MBTA Zoning Bylaw
On 17 March 2025, Special Town Meeting passed Article 2 to slow down multifamily developments under MBTA zoning. Approximately 95% of Town Meeting members (including myself) voted for Article 2. The STM (including myself) also turned town an amendment to Art 2 that would have retained current By Right zoning rules for the Center.
Background
- In 2023, the Planning Board recommended amending our zoning bylaw to establish twelve districts for multi-family housing developments, both to comply with the state’s MBTA Communities Act as well as to provide more housing options in the town, including more affordable housing. The 2023 Annual Town Meeting adopted the PB’s recommendation.
- According to the Planning Board, as of early 2025 multi-family developments in the pipeline in MBTA zoning districts would add 1095 dwellings.
- Almost all of the multi-family dwellings in that pipeline will comprise smaller units, a category that’s rare in Lexington: 60% one bedroom (450-800 sf), 28% two bedroom (700-950 sf), 11% three bedroom (1000-1350 sf), and only 1% four bedroom (3000 sf). Most will be rentals (87%) versus owned (13%). [Source: Planning Board, 26 Feb 2025]
- The future residents of these buildings undoubtedly will benefit Lexington with their talents, economic activity, and tax dollars.
- But too much of a good thing too fast may create problems for the town.
- According an analysis published by our Appropriations Committee (14 Feb 2025), rapid growth in new housing enabled by our current MBTA zoning bylaw will increase school and other expenses well beyond income from new tax revenues, producing a “significant structural budget gap.”
- The twelve MBTA zoning districts provided capacity to add more than 12,500 dwelling units, roughly equal to the town’s current number of dwellings. We don’t know how much of this capacity might be targeted by developers, nor how quickly it might be built out, but it was concerning to have the town exposed to this level of potential By Right development.
- With By Right developments, abutters can make suggestions during public hearings but don’t have leverage to affect what is built if the developer stays within the rules and follows the required process for PB approval. This makes me uncomfortable given my experience as an abutter to a large special-permit development project where we were able to exercise leverage to negotiate with the developer.
- On 17 March 2025, a Special Town Meeting passed a motion under Article 2 to reduce capacity for additional developments under the MBTA zoning bylaw (while still complying with state law), to allow time to assess effects of the rapid increase in dwelling units on town services and finances. This was a compromise version of Article 2 negotiated with the Planning Board that reduced the number of MBTA zoning districts to four from twelve, and the number of units that could be built in such districts.
- These four districts will provide capacity for 1314 dwellings in addition to the 1095 already in the pipeline (for a total of ~2409 dwellings).
- In addition, 15 property owners in MBTA zoning overlay districts have submitted subdivision applications that have the effect of keeping their options open for 8 years if they choose to propose multifamily developments under MBTA zoning rules applicable prior to Article 2.
- The STM rejected an amendment to retain By Right zoning in Lexington Center, that had been eliminated by Article 2.
About the Center…
The STM’s vote against the amendment to Art 2 recognized that one-size-fits-all By Right zoning doesn’t work for the Center. At the same time, the PB should take seriously numerous comments at the STM (and that I share) that we DO want multifamily developments in the Center, but in a way that conforms to the Center’s particular attributes. A development that works for a Center side street like Muzzey or Clarke might not work on Mass Ave, and it makes a difference which side of Mass Ave it’s on. The Planning Board has experience and resources to work this out. I hope the PB takes this on as a priority in order to prepare a Center zoning recommendation for no later than our next ATM.
Meanwhile — despite Article 2 — there are two sites in the Center where developers moved quickly enough to preserve their ability to proceed under MBTA By Right zoning rules. At one of these sites, at 16 Clarke St, next to the library, the developer proposed a 4 story building that would be allowed under zoning rules, but appeared — in my opinion — to be incompatible in its scale and appearance with its surroundings in the Battle Green Historic District. At an informal hearing in December 2025, members of the Historic Districts Commission also expressed that view. The developer responded with a revised proposal for a project with 3 floors, similar to the height of Lexington Place at 50 Waltham St. While it’s still a very large building and some abutters remain opposed, I believe that the project as described in the revised proposal will prove beneficial to the Center and to Lexington.
Now we wait with bated breath to see what will be proposed for the other MBTA-grandfathered site in the center, most likely a project that would face both Mass Ave (also near the library) and Muzzey Street, in an L-shaped structure.
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