Many communities in Massachusetts passed new zoning regulations to comply with the state’s MBTA zoning legislation. In fact, nearly every community in the Middlesex East readership area passed such regulations to remain in compliance and eligible for grant money. However, two communities voted down a new zoning overlay district: Tewksbury and Wilmington.
The new law says communities must create a zone to allow multi-family housing by-right. In total, 177 communities in the state have to comply and compliance is broken up into four categories: bus stop communities, commuter rail communities, subway communities, and ferry communities.
Under the new state guidelines, communities must zone for a specific number of units over a specific number of total acres with half those units and half those acres within a half-mile of public transportation…