Town Council Offers Rebuttal to Governor on 3A Zoning

By Adam Swift

The town is continuing its communication with the state regarding the MBTA Communities Act.

The zoning act calls for the creation of zoning allowing for increased multi-family housing in communities with or near MBTA transportation.

Under the zoning guidelines, Winthrop would need to create multi-family zoning districts that could create 882 new housing units. That plan would need to be approved by the state by the end of the year.

Last month, the Town Council sent a letter to Governor Maura Healey outlining the reasons why they feel the town should be reclassified under the 3A zoning act to lower the percentage of housing units and asked for an extension for compliance. The councilors hit upon a number of concerns, including the small, dense population of the town as well as the recent creation of multi-family housing and zoning.

In a reply,  Ed Augustus, the secretary of the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, stated that Winthrop does not meet the definition of adjacent small town which would lower the housing creation requirement in the guidelines.

At Monday night’s town council meeting, Council President Jim Letterie said the council recently sent a rebuttal letter to Healey and the state. He said the town did receive quick confirmation from the governor’s office that the letter had been received and would be reviewed.

In the rebuttal letter, Letterie said the council first off notes that the actual size of the town is 1.6 square miles, rather than the 1.9 miles referred to by the state, since .3 miles of the town’s area is home to one of Logan Airport’s runways.

“We also explained the fact that we have been ahead of the curve in (multifamily housing zoning),” said Letterie. “We went through the Central Business District where we did new zoning. Also in the recent past, we’ve done a waterfront district and we’ve also rezoned Shirley Street.”

With that zoning, Letterie said the council believes it has done what the state has intended with the 3A zoning.

“We still feel that we should not be penalized for being ahead of the curve for doing what the state is looking to do,” said Letterie. “We talked about the density and looking to be grandfathered in on the work that we have done in the past dozen years to put us in compliance with the governor’s request.”

Letterie said the full rebuttal letter to the governor will be available on the town’s website.