{"id":773,"date":"2016-07-06T10:49:08","date_gmt":"2016-07-06T14:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/?p=773"},"modified":"2020-07-31T13:26:50","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T13:26:50","slug":"senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Passes Historic, Controversial Zoning Reform Bill \u2013 What\u2019s Next?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On June 9, 2016, the Massachusetts Senate voted to approve what would be the first major reform of zoning in Massachusetts since the 1970s. S. 2311, a bill entitled \u201cAn Act to Promote Housing and Sustainable Development in the Commonwealth\u201d has the stated goal of, among other things, making it easier for real estate developers to create less expensive housing by requiring communities to allow for higher density housing, cluster development and permitting accessory units within single family homes. The bill will also revise subdivision laws and attempt to make site plan review more consistent among municipalities. <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>As is usual with any kind of reform, the bill has been the subject of controversy and debate by developers, real estate organizations, municipal officials, environmentalists and many other stakeholders. Proponents of the bill say that it will make the permitting process more predictable and streamlined for developers, reduce expensive urban sprawl, make it easier for municipalities to adopt changes to their zoning bylaws and reduce the legal burden on those seeking variances. Those in opposition say that the bill will make housing and commercial development more expensive due to impact fees, increase development costs and create layers of unneeded bureaucracy. Other opponents have called the bill \u201cwatered down\u201d saying that it does not go far enough to address affordable housing needs. The one thing all sides agree on, however, is that reform is definitely needed.<\/p>\n<p>The bill will now go to the House where it will have to be debated and voted on it before it could go to Governor Baker to sign it into law. House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Governor Baker have publically remained noncommittal on the Senate\u2019s bill, and Speaker DeLeo has not stated whether the bill will be debated in the House before the end of the legislative session in July.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance has been maintaining a webpage devoted to the zoning reform efforts. Check it out on the Alliance&#8217;s website <a href=\"http:\/\/ma-smartgrowth.org\/issues\/placemaking-zoning\/policy-agenda-2013\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HERE<\/a>. Also, the Massachusetts Municipal Association statement on the bill can be found\u00a0on its website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mma.org\/economic-a-community-development\/16302-senate-to-consider-zoning-reform-legislation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HERE<\/a>.\u00a0Finally, you can read the Home Builders and Remodelers Association statement opposing the bill <a href=\"http:\/\/hbrama.com\/governmentaffairs\/zoningandchapter40\/realestateindustry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On June 9, 2016, the Massachusetts Senate voted to approve what would be the first major reform of zoning in Massachusetts since the 1970s. S. 2311, a bill entitled &ldquo;An Act to Promote Housing and Sustainable Development in the Commonwealth&rdquo; has the stated goal of, among other things, making it&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senate Passes Historic, Controversial Zoning Reform Bill \u2013 What\u2019s Next? - Commercial Real Estate Insight &amp; News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate Passes Historic, Controversial Zoning Reform Bill \u2013 What\u2019s Next? - Commercial Real Estate Insight &amp; News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On June 9, 2016, the Massachusetts Senate voted to approve what would be the first major reform of zoning in Massachusetts since the 1970s. S. 2311, a bill entitled &ldquo;An Act to Promote Housing and Sustainable Development in the Commonwealth&rdquo; has the stated goal of, among other things, making it&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Real Estate Insight &amp; News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-06T14:49:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-31T13:26:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joseph Ransom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joseph Ransom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joseph Ransom\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/998bfbcb5d5a1c38a134053d54accc78\"},\"headline\":\"Senate Passes Historic, Controversial Zoning Reform Bill \u2013 What\u2019s Next?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-06T14:49:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-31T13:26:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":369,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\\\/\",\"name\":\"Senate Passes Historic, Controversial Zoning Reform Bill \u2013 What\u2019s Next? - Commercial Real Estate Insight &amp; News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-06T14:49:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-31T13:26:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/998bfbcb5d5a1c38a134053d54accc78\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Senate Passes Historic, Controversial Zoning Reform Bill \u2013 What\u2019s Next?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Commercial Real Estate Insight &amp; News\",\"description\":\"The Bowditch &amp; Dewey Real Estate Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/998bfbcb5d5a1c38a134053d54accc78\",\"name\":\"Joseph Ransom\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9a15cba7da8fc6c4a1245b61e772990cb02042384a5fc8c749cac746256021aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9a15cba7da8fc6c4a1245b61e772990cb02042384a5fc8c749cac746256021aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9a15cba7da8fc6c4a1245b61e772990cb02042384a5fc8c749cac746256021aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joseph Ransom\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.bowditch.com\\\/bowditchrealestateblog\\\/author\\\/josephransom\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Senate Passes Historic, Controversial Zoning Reform Bill \u2013 What\u2019s Next? - Commercial Real Estate Insight &amp; News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Senate Passes Historic, Controversial Zoning Reform Bill \u2013 What\u2019s Next? - Commercial Real Estate Insight &amp; News","og_description":"On June 9, 2016, the Massachusetts Senate voted to approve what would be the first major reform of zoning in Massachusetts since the 1970s. S. 2311, a bill entitled &ldquo;An Act to Promote Housing and Sustainable Development in the Commonwealth&rdquo; has the stated goal of, among other things, making it&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/","og_site_name":"Commercial Real Estate Insight &amp; News","article_published_time":"2016-07-06T14:49:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-07-31T13:26:50+00:00","author":"Joseph Ransom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joseph Ransom","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/"},"author":{"name":"Joseph Ransom","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/#\/schema\/person\/998bfbcb5d5a1c38a134053d54accc78"},"headline":"Senate Passes Historic, Controversial Zoning Reform Bill \u2013 What\u2019s Next?","datePublished":"2016-07-06T14:49:08+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-31T13:26:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/"},"wordCount":369,"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/","url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/","name":"Senate Passes Historic, Controversial Zoning Reform Bill \u2013 What\u2019s Next? - Commercial Real Estate Insight &amp; News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-07-06T14:49:08+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-31T13:26:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/#\/schema\/person\/998bfbcb5d5a1c38a134053d54accc78"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/2016\/07\/06\/senate-passes-historic-controversial-zoning-reform-bill-whats-next\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Senate Passes Historic, Controversial Zoning Reform Bill \u2013 What\u2019s Next?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/","name":"Commercial Real Estate Insight &amp; News","description":"The Bowditch &amp; Dewey Real Estate Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/#\/schema\/person\/998bfbcb5d5a1c38a134053d54accc78","name":"Joseph Ransom","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a15cba7da8fc6c4a1245b61e772990cb02042384a5fc8c749cac746256021aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a15cba7da8fc6c4a1245b61e772990cb02042384a5fc8c749cac746256021aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a15cba7da8fc6c4a1245b61e772990cb02042384a5fc8c749cac746256021aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joseph Ransom"},"url":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/author\/josephransom\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd7Mo7-ct","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bowditch.com\/bowditchrealestateblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}