Tom Shiple first recognized the importance of urban planning on the soccer field, where he was inspired to learn about zoning and development in Lexington to find a way to bring more green space to the town.
The retired software engineer and Precinct 9 Town Meeting member is one of two candidates vying for the sole open seat on Lexington’s Planning Board. Shiple was drawn toward the position because of his experience in Town Meeting and as a founding member of the Lexington Cluster Housing Study Group, a trio of Town Meeting members who break down zoning ordinances into accessible information.
“It was in Town Meeting that I started gravitating toward zoning issues,” he said. “I started digging into those things to really try to understand it and formed a small study group with two other Town Meeting members, and we made it our mission to really dissect zoning proposals, and we would break it down into kind of bite-sized chunks, and we would do these really tight explainers that we would publish to the rest of the Town Meeting members to try to help them understand what these zoning articles were that were coming before us.”
One of those zoning issues was the MBTA Communities Act, a 2021 law adopted by the Commonwealth by then-Governor Charlie Baker that aims to solve the state’s housing crisis by requiring 177 Massachusetts communities served by mass transit to develop more multi-family housing. Lexington was required to propose a plan that would allow for a minimum of 1,231 units on at least 50 acres to accommodate this growth.
The town’s plan, known as Article 34, passed in April 2023, proposes over 227 acres of land in 12 districts — and was widely recognized for being one of the first and most ambitious proposals in the state. But the rate of growth is unsustainable, Shiple says, referencing applications totaling over 1,000 units developers have already submitted.
“If we were to continue to get, say, 1,000 new units every year, it’s too much,” he said. “But in terms of the big picture, I’m completely in favor of the aims of the MBTA law. I think we are in desperate need of housing, and I’m actually very happy with the amount of development that’s been proposed so far.”
Before Lexington’s plan to comply with the MBTA Communities law passed, Shiple and the Cluster Housing Study Group attempted to slow the rate of development down. The group submitted an amendment to the town’s original plan that called for dividing the 227 acres of land into two chunks: One would be developed immediately, the other would “go live” in the future to “phase in” the developments. After the amendment was filed, the group was approached by other Town Meeting members also opposed to the original proposal who worked together to try to find a compromise. The amendment they settled on failed by five votes on the meeting floor, and Shiple ended up voting “yes” on Article 34.
“In retrospect, I don’t think any of us had the foresight to see the amount of development that we were going to get,” he said. Shiple supports Article 2, a citizen-proposed amendment that would slow the rate of development by rolling back the zoning changes to an amount closer to the state’s original requirement.
Shiple also emphasized that just 15 percent of all the units proposed in those plans must be “affordable” — an estimated 160 units. While Shiple would like to see Lexington accept more plans to develop affordable housing, he said he’s “comfortable” with the proposed percentage.
“The MBTA Communities Act was never about affordable housing,” he said. “We need more housing, period, and it’s going to be the private developers that are going to build that housing, and they’re not a bottomless source of money, where we can just keep pushing them and saying, ‘you’ve got to build more and more affordable housing as part of your project.’ At some point there’s going to be a breaking point where the developer is not going to make the money they need to stay in business.”
Shiple is also passionate about the effect the possible influx of new residents will have on Lexington’s public schools. Critics of the new zoning have said Lexington’s reputable public schools will take a dive if so many new residents move to town. Shiple doesn’t believe that argument, but does advocate for a slower rate of development so the town can properly absorb the influx of school-aged children.
“I think it’s going to require some more analysis to see exactly how well we can sustain future growth in terms of, for example, building new schools,” he said.
Shiple is also spurred by his love of soccer and greenspace, his passion for cycling, and his volunteer work with Boston-based nonprofit Mind Matters Boston, a tutoring organization that pairs one student with two mentors who will take them through the college application process over the course of three years.
“When I retired I made it my mission to make the world a better place,” Shiple said. “The housing is a lot at one time, but we will be able to absorb it, and it will be very beneficial to our town and our region.”
Leave a comment