Massachusetts
Everything you need to know about the MBTA Communities law but are perhaps afraid to ask – The Boston Globe
And it’s controversial. Housing is a lightning-rod issue, particularly when it is proposed close to home. Already, one town is in court battling the state over the law, and a few other communities have publicly considered following suit.
All of that has propelled the law into the spotlight and created a lot of confusion about what it actually does.
Here’s what you need to know about MBTA Communities, and what it might mean for your community.
What is the law?
MBTA Communities was included in a broad economic development bill that was signed into law in early 2021 by then-Governor Charlie Baker.
Very simply, it requires 177 communities, mostly in Eastern Massachusetts, to write new land-use rules allowing multifamily housing by-right — meaning developments do not need a special permit — in at least one district of town. The district should be within a half-mile of a transit station, if the town has one, and provide a density of at least 15 units per acre — which could be a single five- to six-story building, or a cluster of townhouse condos.
Communities have quite a bit of flexibility on where to place their zone and what to allow in it. A town could draw a relatively small zone that allows for denser, taller buildings, or a larger zone (or zones) that keeps buildings smaller.
What are the guidelines and how were they created?
The statute itself is relatively short and charges the state housing office with creating the law’s parameters — which it did in August 2022.
The most significant piece of the guidelines created “unit capacity” targets that each community’s zoning must hit. The state established four categories of communities with varying levels of obligation under the law.
The first — rapid transit communities, the 12 cities and towns served by the T’s light rail system (the Red, Orange, Green, and Blue lines) — have the greatest obligation, a requirement to create zones that would, theoretically, allow for enough units to increase their housing stock by 25 percent or more. So if a town has 7,500 housing units, they’d have to allow for an additional 1,875. The 12 rapid transit communities had to draw up plans by the end of 2023.
The other categories — commuter rail, adjacent community, and adjacent small town — have lesser obligations. Commuter rail communities, for example, must zone for an additional 15 percent of existing units. Adjacent communities have to zone for five percent. Their plans are due by the end of this year — setting up key votes at spring and fall town meetings in many communities.
Does the law require communities to build all this housing?
No. Not at all. MBTA Communities only requires towns to write new zoning rules. Building the housing is largely up to the market, and that’s where things start to get really complicated.
For starters, those “unit capacity” numbers the state requires are basically a measurement of what would get built in a given zone if the land was entirely empty. Of course, in urban and suburban Massachusetts, empty land is exceedingly rare. And many towns are targeting their most developed areas — downtowns — for their new zoning.
When the state says Newton needs to create a zone that can accommodate 8,330 units, it really means that, in a theoretical scenario where every building in whatever zone the town draws is razed to the ground and then rebuilt at maximum density and height allowed under the zoning, 8,330 units could fit there.
Of course, there are lots of buildings already there. They’re owned by someone. That owner would have to agree to sell before any developer could replace them with something bigger. Most won’t.
There’s also the economy. Interest rates and construction costs are already slowing new housing construction. And — if a town rezones two-story parcels to hold three stories, as Brookline and Newton did last year — there’s not much money in it for a developer, who would have to buy the building, raze it, and then rebuild it just to add one additional floor of apartments.
At its core, MBTA Communities is a zoning law, not a housing production requirement. It asks towns to update antiquated rules that were often passed after towns were built out with more modern ones. That will spark some new development, but only so much.
Does the MBTA have anything to do with the law?
No. Despite the name, the MBTA is in no way involved in the law. MBTA Communities simply applies to cities and towns that have an MBTA stop or are adjacent to a community that has one.
The idea behind the law is to create housing near transit stations — many (though not all) of which are in relatively dense town centers. It aims to encourage transit use and walkability, and it means that most of the density that might result from the law would be clustered near transit stations, generally not in the single-family neighborhoods many residents want to protect.
Whose law is it, anyway?
The law was signed by Baker, but it wasn’t his idea. Housing advocates and some legislators had been kicking around a transit-oriented housing law for the better part of a decade before MBTA Communities was tucked with little fanfare into a 3,000-page economic development bill. Baker did resist calls to veto the measure though, and his administration wrote the guidelines that communities are grappling with today. Governor Maura Healey inherited the rollout of MBTA Communities when she took office in 2023 and has enforced it enthusastically.
