The town appears poised to take advantage of the state’s extended deadline for compliance with the MBTA Communities Act and present its new plan for a vote at May Town Meeting.
This past Tuesday’s decisive town vote in a special election to repeal the zoning approved at Fall Town Meeting created the need for Needham to establish a process to produce a replacement zoning plan.
The timeline for that process seemed unclear after the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities announced on the day of the election that it had revised the law’s guidelines and set new deadlines for compliance in response to a state Supreme Judicial Court ruling on a challenge to the law.
Needham’s status under the new guidelines was ambiguous and the town sought EOHLC guidance.
Late Wednesday, the town received the information it sought from the state on the impact of the repeal, which led Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick to recommend that the Select Board and Planning Board “advance zoning to the May 2025 Annual Town Meeting.”
“The Town has received confirmation from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities that Needham’s deadline to adopt zoning compliant with the MBTA Communities Act has been extended,” Fitzpatrick said in the statement. “The Town must submit an action plan by February 13, 2025, and a district compliance application, with approved zoning, by July 14, 2025.”
Stretching out the timeline for compliance appears to give both the Planning Board and Select Board ample time to follow public notice and public hearing requirements.
The extended time for MBTA compliance also may have an impact on the Needham Housing Authority’s application for millions of dollars to support its Linden Street redevelopment project. That project is also before EOHLC via its “One-stop” application process that covers an array of funding sources for deeply affordable housing projects.
The NHA submitted its application in November as part of its effort to raise the estimated $55 million needed to finance Phase 1A of the project — 76 units at the site along Linden Street across from the High Rock School currently home to the Linden-Chambers complex.
“We have not heard one way or the other yet whether we’ve been invited in to be part of the final process,” NHA Board Chair Reg Foster said Monday.
“I think we do have a very strong project that’s very well known by EOHLC,” he said.
“There are no surprises. There’s no holes in it. It’s fully baked and about as shovel ready as you can possibly get at this stage.”
Foster has said projects don’t often receive funding in their first year of eligibility under the One-stop program, but he said there are benefits to being considered.
“It’s unlikely that we will succeed in this first round, but we’ve also been told you have to apply and get turned down in order to get in line. Then we’ll be ahead of everybody else next year.”
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