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“The governor’s office seeks nothing but absolute and blind compliance without dialogue and without fair process,” Middleborough’s town manager said.
Middleborough is taking Gov. Maura Healey’s administration to court over the controversial MBTA Communities Act, accusing state leaders of a “gross abuse of power” after they deemed the town noncompliant with the law and withheld previously committed grant funds.
Filing a lawsuit in Plymouth Superior Court Friday, the town argued Middleborough has gone above and beyond to create more affordable housing outside the MBTA Communities Act, which requires communities served by the T to zone for more multi-family units. Town leaders say the MBTA law offers an unreasonable “one-size-fits-all” approach, and they believe Middleborough’s noncompliant designation is incorrect.
“The governor’s office seeks nothing but absolute and blind compliance without dialogue and without fair process,” Middleborough Town Manager Jay McGrail alleged in a press conference Friday.
McGrail said the town is taking a stand against the state’s “arbitrary and, frankly, draconian methods,” adding, “The town of Middleborough is unique in that we already fully comply with the act today and do not need to alter our zoning to achieve their numbers. We’re already there.”
He noted the town has already permitted 881 units of multi-family housing within walking distance of a train station, and nearly 250 of those units meet the state’s definition of affordable. Regardless, McGrail said the state has withheld two previously committed grants since deeming the town noncompliant, including $73,000 awarded to Middleborough’s schools for student mental health. State leaders have also refused to sign a $2.8 million MassWorks contract for infrastructure linked to a commercial development in town, he said.
“The Commonwealth has taken badly needed funding for public schools and capital projects, including projects to create greater access to persons with disabilities, and if these funds are not restored, essential public services are at risk,” Middleborough said in a press release announcing the lawsuit.
Town Counsel Gregg Corbo said Middleborough has turned to the courts “because it has no other recourse. ”
“We believe that this will be a landmark case for the courts to decide, and we believe that the town of Middleborough has … a very strong possibility of prevailing,” he said during Friday’s press conference.
The town is asking a judge to keep the state from enforcing the MBTA Communities Act on Middleborough, prevent “harsh and arbitrary” penalties, and restore any funding that has been withheld, according to Corbo.
Is the MBTA law an ‘unfunded mandate’?
The town’s lawsuit came a week after State Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s office said the MBTA Communities Act amounts to an “unfunded mandate” because it “does not provide a funding mechanism for compliance with its provisions.” In their press release, Middleborough officials cited DiZoglio’s determination and complained that the state has “made no effort to quantify the costs associated with complying with the Act.”
Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll fired back in a statement, denying the MBTA law is an unfunded mandate and adding it is “unfortunate” some communities are using the non-binding advisory opinion from DiZoglio’s office “to try to stall its implementation.”
“The law is essential to our efforts to lower the high cost of housing, which we know is one of the greatest challenges facing the people of Massachusetts,” they said. “We are proud that 119 communities have already adopted new zoning under this law, with more than 3,300 new housing units in the pipeline because of it.”
The state has also provided communities more than $7 million in technical assistance and grants to help officials draft new zoning, the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities told Boston.com last week.
Middleborough says it’s a ‘champion for affordable housing’
Healey and Driscoll said Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office will “vigorously defend” the MBTA law, “and we’re committed to working with all towns to turn these plans into new housing and lower costs for all of our residents.”
Middleborough contends it’s already at the forefront of that fight.
“In Middleborough, we consider ourselves a champion for affordable housing,” the town said in a statement, noting 12.7% of its housing stock already qualifies as affordable — more than the 10% required under the state’s Chapter 40B.
Middleborough Select Board Chair Mark Germain also asserted the town could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrades to its schools and water and sewer systems if forced to accommodate a tidal wave of new housing production.
“One size does not fit all,” Germain said in a statement. “Middleborough has not only played by the rules but exceeded them and become a model for responsible growth and housing opportunities. The goalpost should not be moved arbitrarily.”
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