Well folks, once again, here is Mass.Gen.Laws Ch. 40A, Sec. 3A—
Mass. General Laws c.40A § 3A
Multi-family zoning as-of-right in MBTA communities
Updates
- Added by St.2020, c.359, § 18, effective January 14, 2021
- Amended by St.2021, c.29, § 10, effective July 29, 2021
- Amended by St.2023, c. 7, §§ 152-153, effective 30 days following enactment pursuant to subsection (c) of section 2 Article LXXXVII of the Amendments to the Constitution.
- Amended by St. 2024, c. 150, § 9, effective August 6, 2024
(a)
(1) An MBTA community shall have a zoning ordinance or by-law that provides for at least 1 district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right; provided, however, that such multi-family housing shall be without age restrictions and shall be suitable for families with children. For the purposes of this section, a district of reasonable size shall: (i) have a minimum gross density of 15 units per acre, subject to any further limitations imposed by section 40 of chapter 131 and title 5 of the state environmental code established pursuant to section 13 of chapter 21A; and (ii) be located not more than 0.5 miles from a commuter rail station, subway station, ferry terminal or bus station, if applicable.
(b)
An MBTA community that fails to comply with this section shall not be eligible for funds from: (i) the Housing Choice Initiative as described by the governor in a message to the general court dated December 11, 2017; (ii) the Local Capital Projects Fund established in section 2EEEE of chapter 29; (iii) the MassWorks infrastructure program established in section 63 of chapter 23A, or (iv) the HousingWorks infrastructure program established in section 27½ of chapter 23B.
(c)
The executive office of housing and livable communities, in consultation with the executive office of economic development, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, shall promulgate guidelines to determine if an MBTA community is in compliance with this section.
As you can see, THAT STATUTE DOES NOT APPLY TO THE TOWN OF STERLING BECAUSE STERLING DOES NOT HAVE ANY LAND WITHIN 0.5 MILES OF A TRANSIT TERMINAL OR STATION DESCRIBED IN THAT STATUTE. In fact, the nearest commuter rail station is on Nashua Street, North Leominster, at least 5 miles from Sterling land.
BUT the Sterling Planning Board, Chaired by Self-Dealing Developer Weasel Carl Corrinne; the deceptive, dishonest, misleading, out-of-control Sterling Town Planner (appointed by the Select Board, but up Corrinne’s A$$ at Sterling taxpayer expense); the Select Board (Cranson, Newman, and Smith, with a COMBINED IQ falling short of AIRHEAD COMMIE KAMALA HARRIS’S); and the Town Administrator, up the Select Board’s A$$, also at Sterling taxpayer expense, because they appointed him too, have all decided to take a knee rather than buck the pressure campaign mounted by the lying, incompetent DEI hire known as Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell (Massachusetts’ own state-level equivalent to Airhead Cackling Kamala).
Rather than wait for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to hear oral arguments in October 2024 and, thereafter, await its ruling on the Town of Milton’s DEVASTATING Counter-Claim against AG Andrea Campbell challenging the application and enforceability of Ch. 40A, Sec. 3A– Towns-Answer-and-Counterclaim-3-27-24 (townofmilton.org)— our Sterling Municipal Building lemmings decided that it was prudent, NOW, to select the parcel off the end of Ford Road, in the far northeastern corner of Sterling, next to the Lancaster Town Forest, to be re-zoned for ‘MBTA High-Density Housing.’
KEYNOTE: Read the ONLY Amicus Brief filed in the Town of Milton case. It is DIRECTLY on target: https://www.ma-appellatecourts.org/pdf/SJC-13580/SJC-13580_05_Amicus_Dougherty_and_another_Brief.pdf
The lax dopes constituting the Sterling Select Board had the opportunity to file an Amicus Brief also. They could have put Town Counsel, K-P Law, Boston, to good use for a change. Abject failures that they are, they declined to do so.
SEE:
zoning_proposal_7_-_mbta_mf_housing_bylaw_-_final_for_web.pdf (sterling-ma.gov)
sterling_zoningandzoningoverlaydistricts_wproposeddistrict_240729_11x17p.pdf (sterling-ma.gov)
AH, SUCH PRUDENCE AND BRILLIANCE ON DISPLAY YOU SAY???!!!
BUT WAIT, THESE FRIGGIN’ STERLING MUNICIPAL BUILDING GENIUSES PICKED A PARCEL WITH A POND ON IT, A WETLAND ON IT, AND A STATE-PROTECTED COLDWATER FISHERIES TRIBUTARY STREAM RUNNING TROUGH IT! THAT STREAM STARTS IN LANCASTER NEAR HILLTOP ROAD, CROSSES BROCKELMAN ROAD, AND FLOWS THROUGH THAT STERLING PARCEL DOWN TO WEKEPEKE BROOK, ITSELF A FAMOUS COLDWATER FISHERIES STREAM.
SEE 321 CMR 5.00: Coldwater Fish Resources | Mass.gov
SEE second paragraph– dfw_recommendation.pdf (lancaster.ma.us)
ZOOM IN ON THAT AREA OF THE MASSACHUSETTS COLDWATER FISHERIES MAP HERE– MassMapper
ZOOM IN ON THAT AREA HERE AND, IN THE LEFT MARGIN, CLICK ON “LAYERS” THEN “AQUIFERS,” “CONSERVATION 2,” “DEP Wetlands,” and “Outstanding Water Resources”– AxisGIS – SterlingMA
WHO WANTS TO BET THAT THAT SELF-DEALING LITTLE WEASEL CARL CORRINNE WOULD LOVE THE CHANCE TO BUILD-OVER AND WRECK THAT NATURAL RESOURCE?
BY THE WAY, AGAIN, HATS OFF TO THE TOWN OF HOLDEN’S TOWN MANAGER AND SELECT BOARD. THEY HAD THE INTELLIGENCE AND GUTS TO LEAD THE FIGHT AGAINST CH. 40A, SEC. 3A AT THE VERY OUTSET.
SEE Mass. AG gives Holden until December to comply with MBTA law (msn.com) Yeah, right. AG Andrea Campbell is a lying gasbag. She won’t sue the Town of Holden because if she does she’ll lose and she knows it.
In comparison to Holden’s leadership, there is a very apt, crude adjective to describe, collectively, the Sterling Select Board, Planning Board, Town Administrator, and Town Planner, but, in one of my very rare exercises of decorum and self-restraint I won’t use it here.
You can check out the ‘News’ section here for all the other Towns whose leaders have displayed the requisite intelligence and resolve to fight Ch. 40A, Sec. 3A and bloviating gasbag AG Campbell– Milton Neighbors for Responsible Zoning (mnrz.org)
Stay Tuned!
J.G.
STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS, OVERWATCH 