Wilmington Select Board Has Nothing Positive To Say About MBTA Communities Act, Will ‘Vote Their Conscience” At May 4 Town Meeting

WILMINGTON, MA — During their meeting earlier this week, Wilmington Select Board members spent 60 minutes venting to State Representative Dave Robertson (D-Wilmington) and Director of Planning & Conversation Valerie Gingrich about the MBTA Communities Act and the upcoming vote on Article 30 at the 2024 Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, May 4, 2024.

Brief Background:

The Wilmington Planning Department has explained the MBTA Communities Act’s effect on the town as follows:

“Section 3A of the Zoning Act, enacted by the legislature in 2021, requires that an MBTA community shall have at least one zoning district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right. The district must be without age restrictions, suitable for families with children, at a minimum gross density of 15 units per acre, and within 1/2 mile of transit. Wilmington is required to create an as-of-right multi-family housing zoning district of at least 50 acres in size that has a capacity for at least 1,248 units. Half of the zoning district must be within 1/2 mile of a commuter rail station. The zoning district must be approved by Town Meeting by December 31, 2024.

The Town is required to create this zoning, or Wilmington Housing Authority funding will be
decreased, the Town will forfeit certain state grants, and may face civil enforcement action.”

Using survey data and public input, the Planning Board developed a zoning district, which — according to the state — will meet the requirements of Section 3A. The zoning district actually consists of FOUR sub-districts:

• Main Street Mixed Use Subdistrict (includes from 433 Main Street/old Big Joe’s site to 271 Main Street/current Hyundai dealership)
• Burlington Avenue Subdistrict (includes 10 Burlington Avenue only, where Metro Apartments already sits)
• Deming Way Subdistrict (including Deming Way only, where the senior housing complex already sits)
• West Street Subdistrict (includes 100-104 West Street, where a 40B apartment complex is already proposed, plus 108 West Street, 114 West Street, 121 West Street)

See the map of the subdistricts HERE.

Residents will consider whether or not to support this MBTA Communities Multi-Family Zoning District in the form of Article 30 at the Annual Town Meeting on Saturday, May 4, 2024. The meeting starts at 9am inside the Wilmington High School Auditorium. Read the language of Article 30 HERE.

Select Board Sounds Off On The Zoning District 

While the Select Board did not take a formal vote to support or oppose Article 30 at Monday night’s meeting, it was made clear — through the lengthy conversation — that no Board member appeared to be in favor of the Act, with several implying they’d be voting no on Town Meeting floor.

Selectman Greg Bendel, one of the board’s longest serving member, began by lambasting how many times the guidelines associated with the Act have already changed.

“[The guidelines] have been evolving ever since the Act passed. We’re on the eve of Town Meeting. Residents are going to be asked to support this or not. How can we assure someone that this won’t continue to evolve, in the same way that Representative Robertson described that he voted for in 2021 has dramatically changed now in 2024?” asked Bendel.

In response to questions from Bendel, Planning Director Valerie Gingrich confirmed the process has been “dynamic” and filled with “constant learning” as guidelines changed and “new layers were exposed” after other towns began approving or denying the zoning.

“This community has worked really hard to position ourselves well as it relates to 40B laws,” continued Bendel. “We have two projects next to train stations. We made sacrifices in this community to make sure we’re above the 10% affordable threshold. We’ve done all the right things. We’ve been proactive. And now we’re being faced with this decision, and it’s really unfortunate.”

“We hear from folks that are upset about a 12-unit subdivision proposed, but now we’re being faced with the possibility of 1,200 units. I know we’re being asked to set up an overlay with some lines on a map, but we all know that in the future — 10 years from now — that could be 1,200 units. And that seems like a lot for a community that can sometimes get upset about 1, 2, 4 or 12 units,” added Bendel.

Bendel confirmed with Rep. Robertson, as did subsequent follow-up questions from Selectman Frank West and Selectman Kevin Caira, that the MBTA Communities Act would not provide increased state funding for infrastructure, police, fire or schools if developments were actually built, beyond the existing state funding formulas which are directly tied to the number of residents living in your community.

“The Board hasn’t taken any action on this. Members will individually vote their conscious. If I had to guess, there will be communities that vote this down. Talking to colleagues in neighboring towns, there is this sentiment that if we ban together against it, hopefully something good will come of it,” added Bendel. “Most of the people I know here in Wilmington are not a big fan of ‘vote for this else.’ This notion that if we vote it down, then we await the punishment. I just don’t think that’s going to go over well with folks. That’s not how you sell something.”

Select Board Chair Gary DePalma did not mince words with his anger towards the law.

