SHREWSBURY – Shrewsbury community members have voted to adopt MBTA zoning.
On Nov. 18, Town Meeting chose to approve Article 9, which creates a “Transit Oriented Development Overlay District,” or MBTA zoning district, in the southeast corner of town along Route 20. After about two hours of debate — and an approved motion that struck language regarding mixed-use zoning — Town Meeting voted 123-50 to pass the article.
The basics
The town approved a contiguous, 118-acre zone that contains three main parcels: Shrewsbury Commons, 409 South Street, and Emerald Run. The town has worked for months to ensure that the plan will meet all state requirements under M.G.L. Chapter 40A, Section 3A.
Town officials zoned on pre-existing – or soon-to-be existing – density in an attempt to mitigate the amount of housing that may be built in the zone. Though the zone could technically accommodate 1,512 units (at a modeled maximum capacity of 15 units per acre), with pre-existing development in the area, it’s likely that significantly fewer units would be constructed.
For example, the 53-acre Shrewsbury Commons development included in the zone has 587 existing units. Emerald Run (an approved 40B project) and 409 South Street (another 40B project in the works) are expected to add 498 combined units to the area. With development already planned, MBTA zoning could be expected to add 426 “net new” units, according to the town.
“This connects the district to two major transit corridors while overlaying parcels that are already existing, approved, or proposed for higher-density housing, limiting — to the extent practical — the generation of new housing units,” Director of Planning Christopher McGoldrick said Oct. 17.
History of Shrewsbury’s MBTA zoning
In an effort to address the state’s housing crisis, Governor 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 1,497 housing units, which is equal to 10 percent of the town’s current housing stock.
Shrewsbury only needs to zone for the units – it does not need to build them.
The town began the process of planning for MBTA Zoning in early 2023, sending out several surveys and holding “virtual engagement sessions” to garner input and feedback from the community. The town’s Planning and Economic Development Office, led by McGoldrick, also went before the Planning Board and Select Board several times in 2023 to give town officials updates.
All in all, town staff narrowed the list down to six different districts. In a March 12 Select Board meeting, McGoldrick outlined some of the options, which included 409 Boylston Street, parcels along North Quinsigamond Avenue, the “South Quinsigamond” area (White City, Shrewsbury Green), and Edgemere. None of the potential alternatives met the requirements, according to McGoldrick.
The town eventually settled on a contiguous, 173-acre zone that featured Olde Shrewsbury Village, the home to the Christmas Tree Shops for over 35 years. Among other nearby areas, the proposed zone included the Rainbow Motel, which was demolished in September 2023.
Shrewsbury Town Meeting was set to vote on the MBTA zoning in May, but in a surprise vote on May 2, the Select Board and Planning Board unanimously voted to push the vote until November, allowing for extra time for the town’s proposal to get pre-adoption feedback from the state.
That feedback determined that the Olde Shrewsbury Village-centered zone did not meet the state’s two-step test to allow mandatory mixed use. In response, Shrewsbury shifted to the Emerald Run-focused proposal Town Meeting ultimately endorsed in November.
If Shrewsbury had not passed MBTA zoning by Dec. 31, the town would have been ineligible for 13 discretionary grants, including MassWorks, Housing Choice, and other funds. Though grants are never guaranteed, Shrewsbury has utilized roughly $5 million in related grants over the last 12 years to fund “significant” improvements in town.
“I want to be clear that those grants are significant to the town of Shrewsbury, and they’re more significant than the dollar value of the grant that we receive. They provide significance in building a tax base, building a commercial tax base, and building future, ongoing revenues for this community to support every municipal service, including education, that we provide,” Town Manager Kevin Mizikar said during an April 25 Finance Committee meeting.
“Town staff and I believe that compliance is in the best interest of the town of Shrewsbury… From our staff level, it’s our duty to provide you all and Town Meeting with a path to compliance. That is what we’re setting forth to the legislative body. We think it’s their biggest point of control and autonomy in this matter, and allowing the state to intervene through non-compliance I think puts us in a tough spot, and I think we’d rather control our own destiny,” Mizikar continued on April 25.
Growing opposition
The town’s MBTA zoning initiative faced pushback from the start. A vocal group of Shrewsbury community members began to lobby against the zoning in March 2024, with the opposition filling the audience at public hearings in the lead-up to Town Meeting in May.
The opposition eventually became somewhat organized. In April, Brian Costello and Gregg Richards held an “MBTA Zoning Facts and Myths” presentation at Shrewsbury Public Library. The two-hour presentation brought together about 100 residents. Costello and Richards would later found “The Unselects,” a program on Shrewsbury Media Connection that has frequently challenged Mizikar, McGoldrick, and several assertions about the town’s MBTA zoning process.
Though most of the initial criticism of the town’s MBTA zoning initiative was zone-specific – that is, relating to the town’s specific proposed zone – as Shrewsbury took resident feedback into account and changed its zoning location, the pushback seemed to stem more from disagreement with the law itself.
Many opponents disagreed with the MBTA Communities Act in general, calling the law government overreach. One resident at an April Finance Committee meeting likened the law to King George III overtaxing colonists prior to the American Revolution.
Opponents of adopting MBTA zoning pointed to an ongoing case before the Supreme Judicial Court challenging the extent to which the Attorney General’s office can enforce the MBTA zoning mandate; some have encouraged the town to vote “no,” wait for the court case to resolve, and reconsider the zoning afterward.
A “no” vote could be described as a “no for now,” as Town Meeting Member Caroline Macomber described during her “opposing viewpoint” presentation during the assembly.
The impact of potential development on the school system dominated Planning Board meetings in the lead-up to November’s Town Meeting. Though, per the Fair Housing Law, the Planning Board may not base its decision solely on schoolchildren if a residential development appeared before the board.
Shrewsbury High School is already overcrowded, said Superintendent Joe Sawyer on Oct. 24, but the potential additional students would have a “de minimis” impact, considering they’d be spread throughout several classes. Class sizes would also not be majorly impacted at Oak Middle School or Sherwood Middle School, with the potential for 1.5 more students per class.
Any potential development’s biggest impact would be at the elementary level, Sawyer said, because those schools serve smaller geographic areas. If there’s a population increase in a certain school’s district, there may not be enough classes to effectively spread the impact. The MBTA zone is located in the Floral Street School district.
“It would definitely put some enrollment pressure on Floral Street. We’d have to add some teachers to maintain the class size there … That said, one thing that we would always look to do as a school district is … doing some targeted redistricting of the targeted zones,” said Sawyer.
The Community Advocate is providing real-time updates about Shrewsbury’s Special Town Meeting at Oak Middle School. For more information, and to see other updates, follow us on Facebook, find our Twitter, or visit www.communityadvocate.com.
Learn More:
→ Planning Board Discusses MBTA zoning
→ MBTA Zoning Timeline Tightens
→ Shrewsbury Moves MBTA Zoning Location
→ MBTA Zoning Vote Pushed Until Fall
→ Town Website (MBTA Zoning)
