After years of preparation, the zoning map created to bring Belmont into compliance with the new MBTA Communities Act received Town Meeting approval last week.
“It feels great,” said Planning Board Chair Taylor Yates, referring to it as an “utterly decisive vote.”
On Nov. 19, Town Meeting voted 213-8, with seven abstentions, to approve the zoning map recommended by the Planning Board. The vote followed years of public discourse on how best to comply with the new state law requiring towns served by the mass transit system, such as Belmont, to create at least one 3A zoning district of reasonable size where multi-family housing is permitted and that meets other criteria.
So, what’s next in the process?
After Town Planner Chris Ryan updates the official zoning bylaw text file, he will complete an application to send to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. He’ll upload the necessary files and submit them. The state will determine if Belmont’s map complies with the rezoning mandate.
Then, the zoning amendments — –both the text and corresponding map — –will be sent by the town clerk’s office to the Attorney General’s office for review and approval.
Previous Coverage
- Town Meeting Supports MBTA Compliance Map
- Town Meeting Votes Down Amendment Including Purecoat Site
- The Intent and Impact of the MBTA Communities Act
“I think I’ll be more relieved when I actually get the packet submitted to the state and the state signs off on it,” said Ryan.
Once approved by the state, Finally, the town will post the updatedthe bylaws and map as they are online.
The town may also develop a brief handout for possible project applicants, outlining the new zoning in town. At that point, all the town can do is wait for building permit applications.
“This is just zoning,” Ryan emphasized. “It’s not a building program or a town effort to acquire and demolish buildings and rebuild them. Owners can do whatever they want; they can make use of the overlay or not, or choose to continue doing what they’re doing now on their property.”
Looking Forward
Yates said that with the work of the MBTA zoning project largely in the rearview, the Planning Board will now have to consider what’s next in the pipeline.
“There was a big backlog when we started 3A, and it’s gotten bigger,” he said.
A few of those things, he said, will help to continue the town’s effort at expanding the commercial tax base, including considering a few overlay districts.
At the start of next year, the board also plans to begin work on the comprehensive planning process — a 12-18 month effort that will lay out what the town is going to look like 10 years from now, according to Yates.
That plan, he said, “gets us the momentum we need to achieve the results people have been asking for.”
