LETTER: Enough Is Enough On The MBTA Law

Dear Editor,

The AG’s lawsuit against the town should not surprise anyone. Nor should the court’s eventual ruling in the AG’s favor.

The writing has been on the wall since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled against the town of Milton over a year ago. That decision upheld the constitutionality of the state’s law requiring MBTA communities to rezone for more housing density.

Yes, town meeting was within its rights to reject the plan and look for some kind of exemption – but that doesn’t mean it was the right decision. Dragging this out has cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and lost grant money that Wilmington taxpayers will be asked to cover, instead.

Those grant funds included, for example, hundreds of thousands to help address PFAS water contamination – the so-called “forever chemicals” linked to serious illnesses like kidney and testicular cancer.

We can’t go back and change how we got here. We can, however, avoid making it worse. The town should not spend taxpayer dollars to relitigate the Milton decision and delay the inevitable. Let’s approve a new zoning map and finally be done with this.

Sincerely,

Nick Golden