Chapter 40B and Land Use Reform

The next few months should be quite interesting. Two sides are squaring off on the question of whether Chapter 40B should be repealed. Many of the same parties are involved in discussions of whether or not the current land planning structure in the Commonwealth should be overhauled.

All to often in these discussions the good ideas get mixed in with not so good ideas, and we wind up with campaigns that are as much innuendo as fact.

Take Chapter 40B. There is little argument that Chapter 40B has created housing. There is quite the debate though as to what it has meant to housing affordability. One side wants you to consider the pure numbers of housing units created. The other side argues the growing affordability gap illustrates the failure of the system.

Looking at the arguments, both are right. Chapter 40B has succeeded in seeing affordable housing built. Chapter 40B has also promoted the construction of between 3 and 4 market rate housing units for every affordable housing unit constructed. If 75% or 80% of the units constructed are market rate, it becomes quite apparent that Chapter 40B is contributing to the continued growth of higher end housing in numbers larger than that of the affordable units.

Moving to Local Planning and Zoning, much of the same issues play out. Communities have many diverse interests. Many of these are directed by various state or federal mandates. Here are a few examples:

• Recent flooding has illustrated the problems with growing urbanization. Fewer areas are available for storm water to absorb into the soil. Federal flood initiatives direct communities to work on plans to improve storm water storage for flood management. Various forums have even suggested undeveloping areas to reduce flood risks.
• We are also all directed to develop and maintain local Open Space and Recreation Plans. These plans direct communities to provide particular amounts of open land areas for recreational purposes based upon the number of residents. These plans are also directed to promote methods to implement open space initiatives in the State Comprehensive Opens Space and Recreation Plan. Again, planning documents directed to protecting development.
• The state has mandated towns develop housing creation plans. These plans are intended to identify the strategies cities and towns are going to pursue to meet local affordability targets. When developed locally, these plans can be crafted cooperatively with the two planning projects noted above.

Recently, efforts have started to push to reform the state planning act. These efforts have come from two sides, much like under Chapter 40B. There is the side that calls for improving the planning and zoning process to give communities more control over their own future. This control coming in the form of new local planning requirements, and improving the zoning process.

The alternate proposal calls for changes to planning and zoning focusing on a development approach to planning and zoning, as opposed to the more traditional community vision approach. The push for these efforts have come from the side of the equation that feels that local visions, local development controls, etc., are stymieing the state economy. To some extent, the changes proposed ignore, if not walk all over, the other local mandates.

The arguments over planning and zoning reform face the same issues as reforming Chapter 40B. One side strongly believes that the system is broken and that communities cannot properly address the growth needs of the Commonwealth. The other side argues that the current system is broken and that provisions such as approval not required land division, and generous grandfathering rights destroy local planning abilities before a community could ever properly develop a city or town vision.

While both sides agree that provisions in the current planning and zoning structure in the state need to be fixed, there is clear disagreement on what is broken and how it should be fixed.

The Chapter 40B discussion ought to be interesting, if not for any other reason than to learn if community interests or land development interests will prevail. One sure thing, a reasoned approach to affordable housing will be the ultimate loser. This reasoned approach can only come about by looking at the broken system, and developing a consensus that promotes properly created affordable housing.