By Adam Swift
The Winthrop Says No to 3A Committee held a well-attended public forum at the Point Shirley Association on Monday evening.
Some of the topics discussed included the committee’s exemption case for Winthrop that is expected to be taken up in November as well as the status of the state’s lawsuit against the town of Milton for failing to comply to the MBTA 3A Communities Act. The 3A act requires communities with or adjacent to MBTA public transportation to zone for denser multi-family housing. In Winthrop, the Planning Board is expected to make a recommendation to the town council on a 3A compliance plan to create zoning that would allow at least 882 housing units. The compliance plan would create overlay districts around the Seal Harbor and Governor’s Park areas, as well as leverage 221 existing units in the town’s Central Business District.
The town council would then vote on whether or not to accept that compliance plan recommended by the planning board.
The exemption case filed by the Winthrop Says No to 3A Committee points to the uniqueness of Winthrop already being one of the most densely developed communities in the country, as well as other unique hardships.
“It was a great turnout, standing room only, obviously a much-needed, long overdue conversation,” said Diana Viens of the Winthrop Says No to 3A Committee. “We have an active exemption case that is filed in Superior Court, and the opposing counsel is Eric Haskell, who is the Attorney General’s attorney in the Milton case, which was heard this week. So that is going to happen in November because he asked for an extension because obviously he is a busy man.”
Viens said she believes the committee has a strong case. “It’s based on density, but in addition, Winthrop has a number of unique hardships that just makes it very damaging to implement something like this here, we are one of the densest communities in the nation,” she said. “This is a densification law, you don’t densify one of the densest communities in the nation. This idea that we have some kind of plan that means nothing gets built here, well that’s ludicrous; if that’s the case, then the law is meaningless.”