HOLDEN — The town manager of Holden has agreed to submit a plan to bring the town into compliance with a state law intended to create more multifamily housing.
Lawyers for Civil Rights, which filed a lawsuit against Holden in 2023 over its decision not to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, posted a letter from Holden Town Manager Peter Lukes, dated Feb. 13, pledging his "full intention" to present a plan to Town Meeting to bring the town into compliance.
On Wednesday morning Lukes confirmed the change in direction while also calling the lawsuit that Lawyers for Civil Rights filed along with the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance and two Massachusetts residents "laughable" and "terrible," and saying it had nothing to do with the town's decision.
The 2021 MBTA Communities Act required that 177 cities and towns served by or adjacent to transit lines each create “at least one district of reasonable size in which multifamily housing is permitted as of right.”
Holden has been one of the notable holdouts, with Lukes arguing last year that local officials should have a right to control local zoning.
In January, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the act is constitutional and can be enforced by the state's attorney general's office, in response to a lawsuit against the Town of Milton, which has resisted complying with the law.
Lukes said Holden's letter to the state's Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities was in response to that decision.
“The letter is just part of an online form that is part of procedures you use to move forward with the process,” Lukes said.
“What we've essentially done is use the grant that we received from the state to contract with the Central Mass. Regional Planning Council, CMRPC, to help us get a plan to propose for Town Meeting, which takes place on May 19,” Lukes said. “Whether it’s accepted by the voters or not, it remains to be seen. If it is, then we have an accepted plan that we can send to the state. … We’re still very early in the process.”
He said Holden may also pursue an exemption through Superior Court as a result of a recent state auditor's decision that found the MBTA Communities Act to be an unfunded mandate.
In a press release Tuesday, Lawyers for Civil Rights said it would drop its lawsuit, which a Superior Court judge had agreed to dismiss in December 2023. The plaintiffs had been appealing the dismissal.
With reports from reporter Craig S. Semon.