SHREWSBURY – At the Feb. 8 Planning Board meeting, Director of Planning and Economic Development Christopher McGoldrick outlined where Shrewsbury is planning to place the town’s MBTA zoning.
McGoldrick said that the Olde Shrewsbury Village plaza — located in the southeastern corner of town near the intersection of Route 9 and Route 20 — is the town’s target to comply with the zoning. The site includes the former Christmas Tree Shops. Other nearby areas, like Shrewsbury Commons, were also mentioned.
“We narrowed [it] down to a single site that we think will comply with the location requirement and capacity requirement,” McGoldrick said. “It falls in the spirit of what I think the state was trying to achieve with the MBTA zoning.”
McGoldrick also said the zoning is close to where Northborough is planning to place a portion of its MBTA zoning at the nearby Econo Lodge.
In an attempt to address the state’s housing crisis, Gov. Charlie Baker signed the MBTA Communities Act in 2021. The law requires 177 towns with — or adjacent to — MBTA service to pass multifamily zoning. As an MBTA “adjacent community,” Shrewsbury must rezone to permit roughly 1,500 housing units, which is equal to 10% of the town’s current housing stock.
Communities that do not comply with the MBTA zoning law lose eligibility for certain grants, which would amount to roughly $5 million for Shrewsbury; the deadline to comply with the law is the end of 2024. Shrewsbury hopes to approve the MBTA zoning during the annual Town Meeting in May.
The Planning Board, which will discuss the zoning in more detail at the group’s March meeting, had no comment during the Feb. 8 meeting about the Christmas Tree Shops location specifically. Planning Board member Purna Rao noted that he was happy the town was participating in the MBTA zoning.
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