Towns must control thier own destinies    Eagle Tribune Editorial  3/25/01

   The "anti-snob" zoning law needs to change.

   Over the 30 years of its existence, the good intentions of the affordable-housing law known as Chapter 40B have produced few of their desired results.
   Instead, the so-called "anti-snob" zoning law has become a hammer with which developers can pound through huge new projects with little local ability to control them.
   It is yet another case of the unintended consequences of well-intended but poorly thought out legislation. And it is time the Massachusetts Legislature made changes to end the abuse.
   Chapter 40B was based on a flawed assumption: that, on the whole, Massachusetts cities and towns conspire to keep out people of lesser means. While there are, no doubt, some communities that take pride in their exclusivity, the majority of towns are run by people with no less compassion than those who make up our Legislature and pass silly and destructive laws like an "anti-snob" zoning ordinance.
   The essence of the Chapter 40B is this: If a community has less than 10 percent affordable housing, then developers proposing projects they say will be at least 25 percent "affordable" get streamlined local approval, with the state being the final arbiter of whether the project gets built.
   The flaws in this law could fill pages. Not all cheap housing gets counted toward a town's 10 percent goal. The definition of "affordable" is still, in many communities, out of the reach of most of the middle class. Towns trying to cope with rapid growth straining schools and municipal services lose the ability to control their own destinies.
   The reality is that developers use Chapter 40B as a threat: If a town refuses to approve their project, they'll throw some affordable units in and get approval from the state.
   Developers use the law to ramrod through giant projects that no sane community would approve. 
   In Georgetown and Groveland, for example, two developers are in the process of patching together a 1,000-acre tract of land. The developers, Craig W. and M. Shepard Spear, have not yet announced details of their plan but are planning to apply for a comprehensive permit under Chapter 40B.
   It would be the third 40B proposal in Georgetown this year. Others are a 346-unit apartment complex and a 56-unit condo development
   Projects of this size can change the nature of a community. The law ought to allow a community to determine for itself if that change is welcome.
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