HANSON – The Supreme Judicial Court may have ruled that the MBTA Communities Act is legal, if flawed, towns like Hanson are turning to their legislators for help in addressing those flaws.
Still, Town Counsel Elizabeth Lydon cautioned that, because the SJC’s ruling was that the statute is legal, “likey that any regulations that come out of the statute – as long as they fall within the parameters of the statute – will be deemed legal as well.”
State Rep. Ken Sweezey, R-Pembroke, also provided the Select Board with an update on the new legislative session so far, during the Tuesday, Jan. 28 meeting.
“I know the biggest interest right now is the MBTA [Communities Act], so I wanted to make sure that we spent the bulk of the time on that,” Sweezey said.
“… and Chapter 70 money,” said Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.
While he said there “seems to be some appetite for amending the [Chapter 70] formula in general,” but he had not heard anything additional about efforts to influence Chapter 70 by MBTA Communities compliance.
Sweezey said that anyone who has attended Town Meeting, or paid attention to what is going on, is familiar with the MBTA Communities project.
“Hanson, as of Dec. 31 was not compliant,” he said, adding, “I’m sure you are also aware of the court case that was going on against Milton, which kind of put is in a different position.”
The Supreme Judicial Court, on Jan. 8, ruled that, while the state Attorney General’s office has the power to enforce MBTA Communities and can bring claims for objective relief, the existing regulations can’t be because the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) made mistakes in the way they issued them.
The state had requested to have someone appointed to write a zoning bylaw for non-compliant towns, which Lydon said would be a worst-case scenario, or to have the building inspector issue building permits for any multi-family building project within a half-mile of the MBTA station.
“That would take the ability of the town to control where the housing should be and what that zoning should look like, and leave it up to a third party who doesn’t have familiarity with the town itself,” Lydon said. “So, that would be the worst-case scenario, if the town doesn’t comply and then it does go to court and the court weighs in favor of the attorney general’s office –as they have already indicated that they would likely do. It’s just a matter of what that injunctive relief would look like and what they could enforce.”
For that reason, Lydon urged Hanson officials to file an action plan.
The Court primarily said it is likely that the statute would ultimately be ruled legal.
The SJC ruling requires the Healey Administration “should promulgate new regulations” as emergency placeholders with a comment period of from midnight Jan. 31, to 11:59 p.m. Feb. 21.
“If you really want to effectuate a change, then you need to participate in the public comment period, so the state is hearing from people, depth and breadth of the concerns that people have got,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
“We really want to get high participation in the comment period,” Sweezey agreed. “It should be hundreds, if not thousands of people, I suspect, across the state.”
He noted, however, that the first deadline is before the comment period ends, suggesting, he said, how much weight might be given to the comment period.
“I strongly still urge [that] a show of force during the comment period would be … a productive exercise,” he said.
FitzGerald-Kemmett sought to feel out the board’s attitude about sending a letter about their concerns during the comment period.
Sweezey, who represents five towns – four of which previously rejected MBTA Communities – to do the same. Pembroke, one of the first towns in the state to vote on it, opted to comply with MBTA Communities.
“I think that’s a good idea,” he said, adding that MBTA Communities bills are the “hallmark” of the legislation he has introduced:
- HD1420 seeks to exempt communities with no direct access to rail, bus or subway stations – or ferry terminals – from compliance wih MBTA Communities [such as Marshfield and Duxbury];
- HD1419 seeks to prohibit the state from using grant claw backs, unless explicitly stated in the statute, as a way to force towns to comply; and
- HD1421 seeks to repeal the MBTA Communities Act of Mass General Laws (Sec. 3A of MGL Ch 40A).
“Really, all of the deadlines are quite arbitrary,” he said. “Every two years they do look at the rules package … for how they’re going to deal with them. I’ve been told that they’re looking at changing a few things to make it more transparent, so some of that stuff may be changing” from its current regulations to new ones, in addition to emergency place-holder regulations with a comment period from midnight Jan. 31 to Feb. 25.
Every community is now back into interim compliance with a new action plan from each town due by Feb. 13.
“An action plan is just a piece of paper we’re signing saying we’ll look at creating a zone,” Sweezey said.
The board will be discussing that at its Tuesday Feb 11 meeting.
Sworn in on Jan. 1, Sweezey, as a freshman representative, had a deadline of Jan. 16 to file his 26 pieces of legislation for the year, among 6,800 bills filed by the legislature’s 200 members. There were 23 bills filed by 11 lawmakers in both parties pertaining to MBTA zoning alone, according to Sweezey, who said the act has “taken on life of its own.”
“It’s been a very busy, but productive 28 days,” he said. “This is a two-year term and all of us, in the House and Senate, have to get all of our bills filed for [that] two-year term in the first two weeks after they’re sworn into office.”
“That is a mystifying deadline and would seem to not be very logical that you would expect, especially new legislators to do that,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said “Any thought to filing a bill to changing all that?”
Sweezey said he was open to filing any bill that the Select Board deems fit to improve the process.
“It puts new members at a very serious disadvantage,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said. “Essentially, you’’ve got to be doing the job before you’re doing the job.”
Gov. Maura Healey filed her fiscal 2026 budget on Jan. 22. The House will debate and pass the budget by the end of April and the Senate will follow suit by the end of May.