Mary Byrne
After more than a year of discussing how to comply with a new state law [and with a December compliance deadline looming], the MBTA Community Advisory Committee voted on a zoning map recommendation this week. The committee will now send the recommended map to the Planning Board for consideration.
The chosen option includes parcels in Waverley Square, Belmont Center, Belmont Village, and Brighton Street.
The new law, signed in 2021 by then-Gov. Charlie Baker, requires towns served by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, such as Belmont, to create at least one zoning district of reasonable size where multi-family housing is permitted and that meets other criteria, including:
- a minimum density of 15 units per acre;
- located not more than a half mile from a commuter rail station, subway station, ferry terminal, or bus station;
- no age restrictions, and suitable for families with children.
Belmont is required to zone for at least 1,632 new housing units. As a commuter rail community – a designation by the state – Belmont has until December 31 of this year to comply with the mandate [to create the zoning district]. The law does not require building the housing.
The law – which impacts 177 communities in Massachusetts – is not without critics. Voters in Milton rejected an effort to amend zoning to comply with the law – a decision that led to the loss of a crucial state grant. In late February, Wrentham’s Select Board sent a letter to Gov. Maura Healey, seeking a waiver or modification to the requirements set forth by the MBTA Communities Act.
Belmont’s MBTA Community Advisory Committee had been presented five zoning scenarios, later narrowed down to three, by the Massachusetts Area Planning Council. Select Board Chair Roy Epstein then created a fourth option with two variations. One variation included part of Trapelo Road, the second did not.
“One was a map that was structured to get us really as close as possible to 1,632 plus 10 percent,” he said, describing the first variant of his fourth map. “Those parcels … are clustered around Waverley, Belmont Center, Belmont Village (and Brighton Street).”
The second variant, meanwhile, includes the same districts, as well as a section on Trapelo Road from Waverley Square toward Beech Street. The addition of the section on Trapelo would result in the town exceeding the 1,632-unit requirement, according to Epstein.
Committee member Paul Joy had questions about unit counts per district, though Epstein was only able to provide estimates as he didn’t have the exact numbers at hand. Joy emphasized the necessity to support and build the commercial base.
Director and Town Planner Chris Ryan said there are plans to complete a fiscal impact study on the plan in August before Town Meeting.
The committee, which ultimately voted to recommend the [fourth] map without the Trapelo Road corridor, plans to schedule a public meeting to present their work. Joy was the sole dissenting vote at the committee’s meeting this week.
The Planning Board will consider the plan and make recommendations to the Select Board, after which Town Meeting will decide whether to accept the new zoning map in September.
“I feel as though Scenario 4, the one without the Trapelo extension, is the one we had kind of agreed on, the one that the Planning Board agrees with the most,” member Julie Wu said before the vote. “We don’t want to start carving new maps right now.”
