Norwood Board of Selectmen Reviews New MBTA Community Zoning Plan

NORWOOD, MA - The Norwood Board of Selectmen at its meeting last week reviewed a new state zoning law called the Multifamily Zoning Requirement for MBTA Communities, or 3A for short.

The draft guidelines were enacted as part of a state economic development mandate in January 2021 and are being tweaked as communities have submitted feedback. There are 175 Massachusetts communities affected by the change.

The law will require as of right multifamily housing development in zones that are within a half-mile from a commuter rail station, subway station, bus stop or ferry. The zones must be "of reasonable size" and have a minimum gross density of 15 units per acre. There can be no age limitations on the districts to encourage multifamily development.

"The state has kind of set some guidelines," said Planning Board member Ernie Paciorkowski. "But there's been a lot of pushback by a lot of the towns that are involved, and they're rethinking some of it."

Town Planner Paul Halkiotis explained that the change to the zoning act "didn't have a lot of detail." The Department of Housing and Community Development has been working on zoning regulations, and the comment period ended on March 31. Final regulations will be released this summer that must be enacted by the end of 2023.

One change is that mixed use overlay districts now can be approved by a simple majority vote at Town Meeting rather than the traditional two-thirds vote for zoning districts related to multifamily housing.

Assistant Town Planner Sarah Bouchard noted that according to the act, Norwood is considered a "bus service community" because it has one bus line and three commuter rail stations. This is the second-highest level on a four-tier system of level of service by the MBTA. Communities with a subway stop are at the highest level, while those with no MBTA service but are adjacent to a community that does within a half-mile are at the lowest level. Because of this, there is a higher density requirement with a shorter implementation timeline for Norwood.

The new 3A district would have to be located within a half-mile of one of the three commuter rail stops - Norwood Depot, Norwood Central or Windsor Gardens. The total land area must be 50 acres located in a transit node, and one district must be 25 acres or more. A district must be no fewer than five acres.

For Norwood, the unit count must be 20% of the overall number of total housing units, which would mean that the 3A district must have a capacity of 2,727 units. Bouchard stressed that this is not a housing production mandate, but that space must be set aside to accommodate that number of units. Even the law's creators don't expect that type of production, she said, and there is no credit for existing units.

"It's really a hypothetical exercise of buildout calculation," she said, "that ensures that the district that we create and the requirements within it are reasonable."

"The big change is that it be allowed as a matter of right," Halkiotis added. "We lose some control there by not having it by special permit."

While a 3A district doesn't require affordable housing units, all recently created mixed use overlay districts in Norwood have inclusionary zoning requirements. This allows Norwood the ability to keep up with its affordable housing requirements under Chapter 40B and to increase rather than decrease the number of units.

"That's really disturbing," Paciorkowski noted. "For the last 20 years, the state has really been pushing for affordable housing. There's a little of, 'Why wouldn't you?'"

If Norwood decides not to comply with the new requirement, it would become ineligible for state grant funding, including money from the Housing Choice Initiative, MassWorks and the Local Capital Projects Fund as well as "discretionary grant programs."

Board of Selectman Chair William Plasko said that a proposed task force on the issue "was a very good suggestion." He also expressed some displeasure over the zoning requirement.

"The guidelines are full of inconsistencies and contradictions," he said. "Having worked with DHCD for 39 years, I'm not surprised."

He disagreed with Norwood being classified as a bus community because it has three commuter rail stations and only one bus line.

"None of it makes any sense," he said. "It's just ridiculous."

Plasko also called the policy "an end round around 40B."

"I'm not personally opposed to creating affordable housing," he added, noting that Norwood has created affordable housing units. "It's just the methods and the manner in which they try to do this and try to shove it down communities' throats. But the fact is that we're going to have to deal with it."

He added that he believed it would be more prudent for Norwood to have a masterplan rather than "piecemeal" zoning.

"This is true garbage," added Selectman Helen Abdallah Donohue. "And I just wish we could do something about it."

Selectman Matt Lane was appointed to serve on the task force.

Lane mentioned that there is a proposed project that is being voted on at next month's Town Meeting at Lenox Street adjacent to a commuter rail station.

Bouchard said that the town would be able to set the height and density requirements for the zoning change for that parcel. The MBTA's zoning requirement when enacted would supersede the town's zoning once finalized.

"But at that point, the proposed development may have already occurred," she said.