Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities working on new MBTA Communities regulations, after the state’s highest court ruled in January that the previous guidelines were invalid.
The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is working to finalize new regulations relative to the MBTA Communities Act.
In January, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the MBTA Communities Act, but threw out the state’s guidelines as non-compliant with a required formal rule-making process.
A week later, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities issued emergency regulations while final regulations were being drafted and put through a public comment process.
During the comment period, which closed on Feb. 21, the MMA and the Massachusetts Municipal Lawyers Association weighed in jointly on the proposed rules. While the rules are not substantively different from the previous guidelines, the MMA/MMLA letter reiterates a number of continuing concerns, including minimum unit capacity, unit multipliers, and determinations on developable land. The letter also requests an expedited compliance review process by the EOHLC and an extended compliance deadline for communities that have not yet complied.
The emergency regulations established a July 14 compliance deadline for rapid transit communities, as well as commuter rail and adjacent communities, that had not submitted a compliance application by the previous deadline of Dec. 31, 2024. A third MBTA Communities category — adjacent small towns — would have until Dec. 31, 2025, to pass zoning to come into compliance. The draft regulations match this schedule.