As of late Wednesday, the Town Clerk’s office was reviewing the signatures on a petition to require a townwide election to repeal Town Meeting’s vote to approve Needham’s MBTA Communities Law compliance plan.
Needham Residents for Thoughtful Zoning (NRTZ) needs to have 3,764 signatures certified as belonging to Needham registered voters to meet the threshold required to hold the election.
In anticipation of that certification, the Select Board has scheduled a special meeting for Monday, Nov. 25, at 6 p.m. for the sole purpose of fulfilling the Town Charter’s requirement that it schedule the election a minimum of 35 days from the petition being certified.
Town Manager Kate Fitzpatrick, along with Deputy Town Manager Katie King and Town Counsel Chris Heep, provided an update on the process at Tuesday night’s Planning Board meeting. The Planning Board sponsored the zoning article that is potentially up for repeal. Known as the Neighborhood Plan, it was passed at Town Meeting in October.
“We’re at this point acting under the assumption that it will be (certified) based on the (reported) volume — we don’t have any data,” Fitzpatrick told the Planning Board, adding the election would likely occur during the second week of January.
Heep walked the Planning Board through the election process. The ballot is legally required to be written so that a “YES” vote would affirm the Town Meeting vote to approve the Neighborhood Plan, and a “NO” vote would overturn the Town Meeting vote.
In response to a Planning Board query, Heep said the election could not feature any additional questions, such as a separate vote to replace the somewhat expansive Neighborhood Plan with the minimally compliant Base Plan. Town Meeting had overwhelmingly passed the Base Plan but then amended it by passing the Neighborhood Plan.
In an interview earlier in the week, Town Moderator Michael Fee explained that the process followed at Town Meeting would not allow for a default to the previously passed Base Plan because of the way the two votes had been structured.
“It was a cumbersome way to do it because this was a very unusual situation, offering Town Meeting two choices,” Fee explained of the novel process followed at Town Meeting.
“This had never been done before. You usually have one decisive action,” he said.
“What we’re left with is one action by Town Meeting,” which he said is considered to be Article 8, the original Base Plan, but as amended by the language in the Neighborhood Plan, which was Article 10.
Heep also stated that the town would be considered out of compliance with the MBTA Law once the petition was certified. As of Jan. 1, the town would not be eligible for a number of state funding programs and would remain noncompliant until either the repeal effort was defeated at the January election, or an eventual Special Town Meeting was convened and passed a replacement zoning article.
Assuming the election happens, the repeal effort would need to clear two hurdles, Heep explained. First, it would need to win a majority of votes cast. In addition, the “NO” vote total would need to be more than 20% of the total of the town’s registered voters, which would be at least 5,019 votes.
Heep explained that, should the repeal vote gain both a majority and the 20% number, the zoning would be repealed and a Special Town Meeting would need to be scheduled to vote on a replacement.
With notice requirements and other procedural steps, the Special Town Meeting might not occur until late February or in March.
After Heep spoke, Deputy Town Manager Katie King offered a list of state funding sources for which Needham would not be eligible if it were deemed out of compliance with the MBTA law. As she had detailed at the Select Board’s Nov. 12 meeting, the funding at risk included a possible $20 million project funded by the Mass. Dept. of Transportation for improvements along Highland Avenue from Webster Street to Great Plain Avenue, an ambitious plan the town has been pursuing for several years.
Also at risk is an array of funding programs the Needham Housing Authority will be applying for later this month, which could provide millions of dollars to advance the $84 million Linden Street Redevelopment initiative.
Charlie Baker’s take on housing
The MBTA Communities Law was one of several pieces of housing legislation passed during the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker, for whom the creation of more housing was a major focus.
When the former governor was in Needham Sunday for the unveiling of a mural in his honor, he was asked to comment on why he focused on housing.
“For Massachusetts to succeed in the future we’ve got to build more housing,” he said. “And a lot of it’s gotta be in places with spaces where people can afford it. I get the fact that everybody that’s got a house has a certain comfort with the way things are. But if you look at all the demographic trends, the crowd we’re losing is the 25 to 35-year-olds.
“They’re the next generation and it’s gonna be important for us to figure out a way to create places and spaces that they can afford to do what we did. You know, build a life, create a future and become the next act.”
Asked if he thought the state’s housing problem rose to the level of a crisis, Baker said, “Oh, I thought it was a crisis five years ago. Seriously. I talked about it in two of my State of the States before the pandemic.
“And the original legislation we filed, I think we filed before my second term. So that would have been circa ’16, ‘17? Somewhere in there. It’s a huge problem.”
Asked if he would encourage Needham to follow the MBTA Communities Law, he said, “Look, I think the whole point behind that was to create a framework and let communities figure out what the best way was to comply with it.”
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