In response to the funding crisis triggered by voters’ July 8 rejection of MBTA Communities Act zoning requirements, the Marblehead Select Board sent a formal letter Tuesday to Gov. Maura Healey and Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Edward Augustus requesting exemption from compliance requirements.
The letter comes as Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell issued her most direct warning yet about financial consequences facing noncompliant communities.
Marblehead will definitively lose access to more than $4.6 million in state grants following the referendum defeat, according to Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer.
Healey, asked last week whether she had reviewed Marblehead’s request, told MASSterList she had not yet seen the letter. But she reiterated her broader stance on the state’s housing emergency: “The single greatest crisis we face as a state right now, and states around the country are facing it, [is] housing is too damn expensive,” she said. “We’ve got to build more housing. We got to lower housing costs. The way you do that is building more housing. I think there are a lot of ways to get there.”
Campbell’s office released its second advisory on the MBTA Communities Zoning Law Tuesday, providing the clearest statement that grant funding loss is now Marblehead’s reality. The advisory came one week after voters repealed the town’s compliance measures by a margin of 3,642 to 3,297.
The vote to send the letter to Healey and Augustus came after the Select Board spent an hour in closed executive session Tuesday. The letter, signed by Select Board Chair Dan Fox, outlines what the town characterizes as a fundamental governance conflict between state mandate and local democratic will.
“The Commonwealth has mandated municipal compliance through local legislative action, yet our home rule law allows voters to reverse those actions, creating a scenario in which only one answer is acceptable to the state, but two options exist for the public,” the Select Board wrote.
No legal action … for now
Campbell’s advisory represents the most direct communication yet about enforcement consequences for Marblehead, removing any ambiguity about funding eligibility for noncompliant communities.
Although Campbell will not take legal action this summer or fall against communities making good-faith compliance efforts, enforcement suits are expected to begin in January 2026 for those that fail to adopt compliant zoning and seek state certification.
Kezer said as he “understands it,” the financial impact he predicted is now guaranteed.
Marblehead faces certain loss of $1.28 million in already-awarded state grants for projects including shipyard resilience, MBTA safety improvements and community celebrations. Under the advisory and per Kezer, the $354,792 in contracted infrastructure and planning grants are revoked.
Additional pending grant applications worth more than $3 million for historic preservation, Rail Trail improvements and downtown planning are now ineligible. The town also risks losing eligibility for future grants, including $2.98 million for Village Street bridge reconstruction.
“It’s not just about the money, it’s about the benefits of the projects that this money is for,” Kezer said during a July 9 Select Board meeting. “That’s the real impact on the community.”
Kezer noted the town would need to forgo an $11.6 million federal port infrastructure development program grant because Marblehead would need to provide a $1.1 million local match previously covered by state funding.
One of 14
Marblehead now joins 14 communities that have not achieved compliance with state law. The town’s exemption request details compliance efforts that began in fall 2023 when officials identified three subdistricts for multifamily zoning: Tioga Way, Pleasant Street and Broughton Road.
An initial plan presented to Town Meeting in May 2024 failed by a vote of 377 in favor to 410 opposed. Following extensive community engagement throughout 2023 and 2024, officials drafted Article 23 for May 2025 Town Meeting, which received endorsements from the Select Board, Planning Board and Finance Committee.
Town Meeting approved Article 23 by a vote of 951 in favor to 759 opposed. However, voters exercised referendum rights under Marblehead’s 1955 Special Act for the first time in the Act’s history.
The letter details significant resident opposition centered on community character concerns, infrastructure capacity and viewing the law as a top-down mandate undermining local governance.
No opt-out mechanism
Campbell’s advisory reinforces that MBTA Communities cannot avoid obligations by foregoing state funding. The law requires communities “shall have” a compliant zoning district and provides no opt-out mechanism.
The advisory warns that noncompliant communities risk liability under federal and state fair housing laws. The Massachusetts Antidiscrimination Law and federal Fair Housing Act prohibit towns from using zoning power with discriminatory purpose or effect.
“An MBTA Community may violate these laws if, for example, its zoning restrictions have the effect of unfairly limiting housing opportunities for families with children, individuals who receive housing subsidies, people of color, people with disabilities, or other protected groups,” Campbell wrote.
Campbell’s advisory makes clear that by January 2026, five years will have passed since the Act was signed into law, providing what she considers ample time for compliance.
“Therefore, in January 2026, the attorney general is prepared to bring an enforcement suit against any MBTA Community that has failed to both adopt the required zoning and apply for a determination of district compliance from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities,” Campbell wrote.
