Nine Newton City Councilors jointly submitted comments to the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) on its draft guidelines for implementing a new Section 3A of M.G.L. c. 40A (the Zoning Act). This was part of an economic development bill requiring communities served by the MBTA to have at least one zoning district of reasonable size where multi-family housing would be permitted as-of-right and meeting the criteria set forth in the statute:
- A minimum gross density of 15 units per acre
- Not more than ½ miles from a commuter rail station, subway station, ferry terminal, or bus station, if applicable
- No age restrictions
- Suitable for families with children
The nine councilors — President Susan Albright, Vice President Rick Lipof, Councilors Andreae Downs, Deb Crossley, Alicia Bowman, Andrea Kelley, Brenda Noel, Bill Humphrey, and David Kalis — support and suggest the following:
- Support the 25-50 acre size requirement but suggest DHCD revisit this after a few zones are implemented to see if communities with multiple transit stops should add additional zones.
- Support 15 units/acre as minimum density
- Suggest bolstering resources dedicated to helping communities plan – increase housing wihtout overbuilding parking and ensure safe access to transit and services on foot.
- Suggest that zone location allows for connection to transit on foot and by bicycle to capitalize on good walking or biking corridor
- Suggest that new zoning should encourage a high level of building energy performance for all new buildings and expressed concern that the ability to lead developers to create high-performance building envelopes, high-efficiency electrification of all primary building HVAC systems, and using clean energy – which they (the City Council) can do under the special permit process, and suggest explicit guidance to require higher standards in a by-right overlay district – “better quality building leads to long term affordability”.
The comment letter can be found here.
