Town meeting and Planning Board voting records show that Bob Creech and Lin Jensen are the two best choices for Planning Board.

Article 34, approved by Town Meeting in 2023, approved zoning overlay districts that allow multifamily housing to be built by-right to comply with the MBTA Communities Act state law. The planning department projected construction of 400 to 800 dwelling units in 4 to10 years even though the new zoning of about 250 acres went far beyond the state requirement of 50 acres. After Article 34 was passed we learned that the new zoning’s dwelling unit capacity was about 13,000 units — more than 10 times the required 1,231-unit capacity. Not surprisingly, from April 2024 through February 2025, owners of overlay district parcels and their developers submitted plans for about 1,100 units to the Planning Board.  

The coming wave of new housing raised the threat of substantial negative effects from traffic congestion, urbanization, impacts on Town budgets, and other issues, and led to the proposal of Article 2 of the 2025 Special Town Meeting. Before the Town Meeting vote on Article 2, a number of owners submitted paperwork to maintain (freeze) the applicability of the Article 34 overlay zones to their properties for at least 8 years. The net result of Article 2 and the zoning freezes was to cut the overall allowance for multifamily housing more or less in half. Thousands of housing units may still be constructed. As of February 2026, plans for over 1,500 units have been submitted to the Planning Board including 3 developments comprising about 380 units that are under construction. This may be only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of units that will be built. Close to 15% will be subsidized affordable units.

The supporters of Article 2 were not against development of multifamily and affordable housing — they understood that the amount of housing allowed under Article 34 was excessive and imprudent and the side effects needed to be addressed.

Bob Creech and Lin Jensen actively supported Article 2 and voted in favor; their opponent voted against it. Bob and Lin have the experience and maturity necessary for the thoughtful and prudent planning needed to cope with the growing multifamily housing stock as well as to help avoid planning missteps in the future.

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