“I didn’t like this from the get go, simply because the state ignored us, instead of going out to the communities that are affected by this,” he began. “For them not to see us, speak to us, hear us, I’ve lost faith with a lot of agencies in this state.”

“A lot of people I’ve spoken to don’t like this because they feel it’s being crammed down their throats. It’s a shame. We all have to make a decision and move forward. The fact they made this ruling and dumped it on the cities and towns, it’s disgusting. … They should be embarrassed by this… We’re all going to be voting how we feel,” DePalma added.

In response to a question from DePalma, Planning Director Gingrich confirmed the state would not approve language that would require a groundfloor commercial requirement for developments in the Main Street subdistrict. As a result, the town pivoted and wrote  language that would incentivize developers to add groundfloor commercial by allowing them to build a 3-story building, instead of having to comply with the 2-story limit.

Selectman Frank West paused to thank Gingrich and her staff for making the best of a bad situation.

“You and your staff have done a phenomenal job with the cards that you’ve been dealt,” West said. “The hand keeps changing and you’ve changed along with it… Your hard work has been phenomenal and I applaud you for that.”

West expressed his concern that the adoption of the Main Street subdistrict would result in the area losing “a chunk” of its commercial base.

“I would hate to see us lose more commercial, just like we lost commercial in North Wilmington,” noted West, referring to the recent demolition of the plaza across from Elia’s in order to make way for the new construction of the Princeton Properties apartment complex.

“I’d to see the state reconsider this,” he stressed. “If you look at the Metro Apartments and the other housing projects, plus what’s on the agenda to be done, including the Princeton Properties Apartments, we’re above our 10% affordable housing threshold. I think we’re being needlessly punished if we go against this.”

In response to questions from Selectman Kevin Caira, State Rep. Robertson confirmed there is a risk that Wilmington could lose some of its state grant funding, particularly involving MassWorks and MassHousing, if it failed to pass Article 30. Robertson also noted, however, that the town’s largest sources of state funding — Chapter 90 (transportation) funds, Chapter 70 (education) funds, and Circuit Breaker (special education) funds — would not be affected. Robertson did not want to guess a percentage on whether current state-funded projects involving the Lowell St./Woburn St. intersection or the Butters Row Bridge could be impacted.

Robertson did acknowledge that he’s not feeling particularly confident that voters in Wilmington or Tewksbury will approve the zoning changes at their respective Town Meetings. (Tewksbury votes May 8, four days after Wilmington.)

“I’ve been out and about these past few weeks talking with folks. There’s a good possibility that Wilmington will reject it,” he told the board. “If folks reject it, I’m going to stand by Wilmington. I think Tewksbury is going to have a similar split in their ratio of opposition to support. If that’s the case, my oath is to the towns, first and foremost, before the Commonwealth, and that’s the message I’ll carry back to Beacon Hill.”

Robertson has been disappointed in the implementation of the law.

“When we passed this in the 2021 Economic Development bill, there was a promise of a lot of carrots,” he noted. “But there now seems to be a hell of lot more sticks than carrots.”

Robertson told the board that, in his personal opinion, the Attorney General is “beginning to overstep her boundaries.” He also, however, placed some blame on the legislature, for not clarifying the authority of certain executive agencies.

He praised Wilmington for “being ahead of the curve” compared to some of its neighbors, noting it already has multi-family housing near the Wilmington Commuter Rail Station on Main Street and will soon have it next to the North Wilmington Commuter Rail Station on Middlesex Avenue/Jefferson Road. Robertson is actively supporting a bipartisan amendment that would allow MBTA communities to count multi-family housing already built in the overlay district under certain conditions.

Robertson did make clear that there is a dire need for more housing units and more affordable housing in Massachusetts, noting there is a shortage of 200,000 units regionally, while – in Wilmington – housing costs have increased 9% in one year, 40% over 5 years, and 90% over 10 years.

“We have the opportunity to retain the folks in my age group,” said Robertson, noting the cost of housing is causing 1/4 to 1/3 of young people to leave Massachusetts for other states, according to a recent WBZ poll.

“Our goal here is to retain the talent of the people who were raised in Wilmington, for which you paid to go through the schools here,” added Robertson. Conversely, he noted that there’s not enough housing opportunities in town for older folks to downsize once the nest is empty.

Wilmington’s State Senator Barry Finegold (D-Andover) was also invited to the meeting to discuss the MBTA Communities Act and its effect on Wilmington, but he was unable to attend as the meeting fell on the first night of Passover.

Watch the meeting below, courtesy of Wilmington Community Television. The conversation summarized above begins around the 58-minute mark and lasts approximately an hour.