With several towns opting this week to finally get into compliance with the MBTA Communities housing law, some municipalities who claim the law asks too much of them are still looking to the courts and the Legislature for relief.
The $50 million state fund created as part of Gov. Maura Healey’s big housing bill last summer will help a 92-unit Milton project get off the ground.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the state’s power to sue communities that fail to comply with the MBTA Communities act, but ordered the state to draw up new regulations because of a procedural error.
Milton officials are putting out feelers for developer interest in a fire station property that is offered for redevelopment or an adaptive reuse project.
What legislators meant to include in the MBTA Communities Act – requiring 177 mostly Eastern Massachusetts cities and towns near public transit to zone for a district of reasonable size where multifamily housing is allowed by right – has dredged up an age-old fight over local versus state power.
A new analysis by the Pioneer Institute says that many Massachusetts towns are blunting the effect of a state law aimed at producing more housing near transit.
At issue: Does the attorney general’s office have the ability to use the courts to force Milton’s compliance with the MBTA Communities multifamily zoning law?
If political happy talk could be converted into housing units, the cost of a home wouldn’t be nearing $1 million in Greater Boston. But it’s a reality our state and local pols seem incapable of grasping.
Whether we’re talking about Milton or its hangers-on, as long as the Legislature and the Healey administration remain in agreement, towns will eventually need to comply with the MBTA Communities law.
Milton’s Planning Board is starting to develop contingency rezoning plans in case the Supreme Judicial Court orders the municipality to come into compliance with the MBTA Communities law.
Days before attorneys representing Massachusetts state government and the town of Milton face off in a dispute over the MBTA Communities law, Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell sought to spotlight the cities and towns that are taking the opposite tack.
Three former attorneys general, two towns, one state rep and a number of advocates and industry groups have all filed briefs with the the Supreme Judicial Court on whether Attorney General Andrea Campbell has the legal authority to compel Milton to comply with the MBTA Communities Act.
Milton is not putting all of its eggs in one basket as it tries to convince the Supreme Judicial Court that the town doesn’t have to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, but it’s coming pretty close.
Boston-based Finegold Alexander Architects designed a 62,126-square-foot mixed-use development in East Milton Square set to transform a pair of commercial parcels.
Even as she takes Milton to court for flouting the MBTA Communities zoning law, Attorney General Andrea Campbell would like to tamp down murmurings that a rebellion is on its way.
The push to build more housing in Massachusetts has reached a critical point. Gov. Maura Healey can’t give in to a vocal minority that wants fewer families to call the state home.
A single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court recommended that the full court hear Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s case against the town of Milton for failing to comply with a state rezoning law, but the justice did not go along with the accelerated timetable she sought.
The Milton Planning Board signaled Thursday night that it intends to develop two zoning plans to comply with the MBTA Communities law, one if it is deemed a rapid transit community, as the state contends, and another if it succeeds in being reclassified as an adjacent community subject to a much lower zoning requirement.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell is paying a visit to Boston’s southern neighbor with a special delivery.
Milton officials are looking at fast-tracking another multifamily rezoning proposal to conform with the MBTA Communities law in the face of a lawsuit from Attorney General Andrea Campbell and loss of state grants.
