MBTA Communities Multifamily Zoning Requirement

State Guidelines and Penalties

The Guidelines, which interpret and amplify the text of the law, were issued by DHCD in late 2022 and a digital Compliance Model and Sample Bylaw were added in early 2023. (The Guidelines were reissued as Regulations in 2025 to comply more fully with process requirements)

The Guidelines interpret the meaning of a "district of reasonable size", setting minimum acreage and housing unit capacity numbers for each municipality. For Bedford, these are set at 50 acres and 750 units. (for different communities, the numbers are based on a range of factors that include the MBTA service category, the total land area and the number of existing housing units, but for Bedford the critical factors are the 50 acre minimum that was set for most community categories and the 15 units per acre minimum that is in the statute: 50 x 15 = 750).

The Guidelines specify some categories of land that will be excluded from counting as having any capacity for multifamily housing. These include most publicly-owned land, water bodies and wetlands, protected open space, rights-of-way, Zone 1 wellhead protection areas and certain institutional land. Such areas cover 59% of the town. There are also some categories of land for which a caution is expressed. These include wetland buffer zones beyond the prohibition area, land subject to flooding, priority habitat for rare species, Zone II wellhead protection areas and prime agricultural land. (see maps of Excluded and Sensitive land in Bedford below).

The law also includes penalties for non-compliance, in the form of ineligibility for certain state grants, and authorizes the Department (originally the Department of Housing and Community Development, later the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities) to promulgate compliance guidelines.

For more information, please visit the State website. 

See Bedford's excluded land map (PDF) here.
See Bedford's sensitive land map (PDF) here.

Bedford's Timeline

January 2023

The Planning Board noted that any zoning amendments will need to be passed by Town Meeting, and public input will be invited along the way. The Town submitted a broad Action Plan for its process in January, 2023, as required for interim compliance. The Annual Town Meeting in March, 2024 was set as the target for bylaw amendment(s). Full compliance is required by the end of 2024.

September 2023

Members of the Board conducted outreach with an information booth at Bedford Day in September, 2023, an opinion survey open until late October, presentations to a range of Town committees and outside organizations during the fall, and a display in the foyer of the November Special Town Meeting with maps of some potential multifamily zoning districts to spur discussion.

November 2023

Residents who responded to the survey were asked if they wished to be part of a focus group for further discussions. A focus group meeting was held on November 16, 2023 with 30 participants. An open public forum was held on November 29 and a second session on December 5, 2023.

In the meantime, staff familiarized itself with the digital Compliance Model and used it to start to explore how various potential district boundaries, together with zoning parameters such as setbacks, height, open space and parking requirements would generate unit capacity estimates. Such understanding is useful in framing the zoning rules in detail as well as checking for likely acceptance by the state.

January 2024

Board discussions continued, covering a range of concepts and variations for the location of the district(s). Further public comments were received, together with staff analysis of aspects such as property tax revenue implications. At its January 4, 2024 meeting, the Board agreed to move forward with defined areas in two parts of town: Depot/Loomis/Great Road and Shawsheen (the latter in two pieces). See map of proposed districts at that date below.

Consultants RKG Associates began assisting the Board with further compliance testing and bylaw development work, funded through a grant. The Board chair introduced some additional geographic options to explore at the January 16 meeting and a map of four areas was produced for further study. At the January 30 meeting, the Board confirmed its intent to present a zoning proposal to the Annual Town Meeting. It agreed that geographically it would consist of two of the four areas that were shown on the January 16 map: the Loomis - Depot Corridor and Shawsheen West (including Alfred Circle and Roberts Drive). These areas were likely to be divided into subdistricts so that they could have different dimensional rules. 

February 2024

The proposed Zoning Overlay map was produced and text amendments drafted. A public hearing was held in two sessions: February 13 and February 27. The proposed warrant articles were finalized and voted to be recommended to the Annual Town Meeting.