What’s going on in Milton?
Because the Mattapan Trolley runs along its northern edge, Milton is classified as a rapid transit community under the guidelines and was supposed to pass new zoning rules by the end of 2023. It did, with a compliant zoning plan that was approved by Town Meeting late last year.
But opponents quickly forced a referendum, and in February, the town’s voters overturned that zoning plan, making Milton the first community in the state to be formally out of compliance with the law.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell sued the town a few weeks later, and the case is set to be heard by the Supreme Judicial Court this fall. Milton, in its legal filings, has claimed that the law’s guidelines are not legally enforceable and put too great a burden on towns. It objects in particular to the town’s “rapid transit” classification, saying the train is too slow and doesn’t hold enough passengers to be in that category. (The state has rebuffed multiple requests from town officials to have Milton reclassified.)
Communities across Eastern Massachusetts are watching closely.
Does the state have legal authority over zoning?
This question is really at the heart of the debate over MBTA Communities, and it’s a question that will be answered by the Supreme Judicial Court later this year.
In their filings, attorneys for Milton argue that the town has constitutional claims to local zoning control under Home Rule, the amendment that grants municipalities the ability to pass their own local rules. They’ve also argued that the attorney general does not have the legal standing to force local governments to adopt certain zoning provisions.
Campbell, as the state’s chief law enforcement officer, sees it differently. MBTA Communities is a state law, she argues, and towns are obligated to comply. Legal experts have told the Globe recently that zoning powers ultimately lie with the state. Municipalities, they say, are creatures of the state, and there are other longstanding state zoning laws that override local control.
The SJC will ultimately rule on a couple of key questions, including whether and to what extent municipalities are obligated to comply with the requirements” of MBTA Communities “and the related [guidelines] issued by what is now the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities,” according to recent filings.
Whatever the ruling, it will have huge implications on local zoning and the state’s broader efforts to address the housing crisis.
Andrew Brinker can be reached at andrew.brinker@globe.com. Follow him @andrewnbrinker.
Legislative negotiators on Tuesday unveiled a $63.4 billion fiscal year 2027 budget that leans into bolstering municipal finances while launching a broader reexamination of how Massachusetts funds cities, towns and public schools, pairing immediate aid increases with new commissions aimed at reshaping long-term formulas.
Lawmakers are expected to approve the compromise budget Wednesday — the first day of the new fiscal year, making it once again a late budget. It emerged after roughly a month of conference committee negotiations between the House and Senate. Lawmakers approved an interim budget Monday.
If both branches approve the compromise Wednesday as expected, Gov. Maura Healey will have until July 11 to sign, veto or return sections with amendments.
The full text of the compromise budget was not available at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, after the conference jacket was signed. Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues said staffers were working on finalizing the paperwork until 3 a.m. Tuesday, and back in the building before 8 a.m. to complete the work. Healey signed the interim $7.7 billion budget on Tuesday, according to Secretary of State William Galvin’s office.
The spending plan totals about $2.4 billion, or 4%, more than the current budget while avoiding tax or fee increases and preserving the state’s Stabilization Fund. Instead, the budget intends to add another $51 million to reserves, bringing the rainy day account to a projected balance of $8.2 billion.
The House and Senate entered negotiations with budget proposals that differed by roughly $50 million, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
One of the biggest policy negotiations centered on unrestricted local aid.
The Senate proposed increasing Unrestricted General Government Aid by $53 million and distributing the new funding on a per capita basis. The House proposed a $10 million increase.
Negotiators ultimately settled on a $40 million increase, bringing total UGGA funding to $1.363 billion, while retaining the Senate’s proposal to distribute the new money on a per capita basis.
Asked about discussions on that approach, House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said the conversation will continue in future discussions about local aid.
“I think it was something we talked about going forward, and something that we’ll probably have to have a further conversation with, from budget to budget. But certainly something to discuss, and we appreciated the conversation that the Senate brought to the table,” he said.
