How Dense is That Property?
Game playing, quizzes, and videos filled the first MBTA Community Zoning Conversation community forum. The June 7, 2023, session helped residents understand the new zoning law and provide input to the town on residents’ vision for multi-family housing in Andover.
The MBTA Community Zoning Law
Massachusetts needs more middle-income housing—duplexes, triplexes, courtyard apartments, townhouses and low-rise mixed use buildings for living and working in order for our economy to keep growing. The MBTA Communities Law requires all MBTA communities, like Andover, to have at least one zoning district of reasonable size in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right and meets these additional criteria:
Minimum gross density of 15 units per acre
Must be a minimum of 50 acres
Not more than 1/2 mile from a commuter rail station, subway station, ferry terminal or bus station
No age restrictions
Suitable for families with children.
This law requires multi-family by right zoning. This law does not dictate housing production. During the meeting, Paul Materazzo, Director of Planning and Land Use, clarified that half of the zoned area needs to be within the ½ mile radius of our train stations.
The Massachusetts Housing Partnership (MHP) shared a video Why MBTA multifamily zoning law makes sense for Massachusetts, which explains the benefits of the law.
Zoning Capacity
Monica Gregoire, associate planner for Andover, summarized that the state is looking for the town to establish a zoning district near our two railroad stations—Railroad Street and Andover Street—with a minimum zoning capacity of 15% of the current housing stock, which calculates to 2,031 units capacity.
Good zoning bylaws allow:
Andover to have the type of development the town wants,
Developers to know what to expect,
The state’s housing stock to be able to grow to relieve the pressure on housing prices and allow the state’s economy to expand.
Zoning capacity is the legal envelope of allowed buildings on an area of land. Zoning capacity does not consider the current built environment; the zoning capacity is what is allowed to be built. Zoning capacity is what shows on a 2-dimensional map while the built environment is what exists in the real world. There may be a built 4-unit residential building in a zone that allows for 12 residential units on that same space. That does not mean the current building needs to be torn down or renovated to create 12 units. It simply means that 12 units are allowed on that parcel, so if someone in the future wanted to build 12 units, the zoning would be in place to allow that.
Andover has multiple choices in how to implement this law. Andover could have a district that has a larger lower-density district or a smaller district that allows for higher density, or a district that has a combination of low, middle and high-density housing. Andover can also decide where precisely to create the districts as long as they meet the above criteria.
Good zoning bylaws will allow Andover to get the type of development that the town wants, developers to know what to expect, and the state’s housing stock to be able to grow to relieve the pressure on housing prices and allow the state’s economy to grow.
Density
The size of the lot is key in determining the zoning density. Density is how many housing units exist on one acre of land. One housing unit on an acre of land has a zoning density of 1. Five units on .95 acres would be a density of 5.28 units/acre.
To get a better understanding of the current density of existing buildings (not zoning capacity), MHP’s tool Residensity allows a viewer to see the density of each lot in a town. Check it out and see if you can tell how dense a property near you is.
Feedback from Participants
Individuals were given time to work together in teams talking about ideas they had to comply with the law. Following the group work, several residents shared thoughts they had as they worked together.
One team suggested rezoning the Historical Mill District and to “keep away from the eastern side of Main Street and stay over where the industrial stuff is.” They also suggested considering the Lowell Junction area, Shawsheen, Stop & Shop Plaza and River Road.
A second team shared that there’s an opportunity to create several parcels and concentrate the zoning into a smaller, more industrial area and not rezone the single residency home areas.
One participant talked about the value of reducing the amount of traffic by “encouraging people to live near and use public transportation…and would feel more strongly about concentrating the solution around the train stations or in places where some kind of public transportation could be developed.”
Timeline
Concluding the meeting Gregoire shared the timeline for Andover to meet the requirements of the MBTA Community Zoning law:
Summer 2023 Public Engagement
Fall 2023 Community Report
Fall/Winter 2023 Draft Zoning
May 2024 Vote at Town Meeting
December 2024 Adopt New Zoning
March 31, 2025 deadline to apply for determination of compliance
Stay Informed
To participate in future sessions or keep up-to-date on progress visit the town’s website and sign up to stay informed about the Andover MBTA Community Zoning Law.
