Starting 7:30pm on Monday 3/17, Lexington’s Special Town Meeting will vote on Article 2 to amend the zoning and map for the MBTA Communities Bylaw.

It is important that we contact our elected officials and attend the Special Town Meeting to let them know that the residents of Lexington want this article to pass! 

A brief recap: to address the housing shortage in the greater Boston area, the state of Massachusetts asked 177 communities with MBTA public transportation service to change zoning to allow a 10% increase in their existing residential units with multi-family units to be built by right. 

In 2023, Lexington committed 5 times of the acreage required by the state in MBTA zoning, with the assurance that development would be minimal and stretched out over 5-10 years and thus giving us enough time to absorb the new households. It later came to light that Lexington’s MBTA zoning allows up to 13,421 new multi-family units, 11 times of the state’s mandate and more than doubling the town’s existing residential units. 

Two years later there has been a rush of proposals for 1,097 units on only 10% of the acreage in MBTA zoning. 1/3 of the proposed new multi-family units among the 177 MBTA communities are in Lexington. With 90% of the acreage still available for redevelopment, the growth is unplanned and untenable. 

The Appropriations Committee estimates that for every 1,000 new MBTA units comes a net budget shortfall, for incremental school cost alone, of $4-12 million, or a 1-4% of tax increase.

Article 2 aims to scale down the MBTA zoning, it is not against housing. If it passes, it will still allow 1,300 multi-family units in four districts, in addition to the 1,097 units already in the pipeline, and potentially over 4,000 units in parcels that have sought to “freeze” to the existing MBTA zoning bylaw. So in total 6,000+ multi-family units may still be allowed, about a 50% increase in our town’s dwelling units.

We need you to 1) email to the Town Meeting Members, Select Board, and state senator and representative, 2) attend the Special Town Meeting Monday evening, speak up and let them know that we want thoughtful planning, and It is imperative that article 2 passes to give the town time to manage and adjust to the unplanned growth.

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1 Comment

  1. I think it is well past the time to stop our culture of eternal growth. That growth overwhelms all else we do combined to mitigate carbon emissions, pollution, taxes, and everything environmental. What will we leave our children?

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