The local aid compromise arrives alongside several efforts to reconsider how Massachusetts finances public education over the long term.
The budget revives the Foundation Budget Review Commission, a 29-member panel charged with examining the state’s K-12 funding formula and recommending updates by October 2028.
Rodrigues said the commission comes after the Legislature completed implementation of the Student Opportunity Act.
“I think it’s time. We fully fulfilled our obligation under the last foundation budget change, the so-called Student Opportunity Act. We completely fulfilled that responsibility. A lot has changed in the close to 10 years that we’ve looked at that change, and it’s time that we update how we distribute Chapter 70 money,” he said.
Michlewitz likewise said lawmakers are entering a new phase of school finance policy.
“Now that the Student Opportunity Act, once the governor signs this budget, once that’s finalized, once that’s implemented through this process, once that will be finally fully implemented, after seven years of discussion, I think it’s now time for us to start a new discussion about how we move forward,” he said. “New issues have arisen since 2019 … but some of the old issues are still there.”
The budget also includes House-backed reforms aimed at improving oversight of special education transportation spending, requiring additional reporting from school districts, creating a centralized transportation database and directing the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to study the transportation marketplace. Districts often cite transportation as a major strain on their budgets.
The compromise also preserves two major House healthcare initiatives.
Negotiators agreed to extend the ConnectorCare expansion program through 2027, continuing what began as a pilot program providing subsidized insurance coverage for residents earning up to 500% of the federal poverty level.
“We’ve been prioritizing that now for a number of years. We know it’s been very successful in helping people gain insurance, affordable insurance, and benefits at lower premiums with no deductibles and reduced copay,” Michlewitz said. “I think that’s going to become even more important as we go into the uncharted territory of how things get implemented on the federal level.”
The budget also requires MassHealth, the Group Insurance Commission and private insurers to cover HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, without cost-sharing requirements or prior authorization.
“We just still know that there is a community out there that has to deal with these issues, and we certainly wanted to kind of create an easier pathway for them to be able to gain the access they need,” Michlewitz said.
Among the notable Senate policy wins included in the final budget is the repeal of the state’s Learnfare policy, which reduced Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits when children accumulated excessive unexcused school absences.
Negotiators also adopted a Senate-backed proposal removing candidates’ home street addresses from publicly available election materials, replacing them with their municipality of residence or ward and precinct.
The proposal was first introduced by Sen. Becca Rausch of Needham and gained traction after Minnesota state lawmakers were assassinated last year. Rausch argued during budget negotiations that Massachusetts is the only state requiring candidates’ full home addresses to appear on ballots.
The budget also adopts housing permitting reforms intended to streamline local approvals for development on nonconforming properties and modernize variance standards.
Other outside sections include new criminal protections shielding 16- and 17-year-olds from sexual relationships with adults responsible for their care and wrong-way driving prevention measures.
Rodrigues singled out the child protection language as one of the provisions he was especially pleased survived negotiations.
“I just want to highlight another issue, another initiative that’s in the budget,” he said. “There was an amendment filed by Senator [Joan] Lovely protecting children from indecent assault by people in authority. We’re very happy that that survived.”
In total, there are 135 outside policy sections in the budget, most of which are annual policies that must be revived every year, Rodrigues said.
The compromise budget also adopts a $1,750 annual cap on MassHealth adult dental services, exceeding the $1,000 limit originally proposed by Healey.
“We went to $1,750, which was in both the House and Senate budgets and an increase from what the governor recommended,” Michlewitz said.
Rodrigues said lawmakers were comfortable with the budget’s 4% spending growth because it remained within the state’s available revenues.
“We have the resources to provide that increase without raising taxes or dipping into the rainy day fund,” he said. “It’s within the margins.”
Massachusetts
Massachusetts dad on ‘adventure of a lifetime’ left fighting for his life in Fiji after noticing bug bite
A trip of a lifetime quickly turned into an unimaginable nightmare for a Massachusetts father who is fighting for his life halfway across the world after being bitten by a bug.
Scott and Claire Winslow always dreamt of sailing across the South Pacific with their family — and in April, they were finally able to turn their dream into a reality when they embarked on an “adventure of a lifetime” to enjoy their retirement, according to an online fundraiser.
