2 weeks Ago
METHUEN — City Councilors are blasting the state for “government overreach” over MBTA zoning mandates as city planners look at ways to satisfy the state without creating a huge headache for the community. It’s a strategy not unique to Methuen. In an effort to combat the housing crisis in Massachusetts, the state Legislature passed a 2021 law requiring communities with MBTA stations or adjacent municipalities – a total of 177 towns and cities – to create new zoning districts to encourage multifamily housing near transit stations or risk losing some state grants.
While the law was not well received by residents and municipal officials, many feared an influx of new residents could strain schools and other services. If Methuen councilors vote down the district the city could find itself the lone holdout among its close neighbors, though not the state. Three years after the law was passed, Methuen, Haverhill, Lawrence, North Andover and Andover are facing a Dec.
31 deadline to adopt an MBTA zoning district. Andover, North Andover and Haverhill all have districts aimed at compliance, while Lawrence and Methuen have much of the planning work done, with City Councilors slated to vote on the districts right before the deadline. Lawrence City Council Chair Jeovanny Rodriguez said it was not clear yet if the council would approve it.
Dozens of other Massachusetts municipalities are also still working to meet the deadline or have voted against the measure. Local officials have also been weighing the likelihood the law will be struck down in an ongoing court case. While it’s still unclear how much money renegade municipalities will lose, Methuen city officials have identified $1.
7 million in funding that could be put at risk by not complying. State Attorney General Andrea Campbell has also threatened legal action if communities don’t comply. Methuen’s plan would place new zoning in locations where multifamily housing and businesses already exist, allowing for a slow rollout of development.
The plan presented to councilors last Monday would rezone the Pleasant Valley corridor, along Riverside Drive and at Colonial Village. The new zoning would spread out the density over a large area and would put potential developments on major roads with highway access and wouldn’t increase traffic in neighborhoods, according to city planners. The city is working with the firm Innes Associates on the project.
According to firm President Emily Innes, multifamily housing is defined as either a building with three or more residential units or two buildings on a lot with more than one unit per building. Riverside Drive and Colonial Village already have significant developments so the zoning would permit only 22 more units at Colonial Village and five at Riverside Drive to be built, according to a presentation from Innes Associates. These two locations allow for multifamily units to be constructed by special permit only, a more complicated process than what the state is mandating.
The outlier is the Pleasant Valley corridor which would be rezoned to allow for 1,515 multifamily units across 57 acres in what is now a highway district with only 156 existing units. The location, however, is not empty and has existing, occupied buildings, including businesses, that could be a roadblock to residential developments. There is also a concern residential development could displace these businesses.
Director of Economic Development Jack Wilson last Monday. But despite planners’ efforts to mitigate the impacts of the law, Methuen councilors struck defiant tones. “I think it is completely unconstitutional what the state is trying to do,” Councilor Jana Zanni-Pesce said.
“How much is this really going to cost the city if this goes forward?” Councilors warned of a strain on schools and said the law did nothing to make the units affordable or financially attainable. “I’m going to continue to hold out,” said Councilor Nick DiZoglio, who called the mandate “government overreach.” Haverhill was the first local community to adopt a plan after officials determined the city was automatically in compliance because it had existing districts that allowed multifamily housing by right, according to Director of Planning William Pillsbury.
The state is evaluating whether or not these existing districts qualify, he said. Andover and North Andover have successfully passed new zoning to comply with the mandate in Town Meeting votes. In North Andover, a new zoning district was approved which would allow for 1,365 housing units across the North Andover Mall area and at Osgood Landing.
The district was criticized by housing advocates of being purposely placed where housing already exists. Officials said the sites would be unlikely to see any development in the near future. Andover residents approved a district that would allow for 2,121 multifamily housing units.
The density was spread over downtown, Ballardvale and an area off River Road near Old River Road. While the area off River Road has little infrastructure to support a development, and existing commercial spaces, planners said the area could be used to create a new community. The zoning was approved with strong resident support, passing 434-196, with many residents voicing support for any effort to combat the housing crisis in the state.
Debate on qualifying Lawrence’s plan will only seek to “check all the boxes” necessary to meet state guidelines, according to the city’s Acting Planning Director Daniel McCarthy. Once the city has complied by the deadline, however, planners will create another larger more “thoughtful” overlay district to boost housing. McCarthy said there has been debate over whether the city already qualifies, including among councilors.
The state mandates Lawrence zone for 4,501 multifamily units. An early draft of the city’s district put the proposed MBTA zoning district around the Merrimack Street area, between Union Street and Interstate 495. The larger overlay district would include a requirement that 20% of the units be affordable, according to Rodriguez.
While the new and proposed MBTA zoning districts in Methuen and other communities would allow for the construction of new housing, if not immediately then in the long term, Methuen City Councilors and housing advocates have questioned whether or not the law will create housing that is affordable. The law allows limited flexibility for municipalities to set quotas for affordability, like in North Andover’s case where a town bylaw requires 15% of new housing be affordable. “I really wanted to work on financially attainable housing and I thought this would be a vehicle to do that, but it absolutely was not,” said Linda Soucy, the founder of a local nonprofit and a member of the group responsible for crafting Methuen’s compliant district.
“What they call affordable housing, nobody here can afford.” She said a better solution would be to fund the local housing authority so that it can build more housing with the express goal of making it financially attainable. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Methuen is around $2,310 per month, according to Apartments.
com . Other websites like Zillow and Zumper offer similar figures. According to federal income estimates, the overall median household income in the city is around $93,681, while the median income for nonfamily households is $47,424.
While the clock ticks down, some officials are still hoping a court will block the zoning mandate and in time for the deadline. Like many municipal attorneys and solicitors, Methuen City Solicitor Kenneth Rossetti is keeping an eye on the legal battle between Milton and the state, which is being adjudicated in the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. So far, only the towns of Milton and Holden have missed the state MBTA zoning district deadlines.
On Monday Rossetti reported to the council that justices had given no indication the case would be fast tracked. He said, according to arguments by lawyers during the case, Milton, which missed last year’s deadline, has already seen grant funding pulled. He later added Milton had hired outside counsel for the legal battle for which he suspected they were “paying handsomely.
” DiZoglio said the city was one of the few communities under the MBTA mandate that didn’t have an MBTA transportation hub but still were required to comply. Methuen and North Andover are only considered as adjacent communities by the state, but still face mandates. “We have two highways that interconnect with us,” he said.
“This is Boston pushing the buck to communities outside of the metropolitan area.” Councilor Ron Marsan cautioned the council over the potential loss of grant funding and thanked the planners for their work. “They put the effort into it, we just have to understand it,” he said.
The Methuen City Council will likely vote on the matter in early or mid-December, while councilors in Lawrence will likely vote on a district in November, according to McCarthy. “At the end of the day, the body has to make a choice, but that choice comes with consequences and potentially costly ones,” said Rossetti. Adjacent communities that are considered small towns will have until Dec.
31, 2025 to comply..
