The Senate has an opportunity to champion additional pro-housing policies and we need your support. Tell your senator to support Amendment 135 filed by Senator John Cronin and Amendment 326 filed by Senator Brendan Crighton by July 22nd. In addition to supporting these amendments, we also need to preserve the ability to build duplexes by-right in residential neighborhoods across the Commonwealth, as proposed by the Senate Ways and Means Committee. That is why we strongly oppose Amendments 343, 48, 310, which would weaken, or in the case of Amendment 343, outright remove the legalization of duplexes statewide.
Last week the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed an economic development bill that included several pro-housing policies, including Yes in God’s Backyard and the codification of Site Plan Review. This was an important milestone and we thank the House of Representatives for taking this bold step. But our work is not finished.
The Senate released its own version of the economic development bill last Thursday and it also included major pro-housing policies. We are particularly excited to see the Senate propose legalizing duplexes by-right statewide – a key component of the YIMBY Bill. Still, we believe that we can do more to bring down housing costs, specifically by addressing costly local parking mandates and making it easier to build new homes in existing neighborhoods through lot splitting.
The Senate will consider amendments to the bill on Wednesday, making this one of the final opportunities to strengthen the legislation before it advances. A strong show of support from constituents now can help ensure these common-sense housing reforms are included in the final bill.
Take action today by sending a message to your Senator urging them to include parking and lot size reform in the Economic Development bill.
What does Amendment 135 do?
Local parking mandates are zoning laws that require homebuilders to provide a set number of parking spaces when building new homes. Many of these laws were put in place decades ago and often require more spaces than residents actually use, making housing more expensive, weakening our economy, and harming our environment. Amendment 135 would remove minimum parking mandates for new homes built within ½ mile of public transit and cap parking minimums at no more than one space per unit in most other instances.
Importantly, removing parking minimums does not eliminate any existing parking spaces nor prohibit builders from including parking in new developments. It simply ends one-size-fits-all mandates, while preserving municipalities’ ability to manage street parking.
What does Amendment 326 do?
Despite being the sixth smallest state in the US, Massachusetts ranks 15th nationally in average single-family lot size, with an average just under 20,000 square feet. A homebuilder can build a single-family home on a lot less than 10,000 square feet on a mere 3% of residential land. Large minimum lot sizes make housing more expensive by requiring builders to purchase huge amounts of land for a single home, regardless of what homebuyers want or need. Amendment 326 would make it easier to build new homes on smaller lots by allowing a property owner to quickly subdivide their land into lots no greater than 10,000 square feet.
Why do we oppose Amendment 310?
This amendment allows municipalities to opt out of the statewide duplex requirement if they have met affordable housing goals, complied with MBTA Communities zoning (where applicable), and adopted additional pro-housing zoning reforms.
Why do we oppose Amendment 343?
Amendment 343 strikes Section 43 in its entirety, effectively eliminating the bill’s statewide duplex zoning provisions.
Why do we oppose Amendment 48?
This amendment limits duplex height on single-family lots to 35 feet or the average height of nearby homes (within 300 feet on the same side of the street), whichever is greater.