approval process except normal site plan review, with no provisions that these housing units meet the affordability needs of the community. The MMA is greatly concerned that this would increase the cost of housing in cities and towns and make it harder to meet affordable housing targets, because developers almost always pursue projects for luxury and higher-end developments that yield the highest profits. Even more troubling, subsection (3) of Section 6 could be interpreted as opening the door to frivolous lawsuits against cities and towns if certain conditions are not met, further straining already limited municipal resources and potentially over burdening the court system.


posted by Jeff Bennett