By Ken Cleveland
Landmark correspondent
HOLDEN — Despite reports of Holden being sued over its stance on the MBTA Communities zoning regulation, “The town has not received any notice of any legal action being filed,” Town Manager Peter Lukes said Friday, Aug. 4.
The Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance reportedly filed the lawsuit along with a resident of Holden and a resident of Westborough.
“The only reason we know about it is from press inquiries,” Lukes said of the lawsuit.
The zoning law, passed in 2021, seeks to encourage more housing and sets goals for communities with MBTA service, such as Worcester, as well as “adjacent” communities, even if they have no MBTA service.
Communities have objected to the requirements, with many suburban towns pointing out that transportation is still needed to get people to the mass transportation services.
“The CMHA seems to be more interested in making misrepresentations and disparaging comments toward the town of Holden to the press than in actually litigating the issue,” Lukes said.
“We look forward to what could be a long legal process in order to clarify the legislation, which has been both poorly worded and wrongly interpreted,” he added.
In discussing the issue earlier this year, members of the Holden Board of Selectmen noted that the town is not against more housing. It already has multifamily housing as well, so it is not objecting based on that criteria.
Rather, the town wants to ensure its zoning regulations govern development in town and protect the character of the community.
The town already is subject to 40B affordable housing regulations that allow developers to bypass local regulations.
The MBTA regulations would be in addition to that.
The board objected to the adjacent communities requirements, and Lukes noted the new law does not require action, but that not complying could cause the town to lose some state aid.
Selectmen expressed a willingness to give up some state aid in order to ensure the town’s independence.
While the efforts might add to housing availability, one question raised in some of the affected communities is whether affordability would be helped, and whether it would simply add a means for developers to build more housing in communities where the housing costs — including those of “affordable” housing projects — are already high and would remain so.
In addition to the fear of converting rural towns into “citified” communities, the concern is that there is not sufficient bus service to many of the adjacent towns to allow the MBTA goals to be met.
Other communities have objected as well, but most have moved forward with plans to carve out and designate areas that would be subject to the zoning regulations.
However, the details also are complex, requiring a certain number of housing units as well as acres, which could be broken up.
The CMHA did not respond to a request for information, a copy of the lawsuit or other information or press release prior to The Landmark’s deadline for this week’s edition.
