In separate votes a little more than an hour apart on Tuesday evening, the Select Board and Planning Board each unanimously voted that the town go forward with the minimally compliant base plan as its submission to the state to comply with the MBTA Communities Law.
The votes came one week after the more ambitious neighborhood compliance plan, which had been passed in October at Town Meeting, was repealed by a 58.5%-41.5% vote in a Jan. 14 special election that drew nearly 12,000 voters.
Acknowledging that the town voters had sent a loud and clear message, both boards passed identically worded motions for “advancing the Base Compliance Plan to the 2025 Annual Town Meeting.” Both also were unequivocal in saying they would strenuously oppose any attempt to amend the base plan.
Prior to its discussion and vote, the Select Board heard public comments from six supporters of the repeal effort strongly urging the board not just put the base plan forward, but accelerate adoption by scheduling a Special Town Meeting for Feb. 24.
The six speakers called on the board to respect “the will of the people” and act swiftly, arguing that the community discord that has emerged over the issue needed to be addressed. Swift adoption of the base plan, they argued, would lower the rhetorical temperature in town and ensure that the base plan is adopted without alteration.
“Any delay would risk exacerbating the divisiveness that has already negatively impacted our beloved town,” said Nate Levin, who served as chair of the advocacy group that spearheaded the repeal, Needham Residents for Thoughtful Zoning.
“We really want to put that vitriol behind us,” added NRTZ supporter Gary Ajamian.
Select Board members unanimously advocated going forward with the base plan in the exact form that passed at Town Meeting. But with the exception of member Josh Levy, they preferred a schedule that culminated at Annual Town Meeting in May.
“It’s our practice to move these kinds of things into the regular order of things,” Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick said. “Town Meeting is meeting in May, so that’s our recommendation to the board.”
Levy disagreed and read a prepared statement in which he called for adopting the base plan and doing so quickly to help reduce the level of tension and address the divisiveness that occurred.
“The responsive and responsible course of action following the referendum is to ask Town Meeting to enact the base compliance plan with alacrity so that Needham can begin to heal from this division,” he said.
His colleagues on the Select Board noted that there was considerably less urgency to act now that the deadline for compliance had been extended to July, meaning there was no longer the immediate risk of the town losing out on funding opportunities.
That risk was mitigated, ironically, on the day of the town election, when the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities adjusted the law’s compliance deadlines in the aftermath of a state Supreme Judicial Court decision that ruled the prior guidelines had not been properly promulgated.
“We met with EOHLC today and they confirmed that Needham is included in the category of communities that can achieve interim compliance by filing an action plan by Feb. 14, which, depending on your vote, we could do as early as this week,” Fitzpatrick told the board.
“The ‘funding at risk’ element goes away upon HLC’s approval of our action plan,” added Deputy Town Manager Katie King.
“I think the only reasonable path forward, as Josh said, is to go with the base plan,” said member Cathy Dowd.
She added that “people would like us to tie our hands to the base plan. I’m fine with tying our hands to the base plan.”
Levy argued that delaying the vote to May runs the risk of supporters of a more ambitious compliance plan attempting to amend the base plan, or otherwise disrupt the process, a scenario that all four other members felt was highly unlikely.
“I can’t envision a scenario at Town Meeting where some credible person would get up and say, ‘I have a brilliant amendment I’d like to make’ without being laughed at and shot down,” said Select Board Chair Kevin Keane.
Levy effectively agreed to disagree and ultimately ended up joining in the unanimous vote to recommend that the base plan be approved on a schedule that would lead to a vote at Annual Town Meeting in May.
The vote was a “ministerial” act to support the submission of an action plan, not a vote to initiate zoning. It positioned the Planning Board to then affirm the Select Board vote at its own meeting, which was already underway at the time of the Select Board vote. While members made some begrudging remarks about the Select Board inserting itself into the process, the board voted to mirror the Select Board action.
Noting he fully supported advancing the base plan, member Justin McCullen added, “I do take umbrage from a process-purist perspective that zoning should be coming from the Planning Board.”
“This should have been a Planning Board decision and instead the Select Board decided to act first when they should have deferred to us to act first.”
Member Artie Crocker echoed Select Board member Levy’s sentiments in favor of an accelerated schedule, but he ultimately joined his four colleagues in voting in sync with the Select Board.
The Planning Board’s next step will be to schedule a required public hearing on the zoning article for Feb. 13 at the Broadmeadow School.
The board votes should allow the town to meet the Feb. 14 state deadline for the filing an MBTA zoning “action plan,” which is not a commitment to a specific course of action, but rather a demonstration of the town’s intent to comply.
As the warrant committee for Town Meeting, the Select Board is responsible for adding the MBTA zoning article to the warrant for May Town Meeting by Feb. 11. The article’s language need not be finalized on Feb. 11 as it can be revised.
Eventual approval at Town Meeting is needed to satisfy the state requirement that Needham submit an approved plan by July 14.
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