Of the nine towns accused of not complying with the MBTA Communities Act in a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell this week, most said they weren’t surprised.
But the reactions of officials in those towns ranged from dismissive to argumentative regarding the lawsuit over the 2021 law requiring most communities in eastern Massachusetts to make it easier to build multifamily housing.
For example, Peter Lukes, the town manager of Holden, said the attorney general’s lawsuit will not speed up the town’s compliance. He said that the board of selectmen is scheduled to vote on the issue Monday, Feb. 2, and he expects it will issue a warrant for a special town meeting Feb. 23 to vote on an article proposing an MBTA zoning plan.
“We find solace in assuming that there must be a massive lack of crime or more serious legal matters for the Attorney General’s office to be pursuing,” Lukes said.
Campbell’s lawsuit, announced Thursday, names Holden as well as Marblehead, East Bridgewater, Winthrop, Middleton, Holden, Tewksbury, Wilmington, Halifax and Dracut as failing to comply with the act by the end of 2025 as required.
“Our posture is to get them to understand unequivocally that the law is mandatory and to hopefully use the power of this lawsuit to come into compliance and then to work with them to build housing,” Campbell said during her announcement.
The lawsuit is the state’s latest effort to force cities and towns in proximity to MBTA commuter rail stops to create zoning that would allow developers to build multi-family housing without the need for a special permit.
Justin Sultzbach, the town administrator in Middleton, said residents of his town voted twice against approval knowing full well that the state could withhold grant funding to force compliance.
But Sultzbach argued that of all the MBTA communities, Middleton is the only community that isn’t adjacent to an MBTA commuter rail stop. He cited what he called an error in a decades-old map the state is using to determine which towns are exempt from the MBTA Act, and believes his town should be included.
“Middleton is not anti-housing. ... We’re doing everything we can do to cooperate,” Sultzbach said. “The state is not meeting us at the table. The situation in Middleton is unique.”
Some officials at towns named in the lawsuit declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. Others said their towns are still working toward compliance.
Eric Slagle, town manager of Wilmington, said his town had preliminary approval of a zoning amendment that would comply with 3A, but it was put before town meeting three times and failed to pass.
“The Town of Wilmington anticipated this filing of the MBTA Zoning lawsuit by the Attorney General’s Office. Based on conversations that our Town Counsel has had with the [attorney general’s] Office, we expected this result,” he said.
He said he plans to hold discussions with town counsel and the Select Board behind closed doors to discuss strategy in the litigation.
The goal of the MBTA Communities Act, signed into law by former Gov. Charlie Baker in 2021, was to curtail the state’s severe housing shortage in towns that have resisted construction of new housing.
Some towns, like Milton, initially resisted the zoning plan, and the state took the town to court. But after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled it as constitutional, Milton residents acquiesced.
Campbell said the Milton lawsuit was necessary — and, since the nine towns named in the lawsuit remain out of compliance, says her office had no choice but to sue. Most of the 177 municipalities subject to the MBTA Communities Act have complied.
“The lawsuit against Milton was to bring them into compliance. They have since come into compliance, so we know it’s a tool that works, and we have to make it crystal clear to these communities that it’s not an option,” Campbell said.
An attorney representing the town of East Bridgewater said the town has made a good faith effort to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, but voters twice rejected it.
Attorney John Clifford said the town is not opposed to multi-unit housing, and is in the process of creating a responsible development plan for the community.
But he called the lawsuit and the legislation short-sighted.
“Forcing town meeting voters to approve this zoning under threat of severe financial penalties deprives voters of any meaningful choice, frustrating residents and fomenting justifiable anger and resentment,” Clifford said.
“The Act has actually had the unfortunate effect of making housing a more divisive issue in communities like East Bridgewater, which will impede future efforts to build more housing.”
The town of Middleton is currently reviewing a 200-unit housing development near the Ferncroft Tower, an existing 177-unit residential structure.
Sultzbach said that meanwhile, the state is withholding a $2 million MassWorks grant for a new 60-unit housing development that’s already permitted.
Sultzbach said they have reached out to the governor, the attorney general and other state officials multiple times to try and get a “common-sense compromise.”
He said he believes the state’s high cost of housing “petrifying,” and emphasized he is willing to find a solution.
“Middleton isn’t against housing,” he said. “Middleton is against failed policy.”
