By Joe Stewart

Have you wondered how it is that Norfolk and Wrentham have been tasked with creating zoning districts to enable multi-family housing?  To understand how we got here, it’s helpful to dust off our high school civics classes.

The Process

Here’s a summary of the process, adapted from the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation MassLegalServices website (https://bit.ly/3WN6Cpk).

In Massachusetts, the process of creating public policy involves these key steps:

1. Issue Identification: Stakeholders such as advocates (e.g. homeless, housing, transportation, veterans, etc.) and lobbyists (e.g. those representing business and developer interests) collaborate to secure support from a state legislator, the sponsor.

2. Legislative Proposal: The legislator drafts a bill and introduces it in either the House or the Senate.

3. Committee Review: Once introduced, the bill is referred to the appropriate committee to hold public hearings where stakeholders, experts, and members of the public provide testimony on the bill.

4. Floor Debate and Vote: If the committee votes to approve the bill, it moves to the floor of the respective chamber for debate and voting. Both the House and the Senate must approve the bill.

5. Conference Committee: If the House and Senate versions of the bill differ, a conference committee reconciles the differences and produces a compromise version of the bill.  That version of the bill must then be approved.

6. Governor’s Approval: Once both chambers have passed the bill, it is sent to the Governor for approval. The Governor can either sign the bill into law, veto it, or let it become law without signature.

7. Regulation Development: After the bill becomes law, relevant state agencies are tasked with developing regulations to implement the new policies outlined in the law. This involves a period of public comment and review before the regulations are finalized.

8. Publication: Once the regulations are finalized, they are published and have an effective date.

9. Enforcement and Implementation: Finally, the regulations are enforced by the appropriate state agencies, and the policies outlined in the law are implemented throughout the state.

In the case of the MBTA Communities program, the legislation emerged as a last-minute compromise between the House and Senate during the final days of the 2019-2020 legislative session and was signed into law by Governor Charlie Baker in January 2021.

According to the Massachusetts Housing Partnership (https://bit.ly/44JpQ15), many collaborated to create the program, notably advocates for the environment, housing, and transportation as well as lobbyists representing business and development interests.  The advocates support reduced housing costs, reduced environmental impact through denser housing and increased use of public transportation while business and development interests supported reduced government oversight, reduced development costs, and reduced risk.

According to the State’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, draft regulations were published in December 2021 and the agency took public comment through March 2022.  In all, more than 400 comments were reviewed.

Importantly, in March 2022, Wrentham engaged in the Regulation Development phase, submitting seven recommendations to the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. The letter was signed by both the Planning and Select Boards. The elected officials who signed the letter and continue to represent Wrentham are Michael McKnight, Charles Woodhams, Jr., and James Lawrence from the Planning Board, as well as Joseph Botaish, James Anderson, Christopher Gallo, and Charles Kennedy from the Select Board.

In August 2022, the compliance guidelines were published.  Since then, the guidelines were revised in October 2022 and August 2023.  

Wrentham Responds

In January 2023, Wrentham submitted its action plan and in March 2023 received interim compliance. That brings us to phase 9, Enforcement and Implementation. In Wrentham’s case, development of draft zoning regulations that comply with state law and the published guidelines.  

Throughout 2023, the Wrentham Planning Board and Wrentham’s Director of Planning and Economic Development worked with Bohler, a Boston-based civil engineering firm hired through a grant from the Commonwealth, to evaluate sites and develop zoning regulations in compliance with MBTA Communities.  

According to Bohler, analysis started with four large areas:

• The Conservation, Recreation, School and Park district off of North Street

• The Residential 43 district off of Taunton Street

• The Commercial Industrial 2 district adjacent to the Wrentham Outlets

• The Village Zone B district off of Franklin Street

From there, potential districts were added, assessed, and eliminated over the course of the past year culminating in two zones:  

• The downtown VIllage mixed use district with a density of 8 units/acre

• Wampum Corner MBTA Communities multi-family overlay district with a density of 16 units/acre.

The May 5, 2024, presentation to the Wrentham Planning Board summarizes the work that the Planning Board has performed including details on the assessment criteria for potential sites and on the proposed zones (https://bit.ly/3yfU281).

What’s next?  In addition to the public hearings that the Planning and Select Boards have already held, both Boards plan future hearings seeking additional public comment.  

For example, Thomas DiPlacido, a local builder and current member of the Board of Assessors, submitted written comment offering two ideas:  

• First, rezone the Wrentham Premium Outlets to allow for a “Legacy Place” or “University Station”-like development which would appeal to national developers.

• Second, borrowing an idea from the 2000s, rezone the quarry on Green Street coupled with multiplied 5-7 acre parcels throughout Wrentham to form villages which might appeal to smaller developers.