But just weeks into the three-month sailing voyage, Scott noticed what appeared to be a bug bite and his health rapidly deteriorated, WBZ-TV reported.
His condition worsened for nearly two weeks while at sea alongside his nephew, and by the time their ship made it to land in Fiji, he was so weak that he was unable to walk.
The father-of-three was rushed to a local hospital, where doctors discovered the severity of his infection.
“By the time they got to a doctor, he was so sick,” Scott’s daughter Lisa Babbin told the outlet.
Scott was then transferred from a private hospital to the Intensive Care Unit at Lautoka Hospital on Vitu Levu, the main island of Fiji, where his wife Claire was heartbreakingly told to “prepare for the worst.”
The retiree remains critically ill on a ventilator, battling septic shock and organ failure.
The infection has spread to Scott’s lungs and gallbladder and his kidneys are functioning at “a fraction of their normal capacity,” the GoFundMe page says.
It’s still unclear how the infection started — whether by the insect bite, an infected wound or something else, according to the dad’s family.
While doctors are doing everything they can, Scott’s critical condition requires greater care than the local hospital can manage, according to his daughter.
“Every hour counts for my father,” Babbin said.
The family has secured a bed for the critically ill father at the Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Mass., but doesn’t know if they will be able to afford to fly him back to the United States for better care.
“All we need is a medflight, that’s the only thing we need to get him home,” Babbin said. “Medflights are not cheap.”
A special medical flight from Fiji to Boston — which is over 8,000 miles in distance — could set the family back a staggering $250,000, according to the outlet.
In addition to the fundraiser, the Winslow family has applied for a US government loan to help with the astronomical costs of flying Scott home as well as the foreign medical bills that are adding up without medical insurance coverage.
Scott is a “hardworking, loyal, generous” man, “always willing to lend a hand,” relatives wrote on the fundraising page.
“He has spent a lifetime helping others, supporting his family, and being there whenever someone needed him.”
While Scott’s family “remain hopeful and continue to pray” for his recovery, “they are also facing the overwhelming financial burden that comes with a catastrophic medical emergency overseas,” the fundraiser says.
Massachusetts
Missing Massachusetts cat miraculously found underneath owners’ new bathtub — after disappearing for 30 hours
You’ve got to be kitten me!
A beloved feline went missing for an excruciating 30 hours in Massachusetts, only to be found in the most unlikely of places — a hole underneath a newly installed bathtub in its owners’ bathroom.
The Kirby family was renovating a bathroom in their Needham home last week when their cat, Fluffy, suddenly vanished, NBC10 Boston reported.
Assuming the snow white kitty had sneakily slipped out the front door while the construction was ongoing, the Kirby family began to fear for the worst after it failed to return home later that night.
Fluffy’s worried owners raced to Staples the following morning to print out missing cat posters and engaged a pet retrieval specialist equipped with a German shepherd to scour the Boston suburb for the cat.
Treats were also left out to lure Fluffy home — but the search came up empty.
“I thought I was never going to see him again,” Melissa Kirby told the outlet.
Thirty hours after the puzzling disappearance, things took a bizarre turn.
“I was upstairs crying and I heard a little meow,” she said.
“I thought at that point I was hallucinating.”
Melissa was left stunned when she saw a “little paw sticking out a hole” in the bathroom floor where a new bathtub had been recently installed.
Her husband, Ed Kirby, frantically called an after-hours plumber, who asked if it was an emergency.
“Yes, this is an emergency. It’s not a leak,” he desperately recalled telling the plumber.
“Our cat is trapped under our tub.”
Photos showed Fluffy peeking its little white head up from the hole it was stuck in.
In under an hour, Fluffy was rescued from the hole, unharmed and unbothered, and reunited with his family.
While it was a miracle that Fluffy wasn’t hurt, the Kirby family said they won’t be taking any more chances on their little escape artist — and plan to install an AirTag tracker on him.
“If he ever gets out again or gets trapped under another appliance,” Melissa Kirby said, “we’ll be able to locate him.”
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