As seen during the latest Natick Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and Planning Board meetings, local elected bodies and town officials are trying to get their arms around significant new state zoning reforms designed to spur housing development.

At the July 27 Natick ZBA meeting, Chair David Jackowitz started off by trying to understand whether two requests to withdraw applications that the board had previously voted against were being made because of changes to state zoning law. Board members wondered whether such projects could be redone by right now without requiring ZBA judgment. About 12 minutes in, Jackowitz paused to explain to those in attendance or watching online that “there has been a massive upheaval of zoning law in Massachusetts” that has “significantly reduced the number of cases that need to come before this board” and seek relief. He added that the state has “totally upended the way variances are determined,” shifting away from a world where they were hard to get.

In fact, later in the meeting it was announced that a handful of cases on the ZBA July agenda no longer needed to be heard because of the state changes. For August, three of eight projects were removed in light of the new laws.

Toward the end of the ZBA meeting, Jackowitz mused that “I think this law is going to affect a lot of land use lawyers’ pocketbooks,” as he ticked off a handful of cases that would no longer need to be brought to the ZBA with a lawyer in tow. He also pointed out that projects that might have previously been rejected by the ZBA and objected to by neighbors based on size and scope, would now be allowable by right.

ZBA agenda items were dutifully announced, in accordance with outdated state law, in a print newspaper that few in Natick would see. Encourage your local town government to  pay for legal notices on Natick Report, too, where people might actually see them.

Separately, at the July 29 Planning Board meeting during a discussion of possible Fall Annual Town Meeting Articles, Community & Economic Development Director Amanda Loomis raised the issue of new state reforms that went into effect on July 1. Chair Doug Landry responded: “Did I fall asleep during April and May? When did this get vetted by the planning community? Who was the sponsor? I’m spitting in the wind here but where did the (Massachusetts Municipal Association) come out on this?”

Loomis didn’t have answers to those questions, but acknowledged: “It was a surprise to a lot of people.” Board member Terri Evans said “I’m assuming all this has happened because the state is in a panic about a lack of housing,” to which Loomis responded: “Yes.”

The state housing reforms were included in the Massachusetts fiscal year 2027 budget bill that passed into law on July 9. The zoning changes weren’t exactly the headline of this bill, though land use law firms were all over it, soon publishing posts online about what the changes might mean for communities, developers, and individuals.

As Loomis explained at the July 29 Planning Board meeting, key changes to sections 6 and 10 of the state’s zoning act (Chapter 40A) are now in effect. Respectively, they allow for the extension or alteration of pre-existing nonconforming structures and uses and make it easier to get use variances for residential properties. Sections 5 and 11 have also been updated related to the allowance of electronic notices to abutters regarding nearby project proposals.

Other big changes have been proposed in the legislature, and these include allowing duplexes in any single-family residence district, allowing underused commercial properties to be used for housing, and a “Yes, in God’s Backyard” change that would pave the way for faith-based groups to build multi-family and affordable housing on their property.

The changes are so significant that Loomis raised the possibility during the Planning Board meeting of the Natick holding a Special Town Meeting to address them, and changes Natick might need to make to its bylaws to be compliant with the state zoning changes. Board members seemed receptive to this idea. “It might be a very good Special Town Meeting to spend some time just explaining to people what the process is, that Natick didn’t create it, we are responding to it…,” said Planning Board member Andy Meyer.

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