MBTS Select Board members (from left) John Round, Anne Harrison, Brian Sollosy, and SB Chair Becky Jaques at the January 9 joint meeting with the Planning Board.
Planning Board members Mary Foley and Laura Tenney interview interim PB candidate Susan Philbrook Monday.
Essex Planning Board members, at the board's meeting last week.
The challenge of navigating the state’s mandate for encouraging housing density in towns served by the MBTA has begun in Manchester and the other three Cape Ann municipalities impacted by the new law. And at a joint meeting Monday, the Planning Board and Select Board approved the first mandated milestone, which is to submit an action plan with the state by the close of January.
Signed into law by Governor Baker in 2021, “40A” seeks to establish by-right, multi-family housing within a half mile of all MBTA commuter rail stations. This impacts 175 communities, including Manchester, Rockport, Essex, and Gloucester. Communities have two years to comply or not (by December 31, 2024). Those that opt out of the law would become ineligible for state grants related to infrastructure and public housing.
Deciding whether to opt-in or out of 40A requires a lot of work. The good news, said Town Administrator Greg Federspiel, is that much of Manchester’s downtown already complies with the 40A density requirement (15 units/acre) and in some cases exceeds it with existing structures, including several historic buildings. Also, Manchester’s General District already allows the creation of three units per 6,000-square-foot lot by right, and four units by special permit.
But the zoning mandate isn’t without serious wrinkles, at least for Manchester. For instance, with Manchester’s coastal MBTA station, it’s not clear what the state will consider the “radius” when nearly half of that is ocean.
Another wrinkle? A portion of the actual railroad beds in Manchester (starting from Boardman Ave. and extending through the village station itself) traverse previously filled mud flats, which places them within future FEMA flood zones associated with sea level rise. Interim MBTS Town Planner Betsy Ware said that, so far, the state has indicated it is not inclined to consider sea level rise in MBTA communities.
One final wrinkle lies in the fact that 75 percent of Manchester’s downtown properties are “non-conforming” to the current zoning, which means they precede current zoning and must go through a special permit process for any construction. That’s a critical challenge that would have to be addressed, ZBA Chair Sarah Mellish said.
The group decided on a schedule to submit to the state by the January 31 deadline, which begins now and aims at bringing the new commuter rail district to voters at Town Meeting in Spring or Fall 2024. The boards will create a task force comprised of PB and SB members and at-large members of the public and supported by Town Hall staff, including Federspiel and Ware. The plan is to hold regular informational sessions with the public over the next 18 months, and quantify the impact of each option.
Members of the public interested in serving on the task force should inquire.
On another note, Monday’s meeting also approved Susan Philbrick to fill the Planning Board seat vacated by Gary Gilbert, who stepped down last fall. Philbrick was formerly a Boston-based Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Strike Force Division for almost twelve years. PB Chair Ron Mastrogiacomo welcomed Philbrick and said Gary Gilbert’s service to the board was valued and he will be missed.
Spring is the season of the Community Preservation Committee, which once a year develops a list of local projects to fund. The CPC is funded by a real estate tax surcharge that is matched by state funds for local projects that meet one of three criteria—historic preservation, open space / recreation or community housing. The CPC began accepting proposals last fall and are now reviewing them, with the aim of selecting the most compelling projects for approval at April’s Annual Town Meeting. Thursday’s meeting reviewed projects that include sound mitigation at pickleball courts, picnic tables at Tuck’s Point, signage at Masconomo Park honoring Chief Masconomo and indigenous people, restoration of an antique Manchester Fire Dept. fire engine purchased by the Manchester Historical Museum, and door and window replacement at Manchester Housing Authority units at Loading Place Road. The CPC will continue to meet now through March, when it will finalize its list of recommended projects.
Last week the Essex Planning Board met and laid out a series of public meetings to share the Metropolitan Area Planning Council’s Phase 2 Zoning Bylaw Update. This year Essex will finalize and present an updated Bylaw to voters for Town Meeting approval. On Wednesday, January 25th, the PB and Board of Selectmen will host a public, in-person meeting on the third floor of Town Hall with the MAPC team to review major elements of the strategic plan, and answer resident questions. MAPC has been working with the town on recodification with $90K in grant funding. When it comes to presenting new elements of the bylaw to residents, PB Chair Lisa O’Donnell said last week the board is inclined to parse out the vote into a series of Town Meetings, starting with simple format changes (with no changes in substance) that can be done as early as the May Annual Town Meeting and then move onto tackle changes in the bylaw’s format in a subsequent meeting. Finally, after a lot of public outreach and education, O’Donnell said it could be time to tackle sections of the bylaw that are substantive.
