Judge Rules in Favor of Massachusetts TOD Law

A judge ruled against a group of Massachusetts towns that sought to block the state’s MBTA Communities law, a housing policy that requires cities to zone for multifamily housing development near MBTA transit stations. 

As Jennifer Smith explains in CommonWealth Beacon, the plaintiffs in the suit argued that the law amounts to an “unfunded mandate” that does not provide a funding mechanism to offset the cost of added strain on local infrastructure. “More broadly, they claimed, the state imposed improper compliance requirements through the law as a condition to receive significant grant funding.”

In the decision, the judge wrote that the towns did not provide enough evidence of the added cost for local infrastructure that would be incurred by new development. “There was only ‘speculation’ about possible direct costs, he concluded, noting that the filing and affidavits submitted include words like ‘may,’ ‘expect,’ ‘possibly,’ ‘anticipate,’ and ‘estimated.’” The judge also pointed out that the law does not require new housing, merely “encourages” it, and that the state offers grants that can help cities with infrastructure costs.