Massachusetts Senate Bill No. 4012

State Senator Sean Maguire (D-Middlesex) today filed S.4012, "An Act Relative to Neighborhood Conformity Standards," landmark legislation that would allow Massachusetts to build Massachusetts under Massachusetts zoning law again.

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Most of Massachusetts' best neighborhoods, Beacon Hill, the North End, Dorchester, Southie, Provincetown, Concord, Newburyport, Salem, would all be illegal to build today. S.4012 aims to fix that.

 

The bill calculates the types & dimensions of the housing towns actually built before zoning existed, then makes that the new standard. Triple-deckers? Legal. Corner stores with apartments above? By right. Starter homes on smaller single-family lots that match existing neighborhood fabric... done.