Milton turns into ‘interim compliant’ with MBTA Communities Act

After practically two years of resistance and authorized wrangling, the city of Milton has taken a major step towards complying with the MBTA Communities Act, a 2021 state housing legislation requiring communities close to public transit to zone for multifamily housing.

On the heels of a bitter and extended debate, city officers just lately submitted an motion plan to the state, bringing Milton into interim compliance – at the very least for now.

The following few weeks promise to be essential. Milton voters are scheduled to think about two 3A zoning proposals on June 16 at a Particular City Assembly, and the end result might decide whether or not Milton stays on a cooperative path – or heads again to the drafting board.

Milton, an prosperous suburb simply south of Boston, has been probably the most high-profile battleground within the state’s push for multifamily zoning. The MBTA Communities legislation requires 177 municipalities with entry to the MBTA to create zoning districts for multifamily housing. Most have complied or are on the way in which to doing so, however Milton has long-sustained defiance.

Though the city’s Planning Board and City Assembly initially accepted a rezoning plan in 2023, voters overturned it in a particular referendum in February 2024, with 54% voting in opposition to the measure. In response, Massachusetts Legal professional Common Andrea Campbell sued Milton to implement compliance with the legislation. That lawsuit was bolstered by a January ruling from the state’s Supreme Judicial Court docket, affirming that the MBTA Communities legislation is each constitutional and necessary.

Following the court docket’s choice, Milton officers started working once more on a revised zoning proposal that aimed to strike a stability between assembly state necessities whereas softening density in a number of the beforehand focused areas.

However the path ahead remained rocky. Based on the Commonwealth Beacon, on Might 8, the Planning Board voted to submit two rezoning proposals for consideration at a Particular City Assembly: one treating Milton as an “adjoining group” with decrease density necessities (a capability of about 1,000 housing items, 10% of the city’s whole), and one other as a “speedy transit group” (a zoning capability of two,461 items, or 25% of the city’s whole), which is how the state formally classifies the city as a result of presence of the Mattapan Trolley.

However simply 5 days later, on Might 13, the board reversed course and eliminated the higher-density 25% plan from the City Assembly warrant.

In response, residents who help extra aggressive zoning launched a profitable citizen’s petition marketing campaign to reintroduce the higher-density proposal. The Choose Board then approved City Administrator Nicholas Milano to submit an official motion plan to the state’s Govt Workplace of Housing and Livable Communities, per a Commonwealth Beacon report.

The state accepted the plan, based on a compliance standing sheet dated June 3, 2025, granting Milton interim compliance standing.

Annie Jonas is a Neighborhood author at Boston.com. She was beforehand a neighborhood editor at Patch and a freelancer on the Monetary Occasions.