Wellesley Special Town Meeting warrant Article 13, sponsored by the Planning Board, aims to address the lack of diverse housing options in town by amending the Zoning Bylaw in several ways. Wellesley has had an inclusionary zoning bylaw since 2004 that requires a portion of units in new housing developments to be offered at affordable rates, and has amended the bylaw a couple of times since.
One motion under the article would apply inclusionary zoning to new projects developed in more areas of town, including those in Lower Falls and those using Residential Incentive Overlay district zoning, as did the Nines project at Wellesley Office Park (the early-stage condo project at 192-194 Worcester St. could be another RIO candidate). The Planning Board proposal would extend inclusionary zoning to all residential projects requiring site plan review, such as those down the road that fall within MBTA Communities zoning, which is focused on boosting multifamily housing near public transportation but does not specify affordable housing. Currently, inclusionary zoning is triggered by projects of significant impact that are more involved than those that merely requite a site plan review and may affect the town’s capital infrastructure, such as stormwater management.
(Look for Wellesley at the Annual Town Meeting in Spring to come forward with an article focused on MBTA Communities that involves getting rid of Project of Significant Impact special permits for new multifamily developments in such zoning areas, as they go into effect in 2025.)
A second motion would redefine affordable housing under Wellesley’s inclusionary zoning rules. Rather than make developers of new residential projects include 20% of units priced at 80% or less of the area’s median income (AMI), as is the case today, they would instead need to make 15% available in that range and 5% available at 81%-140% of AMI in an effort by the town address workforce housing needs, such as for local teachers, first responders, or other government employees, especially those who are just starting out. Local workers, and those with kids in the school system who might live in Boston, can be given preferential access to such housing (total assets can be factored in as well).
Note that AMI, defined by the federal government, includes an area much wider than just Wellesley, all the way up to New Hampshire and down to Buzzards Bay. Still, it is addressing here the big gap between the median single-family home price in Wellesley of $1.8M and more affordable prices, say in the $350K-$640K range for moderate income households bringing in between $106K-$187K per year (a whole other category might need to be defined for those working in journalism…).
For Wellesley, it’s important to have a certain amount of affordable housing first of all to meet demand, but also to adhere to state rules. By maintaining at least 10% of its overall housing stock as affordable, Wellesley avoids exploitation by developers of the 40B process, which allows for building projects under relaxed zoning rules. More than 11% of Wellesley’s housing stock is deemed affordable.
Wellesley Planning Director Eric Arbeene briefed the Planning Board on the article on Sept. 19 (see Wellesley Media recording) and the Advisory Committee on Sept. 20 (see Wellesley Media recording), and entertained further discussion.
Among the benefits of divvying up the inclusionary zoning requirement between 80% or less of AMI and 81% to 140% of AMI would be that those renting apartments at 80% of AMI wouldn’t automatically get booted from town if they start making more than that. They still wouldn’t be able to stay in a unit designated for 80% of AMI, but they at least might get to move into a different unit in town for those in the 81% to 140% bracket.
There was some discussion at both Planning and Advisory about whether 81% to 140% is the best range, or if something slightly tighter, like 81% to 120% might address a bigger need. Arbeene acknowledged that the town hasn’t surveyed its employees to get a precise estimate of how many of its workers might actually want to live in town if they could afford it (the idea was brought up at both meetings that not all town employees probably want to live locally, running into their students or whatever when off the clock).
Planning Board Chair Tom Taylor, a guest recently at a meeting of local housing advocacy group Building A Better Wellesley, said his sense from that group was that a range of inclusionary zoning would be acceptable.
The Advisory Committee is in the process of vetting articles on the Special Town Meeting warrant. That meeting kicks off on Nov. 6.
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