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2026 Annual Town Meeting, Town of Arlington, MA
Article: 41
Warrant Article Title:
ZONING BYLAW AMENDMENT / ADMINISTRATIVE
CORRECTION TO MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING OVERLAY
DISTRICT STANDARDS
Warrant Article Text:
To see if the Town will vote to amend Section 5.8.4.G., Affordable
Housing, of the Zoning Bylaw to remove the second sentence of
the section; or take any action related thereto.
Requested By:
the Redevelopment Board
Report Excerpt:
The Board recommends Favorable Action (5-0).
The purpose of Article 41 is to delete a sentence of Zoning Bylaw
Section 5.8.4.G which is no longer applicable. When this Section
of the bylaw was initially passed by Town Meeting, the Executive
Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) had not yet
approved Arlington’s Economic Feasibility Study demonstrating
the viability of implementing the Town’s Inclusionary Zoning
Bylaw in the newly created Multi-Family Housing Overlay
Districts. The inclusionary zoning requirement prescribed in
Section 8.2.3.A. of the Zoning Bylaw requires that 15% of total
developed units in a project with six or more units be deed-
restricted as affordable, rather than the 10% mandated by the
State in Section 3A of M.G.L. c.40A, also known as the MBTA
Communities Act. As a result, Section 5.8.4.G. was written with a
sentence addressing the situation prior to EOHLC’s approval.
EOHLC has since given its approval, so that sentence is now
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unnecessary. The Board agreed that this change is strictly
administrative.
Vote Language:
That the Zoning Bylaw be and hereby is amended as follows:
Amend SECTION 5.8.4.G, Development Standards, Affordable
Housing, as follows:
5.8.4. Development Standards
…
G. Affordable Housing
Section 8.2 of this Bylaw, Affordable Housing Requirements,
shall apply to any development under Section 5.8 of this
Bylaw containing six or more dwelling units. Until the
Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable
Communities (EOHLC) approves using the requirements of
Section 8.2 for housing built under Section 5.8 of this Bylaw,
the affordability requirements are those allowed in the
EOHLC Compliance Guidelines for Chapter 40A, Section 3A:
that ten percent of the dwelling units shall be affordable, and
the cap on the income of families or individuals who are
eligible to occupy the affordable units is not less than 80
percent of area median income, or such other applicable
Guidelines as EOHLC shall issue.
Redevelopment Board Report
