Save one administrative correction, the Office of the Attorney General has given Belmont the OK on the MBTA Community Act 3A zoning approved by Town Meeting last fall.
Still needed is a stamp of approval from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), according to Director and Town Planner Chris Ryan.
“The state has to make sure our 3A zoning meets the technical requirements of the law,” Ryan said in an email. “These would have been the old guidelines that were promulgated after the law passed, and now they are the regulations that govern 3A zoning (post-Milton).”
Approval from the state agency would assure compliance with the law, he said. That includes reviewing whether the zoning allows for at least 1,632 units—the minimum imposed on Belmont—and whether the density is at least 15 units per acre, among other criteria.
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The MBTA Communities Act, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Charlie Baker, requires towns served by the Massachusetts 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.
In referring to Milton, Ryan referenced the town’s pushback on the zoning law. The matter eventually went before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, which found Milton would have to comply with the law but also brought into question some of the state’s guidelines.
In Belmont, the map ultimately chosen out of two presented to Town Meeting was supported by a vote of 213-8, with seven abstentions.
The next step following the Town Meeting vote was to receive two approvals from the state, one from the AG’s office and the second from the EOHLC. With respect to the former, the AG noted that a table in the bylaw that stipulates a special permit for a daycare center, which is not in accordance with state law.
