land use

In a response to the state’s new multifamily housing guidelines now being drafted, town officials will argue that the requirements are draconian and impracticable for Lincoln.

Lincoln was one of 42 Massachusetts towns designated by the ​​Housing Choice Act (HCA) as “MBTA communities” that will be required to allow 750 units of multifamily housing within half a mile of an MBTA stop (15 units per acre over 50 acres). Towns have until March 31 to give feedback to the state Department of Housing and Community Development. Those that don’t eventually comply risk losing millions in state grants.

Planning Board and SLPAC members met with the Select Board on February 28 to outline their objections to some of the law’s provisions. The most clear-cut issue is that Lincoln was designated as a “bus” rather than a “commuter rail” town. This wouldn’t change the number of multifamily units required, but towns that fall into the commuter rail category have one more year to implement zoning changes, with a deadline of December 31, 2024 rather than 2023.

The housing density required by the HCA would also have a huge impact. Adding 750 units would increase the town’s total number of housing units (excluding those on Hanscom Air Force Base) by 30%, which is “extremely burdensome” for Lincoln and other small towns when considering the effect on schools, public safety, water usage, and infrastructure, said Paula Vaughn-MacKenzie, Director of Planning and Land Use.

Officials from Lincoln and other towns would like to see more flexibility in the zoning requirements. They suggested that the state let Lincoln split the multifamily zones between two areas (those in proximity to the commuter rail station and the MBTA bus stop near Hanscom Field, for example), or rezone a larger piece of land at a lower density, such as 93 acres with eight units per acre. Basing the number of required units on a percentage rather than units per acre would make more sense, they said.

“No one wants to see a 10-story building in Lincoln center. It’s not a project that would fit within the aesthetics and methods of our town, and we are not alone in that belief,” Vaughn-MacKenzie said.

Meanwhile, the train station itself is not ADA-accessible and does not have a platform, shelters or seating, and the schedule and ticket prices do not encourage commuter use. “We have been asking for upgrades for years,” she said. “If you want all of these towns to build more housing near commuter rail stops, then you have to make the MBTA schedule and fares better serve the users.”

Another problem for Lincoln is that much of the land within the half-mile radius of the commuter rail stop is wetlands or land belonging to the Codman Estate and Mass Audubon, while most of the rest is already zoned for some level of commercial and multifamily housing.

The response letter will be signed by the chairs of the Select Board, the Planning Board, SLPAC and the Housing Commission. Many other towns feel the same way as Lincoln does about the new rules and may collaborate in responding to the DCHD. “I think there will be broad statewide support for advocating something different,” Town Manager Tim Higgins said.

One thing is clear after a pair of informational sessions this week: by order of the state, some type of multifamily housing will be permitted by right in South Lincoln some day. Still to be determined is how dense that housing might be — and what will happen if it fails to comply with the new state rules.

The Housing Choice Act will “have a significant impact on the town, whether we choose to comply or not,” Planning Board Chair Margaret Olson said at a joint meeting with the Select Board on January 31. 

The Housing Choice Act asks that Lincoln and other designated MBTA communities amend their zoning to allow 750 units of multifamily units within half a mile of an MBTA stop or lose eligibility for three categories of state grants. Lincoln has not received grants from any of those programs (though other area towns have received millions from one of them in recent years), but a state official on Wednesday indicated that noncomplying towns would have lower priority for other state grants as well.

“All [state grant programs] are discretionary and oversubscribed,” said Mike Kennealy, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, during a February 1 Zoom session with dozens of officials and residents from eastern Massachusetts towns. “We may want to fund more for communities that are trying to get housing done. There’s a lot of discretion about what gets funded and what doesn’t.”

• Slides from the January 12 and February 1 state webinars
• Slides from the January 31 Select Board/Planning Board/SLPAC meeting downloadable from this page 

Kennealy and two other state officials began the hourlong session by recapping their presentation at a January 12 webinar. They explained that the final rules will have more flexibility than the draft guidelines that were issued in early January.

For example, the 50 acres in the multifamily zone needn’t be contiguous, said Chris Kluchman, Deputy Director of the Community Services Division in the state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). There will also be some flexibility for towns that don’t have 50 acres of buildable land within the prescribed radius because of wetlands, obstructing physical features, or issues with water supply or Title V septic regulations, though a future developer could be required to provide wastewater treatment facilities if necessary, she said.

One of the attendees at the February 1 session noted that more than 40 MBTA stations are not currently ADA-compliant and asked how that situation would be rectified for communities that are subject to the Housing Choice Act zoning rules. That event was co-hosted by MAGIC (Minuteman Advisory Group on Interlocal Coordination) and the MetroWest Regional Collaborative.

“We are working closely with the MBTA and MassDOT,” Kluchman said. “I’ll take that as a comment.”

Lincoln attendees raised another issue: the documents issued by the state show Lincoln as a bus community by virtue of having an MBTA bus stop at Hanscom Field. However, Lincoln obviously has an MBTA train station in South Lincoln as well, and the timelines for the two types of communities are different. Bus towns must submit a proposed action plan and timelines for studies by March 31, 2022 and have new zoning rules adopted by Dec. 31, 2023, whereas the deadlines are July 1, 2022 and Dec. 31, 2024 for commuter rail towns.

The state guidelines assign MBTA communities to one of four service categories from highest to lowest: subway or light rail, bus, commuter rail, and “adjacent” (meaning the town has no MBTA service but there’s a stop in a neighboring community within half a mile of the town border).

“If you’re within a half mile of the highest service category, that’s what category you’re in,” said Clark Ziegler, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership, said at the MAGIC/MetroWest session.

“This is where our designation as a bus service community is a problem,” Olson said. With a Planning Department staff of two, “this is actually a very tight deadline for the town to come to an informed conclusion.”

Olson and the state officials reminded everyone that the new guidelines do not require actual housing construction. “It does not force anybody to do anything at all. It simply says that property owners have the right” to build multifamily housing without needing a special permit,” she said. “For actual housing, someone has to sell, someone has to buy, and someone has to build.”

Multifamily housing will take years if not decades to appear in the affected towns. “Zoning is a long-term play; it’s not like flipping a switch,” Kluchman said.

Even so, given the burden that hundreds more residents will eventually place on schools, the town water supply and other services, “it might be cheaper to pay for stuff ourselves” and forego state grants in order to avoid state-mandated housing densities, resident Sara Mattes mused.

“We need to organize with other small towns to speak with a single voice about the inequity of how this legislation is drafted for small towns,” said Gary Taylor, chair of the South Lincoln Planning and Advisory Committee, said at the Select Board/Planning Board meeting.

“As a town, we have to figure out what our strongest message is,” Select Board member Jennifer Glass said. But given the fact that Lincoln has already been exploring how to allow more commercial and residential development in South Lincoln, “it’s also an opportunity for us to really stretch our thinking about what does this mean and how can we do some thoughtful planning. Sometimes the best thinking is when you’re kind of pushed to have to do it.”

When all is said and done, “it might not be 750 [units], but there will be a number that the state expects and a number we should probably expect of ourselves,” said Select Board member J.D. Dwyer.

Officials from MBTA communities are required to submit an online form by May 2 that asks for town information and verifies that the draft guidelines have been presented to their Select Board. Other stakeholders and residents may also offer feedback via this comment form by March 31