BCAT News

With multiple new laws and initiatives underway in town, the Planning Board is wrestling with ways to keep Burlington’s character intact while accommodating new laws and planning for healthy future growth. 

Among the changes are the MBTA Communities Act, which requires transit-adjacent towns to create zoning districts to allow for denser, multi-family homes; a state law allowing accessory dwelling units on residential lots by right; and Burlington’s own goals to rezone the Mall Road area to be more activated, walkable and aesthetically pleasing. 

The first set of changes, to bring Burlington into compliance with the MBTA Communities Act, successfully passed through Town Meeting earlier this year. Burlington’s Planning Department and a coalition of stakeholders from business and civic life worked together to come up with changes that would comply with the state mandate while creating the least disturbance to the town, primarily by overlaying the MBTA Communities zones on top of existing multi-family zones – although one zone, in the area around the Kohl’s and Staples plaza, was intended to be an area for denser, mixed use housing that could enliven an otherwise quieter area. 

The MBTA Commuties Act was in part a state response to what is widely considered a housing crisis in Massachusetts, which hasn’t left Burlington immune. According to a 2022 report, the cost of the median single-family home increased by 95 percent in Burlington between 2011 and 2022, while rent increased by 46 percent in the same period. Meanwhile, average income hasn’t kept pace. Local officials have long spoken of a broken housing life cycle: Young families can’t afford to buy their first starter homes; seniors can’t find anywhere to downsize; and low-income or single-income households struggle to find anywhere they can afford. 

Those dire conditions were part of Governor Maura Healey’s inspiration for a 2024 law change requiring towns to allow Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs, by right on residential lots, with some restrictions. The law goes into effect in February of 2025. 

Planning Board Member Joe Impemba is not a fan. “These people don’t understand when they create zoning like that, they have to look at the worst case scenario,” he said. “If everyone in the town did it, you’d have two dwelling units on every lot in this town. It would no longer be the Town of Burlington. They don’t understand the repercussions of the zoning changes they’re ramrodding down our throats in this state.” 

Planning Director Liz Bonventre said she did her best to draft bylaws for Burlington that would protect the character of its residential neighborhoods while complying with the law, creating the following restrictions: 

• Only one ADU per lot as a right and no more than two;a second ADU would require a special permit, and one may be deed-restricted affordable
• ADUs cannot be taller than the principal single-family house or a maximum of 20 feet tall, whichever is shorter
• The combined gross floor area of all ADUs shall not exceed half the gross floor area of the principal dwelling, or 900 square feet, whichever is smaller
• ADUs can have no more than two bedrooms
• ADUs can’t be used for short-term rentals like AirBnB
• ADUs can’t be sold separately as condos or otherwise, and the lot can’t be split into two separate lots
• ADUs must have off-street parking, use the same driveway as the principal house, and may not be accessed via an outdoor staircase

“It’s another tool in our toolbox to help fix this broken housing cycle,” Bonventre said. “So if you’re an older person you can move into an ADU and have your children live next door, and it frees up the housing market so we can get back on track.”

The mandated changes of the MBTA Communities Act and the Affordable Homes Act come at the same time as Burlington’s efforts to shape its own future – including rezoning the Mall Road area for denser, more activated development. 

“The mall is so uniquely positioned for infill development,” said Economic Development Director Melisa Tintocalis. “It has over 6,000 parking spaces that can be consolidated, just surface parking spaces. That way we can retain the viable commercial [area] and infuse it with some other active components, whether it be the residential or potentially more commercial in the future.”

Proposed rezoning for the Mall Road area, which Town Meeting is set to consider in January, would simplify what’s now a mish-mash of different zoning types (General Business, General Industrial, Innovation, Retail Industrial, and Planned Development) into one new zoning type: Mixed Use Innovation, or MIX for short. The new zoning would encourage infill development that includes mixed-use buildings, like those that have retail on the ground floor and apartments up above, as well as townhouse-style development. And it would specify investments in green space, streetscaping and buffer zones around parcels that abut residential areas. 

The Planning Board had mixed reactions to the proposal. 

“My perspective is this is a pretty healthy balance between enabling healthy growth in Burlington while still maintaining what we would want that growth to look like, so I’m excited to see this move forward,” said Planning Board Vice Chair Jessica Sutherland.

“The feedback that I’ve always heard from the town when it comes to housing is they don’t want more large-scale apartment buildings, and that’s what this would be,” said Board Member Barbara L’Heureux. “So I have concerns about that.” 

Tintocalis acknowledged the weight on the Planning Board members’ shoulders.  “The decisions that you’re making here require a leap of faith, but we’re rooting it in the best data and projections we can provide,” she said. 

The Planning Board is continuing its discussion on the ADU rules and the Mall Road rezoning efforts; public hearings are scheduled for November 21. Town Meeting is expected to consider both changes in January.