Rockport Harbor. Photo by Kindra Clineff | Massachusetts Office Of Travel & Tourism

A group of Rockport residents claim that the way their town is coming up with zoning to comply with the state MBTA Communities law is violating their civil rights.

John Kolackovsky, a prominent voice opposing the town’s efforts to comply with the law, and 10 others say efforts to pass the zoning proposal at Town Meeting by a simple majority are violating their rights to due process and equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. The suit also raises technical objections to town officials’ preferred solution to complying with the MBTA Communities law.

Universal Hub first reported the lawsuit.

The MBTA Communities law requires municipalities with MBTA service to create zones that allow modestly dense multifamily housing to be built near MBTA stations or town commercial districts without needing extensive zoning relief.

Under language, dubbed “Housing Choice,” passed by the state legislature in the same legislation as the MBTA Communities law in 2021, zoning changes that could lead to more housing production no longer need a two-thirds majority to pass town meetings and city councils, and could rely on a simple majority instead. Former Gov. Charlie Baker, who championed the change, and legislators who backed it said it was necessary because spoilers often used the two-thirds threshold to torpedo many housing developments in need of zoning relief, and zoning changes needed to accommodate new housing, thwarting democratic majorities that supported the projects.

Rockport voters OK’d new, MBTA Communities-compliant zoning districts at a special Town Meeting Monday night, according to the Gloucester Times.

The federal case is not Kolackovsky’s first. He also filed a similar one in Essex Superior Court in 2022 that’s still pending. Groups of residents in Hamilton, Wayland and Wenham filed motions to join that suit Friday.

Communities along the MBTA’s subway and light rail system had to have their new zoning in place by the end of 2023. Communities along the commuter rail and those nearby, like Rockport, have until Dec. 31 this year to pass their zoning.

So far, housing advocates say, most communities covered by the law are complying, with only Holden, Marshfield and Milton – which was recently sued by Attorney General Andrea Campbell after missing its end-of-2023 deadline – formally flouting the law.