By Neil Zolot
WAKEFIELD – How many units of as-of-right multi-family housing should the town agree to have in order to comply with the state’s mandate for MBTA communities?
That was the question before Wakefield’s MBTA Communities Working Group in a video-conference meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 8.
“The position of the Working Group is Wakefield can sustain this,” chairman and Planning Board vice-chairman James Hogan said. “It won’t negatively affect the character of the town.”
Among other things, the state’s Housing Choice Initiative administered through the Department of Housing and Economic Development requires each of the 175 MBTA communities to “have a zoning district of ‘reasonable size’ that allows for multifamily residential development ‘by right.’ This district must be located within a half mile of a transit station,
“The statute requires the district to have a minimum density of 15 units per acre, subject to any further limitations imposed by the Wetlands Protections Act and state wastewater regulations; be located within a half mile from a commuter rail station, subway station, ferry terminal or bus station, if applicable, and not be age-restricted and be suitable for families with children.”
Multi-family is defined as “a building with three or more residential dwelling units, or two or more buildings on the same lot with more than one residential dwelling unit in each building,” while eligible locations are defined as “areas that by virtue of their infrastructure, transportation access, existing underutilized facilities or location make highly suitable locations for residential or mixed use smart growth zoning districts or starter home zoning districts, including, without limitation, areas near transit stations, including rapid transit, commuter rail and bus and ferry terminals; or areas of concentrated development, including town and city centers, other existing commercial districts in cities and towns and existing rural village district.
“If a municipality does not comply with this requirement, the municipality will be ineligible to receive funds from Housing Choice Initiative, local Capital Projects Funds and the MassWorks Infrastructure Development Program.”
Compliance is achieved when an MBTA community adopts a multi-family zoning district that meets all the requirements of the compliance guidelines and is certified by DHCD. The deadline for Wakefield to adopt such a district is December 31, 2024.
This dovetails with state and national Smart Growth Initiatives which promote mixed use residential and commercial development, sometimes in the form of optional overlay zones, to decrease use of automobiles by placing homes and business within walking or short driving distance of public transportation.
An MBTA community is defined as one of the 14 cities and towns that initially hosted MBTA service; one of the 51 that also host MBTA service but joined later; other served communities that abut a city or town that hosts MBTA service or a municipality that has been added to the MBTA or in accordance with any special law relative to the area constituting the authority. Boston is exempt.
“It’s not a production mandate, but you have to have a zoning that allows multi-family housing by right,” Hogan pointed out.
“We have no idea what’s actually going to be built,” Environmental Sustainability Committee member Robin Greenberg added.
The objections from communities, mostly the towns, center on how new development will affect the infrastructure, local services and quality of life. With that in mind, the Working Group designated five possible zones for re-zoning to include as-of-right multi-family housing.
Wakefield must have a minimum of 1,696 possible units. Community and Economic Development Director Erin Kokinda warned about being too close to that number. “It’s possible the state will say it isn’t working,” she feels.
“I don’t feel we should be chasing the minimum,” Planning Board member Matt Lowry agreed.
“I don’t want to put my name on something that won’t work out,” Zoning Board of Appeals member Greg MacIntosh added. “It doesn’t make sense when we’ve spent so many hours looking at this.”
Nevertheless, many people in town want to do that. Kokinda reported a survey yielded many answers from people that wanted “minimum compliance.”
She calculates various numbers from 2,159 units to 1,829 depending on what zones are used or how big they are. An idea to decrease the size of the West Side area near Prospect Street was considered ill advised by members. Greenberg that would be “cutting it too close” to the minimum.
“I struggle when I hear people say they want it whittled down,” she added. “will there ever be a number that will satisfy them? People say a high number could keep the thing from passing at Town Meeting, but is there ever going to be a small enough number they’d support?”
“If we’re going to remove just a few panels to get to the minimum, that doesn’t make sense,” Greg MacIntosh feels. “What makes sense is what’s good for the town. If the minimum doesn’t make sense, we don’t want to get into a cut-off-your-nose-to spite-your-face agreement. At the end of the day it needs to make sense for Wakefield.”
The Working Group has eliminated the Greenwood Zone from consideration. “That seems to be the most logical area to scale down,” MacIntosh said. “We can remove it and still be within the required numbers.”
“The lots are large and there’s less stock for multi-unit housing,” Hogan added. “The downtown districts already have duplexes and would be adding four-plexes. It’s gentle density. A lot of buildings in those zones are already multi-family. It’s not like you’re putting a giant building next to a single family home.”
The Working Group’s recommendations will be reviewed by the Planning Board and the final decision will be made by Town Meeting, either in the spring or fall. “We’re referring what we feel is appropriate to the Planning Board and letting the chips fall where they may,” Hogan said.
“If it doesn’t pass in the spring we could present a smaller alternative in the fall,” MacIntosh suggested.
“If we’re not willing to justify this at Town Meeting and it gets shut down, we’ll have to try again,” Lowry added. “We came up with what we thought was thoughtful.”
Whether new zoning bylaws will be presented as one article or two and what fees will be for site plan approval is still undetermined.
Town Councilor Julie Smith-Galvin thinks the plan is “very defensible and consistent with everything that’s been said to revitalize downtown.”