Marblehead To 'Test' State On MBTA Zoning Compliance Grants

MARBLEHEAD, MA — Marblehead Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer told the Select Board that he and his staff plan to continue pursuing state grants even though the town may not be eligible to actually receive them as long as it remains out of compliance with the new state MBTA Communities Act that requires increased "by right" multi-family zoning.

Kezer addressed three grants on Wednesday, saying that his office has received an indication that the town would be eligible — contrary to previous reports — to receive a recently awarded $210,000 state Coastal Resilience Grant to analyze the flood risk of Marblehead town-owned properties and infrastructure in the State Street Landing area, including the Harbormaster's Office, even if it remains out of compliance as of the Dec. 31 deadline.

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"We've had lots of discussions," he said. "There are certain programs that are being affected by our compliance and others not. (The State Street Landing) one, as we've been told thus far, is not at risk to move forward on this project."

That would not be the case, he said, with two other grants he announced on Wednesday — $135,000 for analysis of stormwater management at the Five Corners intersection and School Street parking lot, and a $130,000 community planning grant to help the town update its comprehensive master plan to comply with a different state mandate that makes it eligible for state development grants.

Kezer said Marblehead's comprehensive master plan has already expired.

"Our objective on these grants is to push forward, get the contracts, get everything in place and let the state tell us whether they are going to withhold it or not," Kezer said. "But we're going to do everything we can to push forward. What we need to figure out with the state, and we'll find out I'm sure as we go into the new year not being compliant, whether we are going to lose the grants outright, or whether they are just going to put them on hold until we at some point become compliant.

"We are going to test the case and see where we end up on this."

The Marblehead Select Board last month decided not to schedule the special town meeting in December that would be required for a vote to meet the new zoning requirements.

Dozens of Marblehead residents packed a Sept. 11 Select Board meeting, which featured a lengthy presentation on the state law and the potential cost of non-compliance, with a series of brief interruptions that included chants of "No means no!" in reference to a previous annual town meeting vote rejecting the new zoning necessary to comply with the law.

A presentation during that Select Board meeting said conversations with state officials — including Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll — indicated that all cities and towns had to comply, there would be no exceptions, and that the state would take legal action against the communities to force them to comply whether or not they agree to forego the state grant funding or not.

"A coalition of Democrats and Republicans passed the MBTA Communities Law, and it's my job to enforce it," Attorney General Andrea Campbell said in a statement to Patch in response to the Marblehead Select Board's decision in September. "Compliance with the law is mandatory, and this law is an essential tool to address our housing crisis, which sadly is leading to more and more residents leaving Massachusetts."

Kezer said on Wednesday night that town staff and administration will continue to go "full speed ahead" in applying for state funding while the town deals with its structural deficit despite the uncertainty of when, or if, the town will be eligible for the money, in accordance with the MBTA Communities Act.

"There is a concerted effort to increase the external revenue for projects beneficial to the community," Kezer said. "That's the good news. The challenge is that at least some, or many, of those grants, are going to be conditioned upon us being compliant with the MBTA zoning."

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