Policy Update: MBTA Communities Law Status and Housing Outlook

Written by: Amir Wilson, Transportation Policy & Data Manager

May 18, 2026

On January 29, 2026, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit against nine towns that failed to adopt zoning plans by July 14, 2025, to comply with Section 3A of the Zoning Act (M.G.L c. 40A)—better known as the MBTA Communities Law. The towns that have been sued are Dracut, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Holden, Marblehead, Middleton, Tewksbury, Wilmington, and Winthrop. At present, only the Town of Marblehead has voted to adopt a compliant plan—and eight of the nine towns sued by the Attorney General remain non-compliant.

 

How Have Towns Responded?

 

Efforts to comply with the law

Since the Attorney General’s lawsuit, the Towns of East Bridgewater, Holden, and Marblehead have made renewed efforts to propose compliant zoning changes at convenings of their respective Town Meetings. East Bridgewater most recently voted on May 11, 2026, on a new plan for the North Bedford Street Housing Overlay District, which failed by a margin of 220 opposed to 149 in-favor. The Town of Holden voted on a proposed multifamily district at a special Town Meeting on February 23, 2026, and the proposal was voted down by a margin of 520 opposed to 257 in-favor.

 

So far, only Marblehead has successfully amended its zoning plan at its annual Town Meeting on May 4, 2026. One Marblehead voter’s viral comments on the Town’s proposed zoning district highlighted the trend of “paper compliance” among proposed plans—satisfying the legal requirements set by the MBTA Communities Law, but in such a way that no existing developable land is available within the new zoning district.

 

In Marblehead, more than 70% of its new zoning district is privately owned by Tedesco Country Club, essentially guaranteeing that no new housing will be built on that land. Similarly, a large part of Holden’s latest proposed zoning plan included land owned and operated by the Holden Trap Rock Quarry, making it unavailable for development. In Tewksbury, a joint Select Board and Planning Board Meeting held in late March considered if it could credit recent developments in the Town towards its required zoning capacity to avoid allowing multifamily zoning on developable land.

Challenging the law

On March 9, 2026, the Town of Dracut formally served a motion for a more definite statement, disputing that the injunctive relief requested by the Attorney General is vague, and insisting that the Town cannot properly respond without first understanding the full extent of what injunctive relief might entail. On March 19, 2026, the Attorney General opposed the motion, and on April 15, 2026, the Court dismissed Dracut’s Motion, restating the Attorney General’s power to enforce the MBTA Communities Law and further clarifying that the Court would determine the extent of injunctive relief, if and when deemed necessary.

 

Meanwhile, the Towns of Halifax, Middleton, Tewksbury, Wilmington, and Winthrop have all submitted answers to the Attorney General’s suit that provide affirmative defenses against the mandate to comply with the MBTA Communities Law and reject her authority to enforce it. Each of these Towns has requested jury trials, but only Middleton, Tewksbury, and Winthrop have brought formal counterclaims.

 

Middleton argues that the Town does not satisfy the definition of an “MBTA Community”—a “Rapid Transit Community,” “Commuter Rail Community,” “Adjacent Community,” or “Adjacent Small Town” —however, the Court dismissed this very complaint in an Essex County Superior Court case on June 6, 2025, which the Town of Middleton later appealed and currently awaits decision in the Appeals Court (Dkt: 2025-P-1173).

 

Along with Middleton, Tewksbury and Winthrop have argued that the MBTA Communities Law is an “unfunded mandate”—straining town resources by requiring action and not doing enough to support their compliance—, that it conflicts with towns’ rights to pass their own zoning laws through representative democracy, and that recently withheld state funding violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution, among several other complaints. The Attorney General has moved to dismiss each of these Towns’ complaints.

 

What Does This Mean for the Outlook of Housing Development in Greater Boston?

 

While the Town of Marblehead has passed a zoning plan that is technically compliant, the plan itself highlights the issue of “paper-compliance”—plans that are compliant on paper, but will do little to advance housing development. The MBTA Communities Law simply mandates that cities and towns zone areas within one-half mile of MBTA stations to allow multi-family housing at a density no less than fifteen units per acre, but it does not mandate that any specific developments are built.

 

According to a Boston Indicators report on the MBTA Communities development pipeline released on January 30, 2026, the minimum district size required by the MBTA Communities Law—50 acres—often makes up one percent of a municipality’s total land area, and for 141 of the compliant cities and towns collectively, their Section 3A zoning districts combine to account for less than one percent of their collective land area. The report also notes that more than 100 projects in MBTA Communities districts across 34 municipalities have accounted for 7,000 new housing units in the development pipeline as of late January. Comparing these statistics to the Commonwealth’s housing need—more than 220,000 homes by 2035, estimated by the Statewide Housing Plan—it becomes clear that the MBTA Communities Law alone is not a silver bullet to achieve Greater Boston’s housing production targets.

 

Over the coming months, expect the remaining non-compliant towns to adopt new zoning plans to avoid further punishment, especially since towns have already started losing funding, and may continue to become ineligible for state grants. Even if each non-compliant town draws up new zones for multi-family housing in their downtowns, the Commonwealth must find innovative solutions to build more housing well beyond the plans required by the MBTA Communities Law.

 

 

News & Resources

 

Commonwealth Resources

 

Town Answers to the Attorney General’s Lawsuit

 

Town Government Updates

 

Other Press

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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