A rendering shows townhouses proposed for a portion of BXP's 133 Boston Post Road office park in Weston. The town chose to rezone part of that office park to comply with the MBTA Communities law. Image courtesy of BXP
Urban planners’ visions of a high-density housing boom steps from rapid transit service haven’t materialized five years after the adoption of Massachusetts’ MBTA Communities zoning law.
The law has added nearly 7,000 housing units to the pipeline in Greater Boston by loosening zoning restrictions on multifamily projects, but much of the activity strains to meet the law’s implied goal of transit-oriented development.
A Boston Foundation report out this morning finds just 57 percent of the homes proposed or under construction are located within a mile of a train station. Many developers have gravitated toward existing highway corridors for larger-scale projects, where they can acquire underutilized commercial properties.
“MBTA Communities was a first step in a marathon relay,” said Amy Dain, a housing researcher and the Boston Indicators report’s author. “It was not designed to be the full answer.”
More than half of the 177 cities and towns subject to the law had little or no developable land near train stations, the Boston Indicators report noted. Under regulations set up by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, they were allowed to rezone districts anywhere in the community.
Other communities subject to the law, such as Burlington, only have MBTA bus service. Nordblom Company is proposing 57 apartments on Middlesex Turnpike near Route 128.
The Boston Indicators report does not include policy recommendations. But it concludes the law is unlikely to meet the Healey administration’s housing production goals by itself.
The law has catalyzed 102 projects that would total nearly 7,000 homes in 165 cities and towns. Another 12 communities have yet to comply.
Most of the projects contain fewer than 30 units.
Rezoning commercial-industrial areas in some towns yielded high-impact projects: in Braintree, Trammell Crow Residential proposed 752 apartments on a 31-acre site at 10 Plain St. that includes vacant industrial space and an office building.
Weston rezoned an office park near Route 128, where developer BXP plans 480 apartments.
“It should raise questions for state leaders on how we are making sure we are optimizing opportunities for transit use and biking and walking,” Dain said.
The Healey administration’s housing production target is 220,000 new homes across Massachusetts by 2035.
Gov. Maura Healey did not mention any significant policy proposals to increase housing production during the State of the Commonwealth address this month. A Healey housing commission last year recommended bolder steps, including legalization of duplexes statewide and four-family homes on lots with water and sewer service.
Enacted in 2021, the MBTA Communities law sought to loosen barriers to housing production by requiring 177 communities to create districts where multifamily projects are allowed by-right. EOHLC was responsible for drawing up regulations on the required number of potential units per community and criteria for the new zoning districts’ locations.
Some communities, including Lexington and Watertown, rezoned walkable downtown and main street districts that don’t have rail service, and are getting traction in development proposals. Lexington has a pipeline of nearly 1,300 units in 12 projects, which would boost the town’s housing stock by 10 percent if completed.
If all of 7,000 units in the region’s pipeline are built, however, they would amount to an under-1 percent increase in housing stock in the 177 communities. Collectively, communities have rezoned just over 1 percent of the total land area.
Only a handful of communities exceeded the state’s regulations for total units likely to be developed in the new zoning districts. Others deliberately sought to discourage development by rezoning areas already occupied by apartment or condominium complexes.
Image courtesy of Boston Indicators
