MA AG To Sue Marblehead, Tewksbury, Wilmington Over MBTA Zoning Law

MARBLEHEAD, MA — The state Attorney General's Office intends to sue nine Massachusetts cities and towns — including Marblehead, Tewksbury and Wilmington — for not complying with the state's multi-family housing zoning requirements for communities with proximity to the MBTA five years after the law's inception.

The law, which former Gov. Charlie Baker signed in 2021 in an effort to increase housing stock in eastern Massachusetts, has come under fierce opposition from some eastern Massachusetts cities and towns for being a state overreach that could impose new expenses, density and quality-of-life burdens on them.

But the state has repeatedly asserted its authority to do so, including in front of the state Supreme Judicial Court, with the penalty for non-compliance being the forfeiture of millions of dollars in state grants, and other legal actions.

On Thursday, AG Andrea Joy Campbell followed through on the latter with the lawsuit filed against Dracut, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Holden, Marblehead, Middleton, Tewksbury, Wilmington and Winthrop.

"Massachusetts has a housing crisis, and our Commonwealth is unaffordable," Campbell said in a statement ahead of a Thursday news conference. "The vast majority of MBTA Communities deeply understand that developing more multi-family housing will improve our ability to attract businesses, retain our families and residents, and ensure that Massachusetts remains the greatest state in the country to live, start a family, and work.

"While bringing a lawsuit is never my first choice, courts have consistently ruled that compliance with this law is mandatory, and the urgency of our housing shortage compels me to act to ensure that all MBTA Communities meet their legal responsibilities. My office remains ready to assist any town working to comeinto compliance with the law."

Campbell said 165 of 177 communities with MBTA lines running through them, or in proximity to them, as defined by the state, have become compliant with the law.

She said the nine communities named in the lawsuit "were required to have compliant zoning districts by July 14, 2025, but failed to do so, despite a decision from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Attorney General v. Milton that reaffirmed the constitutionality of the MBTA Communities Law and made clear that towns' compliance is mandatory."

Marblehead residents have repeatedly spoken up against and rebuffed attempts from town zoning and officials and some town leaders to manage a way to comply with the law without opening up the town to overdevelopment, including a ballot referendum this past year when voters rejected zoning changes that would have brought the town into compliance.

Campbell said she is seeking a court order declaring that each community must create a zoning district that complies with section 3A and submit a district compliance application to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, in which at least one zoning district of "reasonable size" is created in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right.

The law gives cities and towns considerable discretion over the location and size of the new zoning district.

Also on Patch:

• North Shore Cities, Towns Split On State MBTA Zoning Mandate Merits
• Marblehead To 'Test' State On MBTA Zoning Compliance Grants
• Marblehead Town Meeting Makes Zoning Bylaw Decision After Heated Debate