Photo courtesy of Google Maps
Duxbury voters resoundingly rejected a multifamily rezoning proposal after state officials said it failed to comply with the MBTA Communities law.
A town meeting voted 793-81 to indefinitely postpone a rezoning plan for two districts off Route 3A and Route 53.
The law requires communities with MBTA service, and adjacent communities such as Duxbury, to rezone at least 50 acres for multifamily housing by-right. The formula compiled by state officials requires Duxbury to add zoning enabling developers to build 750 housing units.
Duxbury Select Board Chair Michael McGee said the board voted unanimously Tuesday to recommend postponing the zoning article after state officials said it was non-compliant.
An advisory opinion issued by the EOHLC said the town’s preliminary proposal did not comply with the law because it included roads and rights of way in its calculation of the district size, McGee said. The notification was received two hours before the town meeting, McGee said.
Residents applauded and cheered as speakers criticized “[Gov.] Maura Healey and her board of bureaucrats” and references to the town of Milton’s legal battle with the state after rejecting a rezoning plan at a 2023 referendum. Only one resident spoke in favor of the law.
Then-Gov. Charlie Baker signed the MBTA Communities law in 2021, requiring 177 communities served by the MBTA to rezone land near transit for a minimum of 15 housing units per acre.
Communities with commuter rail stations and adjacent communities have until Dec. 31 to submit compliance plans to the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
Duxbury officials hired consultant JM Goldson to analyze 11 potential new zoning districts and hired Stantec and CommunityScale to propose the zoning for two final sites: Island Creek Village off Tremont Street and the Bongi’s Turkey Roost restaurant property and surrounding parcels off Kingstown Way and Autumn Ave.
Year-to-date, the median single-family home price in Duxbury is nearly $1.2 million, according to data compiled by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. The town has 6,275 existing housing units, according to EOHLC.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is reviewing a lawsuit by Attorney General Andrea Campbell seeking sanctions against the town of Milton, which rejected MBTA Communities rezoning at a referendum in December 2023.
Milton was the only community that failed to comply with the Dec. 31, 2023 deadline for communities with rapid transit service.
As the Dec. 31 deadline nears for the next round, at least 69 communities have approved action plans while another 19 had voted to defer or reject zoning proposals, according to the MBTA Communities law tracker maintained by zoning expert Amy Dain and Boston Indicators.
