Danvers Town Meeting Voters Reject Revisiting MBTA Zoning

DANVERS, MA — Danvers town meeting voters on Monday night rejected multiple efforts to push the Planning Board to re-examine the decision to alter the town's zoning to comply with the state-mandated MBTA Community Act.

The MBTA Community Act, which requires cities and towns with relative access to MBTA bus, subway and commuter rail service to increase the areas allowing "by right" multi-facing housing or risk the loss of state grants and litigation, has been hotly contested across several communities in eastern Massachusetts over the past year.

Danvers residents voted to make the changes necessary to comply even as the perceived overdevelopment of the town was a major talking point during the most recent town election cycle.

• Find Out What Danvers Select Board Candidates Say About Development

"I am going keep it in simple terms," Select Board member Michael Bean said. "That building on Maple Street, it's nice to look at. I don't have any problems with it. But it's the density. There are going to be 400 people living there quickly. When you call the police and wait 30 minutes, then you'll get it.

"When the fire department can't respond right away because of the mischief that might be taking place because of the extra number of people living in town — of course, there's going to be good people, but there are going to be bad people as well, it's just a fact of life. With every one of these buildings that we allow, if we can slow the planning down just to think a little bit, we will have a little bit more control about how our town is being used."

"It's in your backyard now. Nobody said: 'Don't build.' Let's slow it down."

The Maple Street construction was approved prior to the enactment of the MBTA Community Act.

Town meeting member James Morose argued that the warrant article would not put the town out of compliance with the state law, but would merely direct the Planning Board to examine the impact of it as it was implemented and recommend any necessary changes.

But in what appeared to be a narrow voice vote margin, town meeting members rejected the final attempt to direct the Planning Board to re-examine the plans, with those opposed to the article arguing that it was a settled issue.

The vote to support the Finance Committee's recommendation of "no action" on the articles was by far the most debated during a 2-hour, 30-minute town meeting that whisked by with little conversation on most warrant articles — including the 2026 town budget and capital expenditures.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)