NORTHBOROUGH – Northborough is hoping to create two subdistricts — one near Avalon Northborough and the other in downtown — to comply with MBTA zoning requirements.
What is MBTA zoning
According to Planning Director Laurie Connors, a new Zoning Act section was passed in 2021 and signed into law by then-Gov. Charlie Baker. It included a range of housing provisions, including lowering the threshold for the Town Meeting vote for certain zoning provisions.
During the Feb. 20 Planning Board meeting, Connors said that zoning changes normally require a supermajority vote. However, certain zoning changes will now only require a majority vote at Town Meeting, including the MBTA zoning bylaw.
There are 177 communities in the state subject to the law. Northborough is designated as an MBTA adjacent community, meaning it is adjacent to a community with the commuter rail.
For the town, Northborough must create at least one zoning district where multifamily housing is permitted by right and meet specific criteria — a minimum gross density of 15 units per acre; the units must be suitable for families with children; and the town can require site plan approval, but it can’t be used to deny a project or impose conditions that would make the project infeasible.
Additionally, the zoning district must be at least 50 acres of developable land. If there are subdistricts, at least one of the subdistricts has to contain 25 contiguous acres of land. Subdistricts cannot be smaller than five acres of contiguous acres.
There are two articles on the warrant related to MBTA zoning — one to amend the town’s zoning map to create the Multi-family Development Overlay District (MDOD) and another to amend the town code to add the overlay district.
Connors emphasized that there wasn’t a production mandate or requirement to build new units under the MBTA zoning.
“We are required to zone multifamily housing, but we are not required to build any multifamily housing,” she said.
Communities are also not required to pay for infrastructure upgrades.
If Northborough doesn’t comply with the zoning requirements, the town would lose out on several state grants that Connors was hoping to apply to for downtown revitalization efforts and to extend the sewer to Route 9. The Attorney General’s Office has also said it would pursue legal action against communities that didn’t comply.
Northborough’s districts
Within the MDOD, Northborough is proposing to create two subdistricts.
The first subdistrict is called the Southwest Connector Sub-District. It would be 47.94 acres and include three parcels — Avalon Northborough; an undeveloped, abutting parcel of land that has access off Route 20; and the Econo Lodge.
The second subdistrict is called the Downtown SubDistrict, and it would contain 11.29 acres. The included properties include the Town Hall, as the town is considering relocating; a portion of 77 Main St., which is the Harvey property; Matec Instruments at 56 Hudson St.; 22-26 Hudson St.; 0 Hudson St. and Centre Drive.
The total aggregate size of the district is 59.23 acres, though Connors said some of that land is considered excluded due to environmental constraints.
