Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
With the goal of creating jobs and improving infrastructure across Massachusetts, the House passed a multifaceted economic development bill that would consolidate and streamline processes for accessing state funds for certain development projects.
The bill, H. 4110, passed the House unanimously on May 23, a week after it was released by the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.
The bill would formalize the consolidation and streamlining of several popular infrastructure improvement grant programs offered to municipalities through the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.
The following programs would be combined under the MassWorks program: Public Works Economic Development (PWED), Community Development Action Grants (CDAG), Growth Districts Initiative (GDI) Grants, the Massachusetts Opportunity Relocation and Expansion program (MORE), the Small Town Rural Assistance Program (STRAP), and the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) program.
The bill would also expand the Infrastructure Investment Incentive (I-Cubed) program, increasing its capacity to offer funding to municipalities for major public infrastructure improvements linked to certified economic development projects. The cost of the infrastructure improvements must be at least $10 million, and the economic development project must create new jobs, increase property values, and generate new tax revenue.
One measure in the bill that is opposed by the MMA is a two-year extension of most local permits. This would follow a previous two-year extension of local permits enacted in 2010, meaning that some local development projects would receive a four-year permit extension without local approval.
In a letter to House members, the MMA wrote, “Blanket extensions are problematic in that they do not give consideration to any change in local conditions that may have occurred since the permit was originally granted.”
The MMA also opposes a provision that would expand the definition of a priority development site under Chapter 43D, the state’s local-option expedited permitting law, to include residential development in addition to commercial development. As the provision is currently drafted, municipalities that had adopted the section previously would be required to allow the expedited permitting of residential developments as well, even though that was not part of their original decision-making process.
Among the new initiatives in the expansive bill is the Local Infrastructure Development Program, which would allow communities, at local option, to establish a targeted development zone in which preapproved infrastructure improvements would be funded, based on advance agreement, through assessments paid by property owners within the zone. The MMA supports this innovative financing concept, but is calling for clarification of the language around the program’s structure and governance to protect municipalities in the event of unforeseen circumstances or changes within the development zones.
The legislation has been sent to the Senate for consideration.