[Massplanners] Friday afternoon question

[Maren Toohill]

Littleton has three examples to share:

  1.  Littleton was successful in adding a “Senior Residential Development” bylaw in 2018 – amended in 2021 - that expanded the types of housing allowed. It has resulted in several developments that provide alternatives to the 5-bedroom colonial homes-on-1-acre lots Littleton was used to seeing. Littleton’s SRD Bylaw allows senior cottages, duplexes, townhouse (3-8 units attached), senior apartments, independent living, assisted living, and nursing home uses. The bylaw has no requirement for age-restrictions, but the focus at the time clearly was to provide down-sizing and long-term continuum of care opportunities for seniors. Resulting developments include Jones Meadow (19 senior cottages including 2 affordable units), Webber Village (17 SF and duplex units – not age-restricted and includes 2 affordable units), and Hager Homestead, a 26-unit senior co-housing development with 10 affordable units ranging from 60% to 150% AMI https://www.hagerhomestead.org/

My hope would be that there is room for a similar bylaw in a community without the “senior” wording.


  1.  While re-zoning Littleton Common in 2020 in preparation for Town Sewer, Littleton adopted the Village Common form-based code district.  Uses allowed in the district include residential: SF, two-family, multifamily, and mixed use; as well as commercial, office, retail, service, restaurant, etc.


  1.  And, before MBTA Communities requirements, and building on the successful adoption of the Village Common FBC from #2 above, Littleton added a new “King Street Common” zoning district that allows mixed use and includes multifamily density of up to 20 units per acre across the entire 40-acre site. Impetus was IBM leaving the site, the prior zoning allowed warehousing and most developers were interested in distribution and big-box retail at the site – and Littleton was clearly in the “no tractor-trailers in our Littleton Common” camp. The development of this site for multifamily and mixed use will “pay for” approximately 60% of the cost to sewer the Littleton Common area, shouldering a large portion of that cost burden away from Town-side costs to provide sewer service to Town Hall, Fire Station, and 3 of the 4 public schools.  Turns out that the King Street Common district will probably be a large portion of the Town’s MBTA 3A district.
Link to Littleton’s Zoning Bylaw: https://ecode360.com/32920166#32920166
Best of luck,
Maren

Maren A. Toohill, AICP
Town Planner
978/540-2425
MToohill at littletonma.org<mailto:MToohill at littletonma.org>
Town of Littleton


From: MassPlanners <massplanners-bounces at masscptc.org> On Behalf Of Jeffrey Robert Levine via MassPlanners
Sent: Friday, February 9, 2024 4:56 PM
To: massplanners at masscptc.org
Subject: [Massplanners] Friday afternoon question



**THIS EMAIL WAS SENT BY AN EXTERNAL SENDER**
For a project I am working on with a regional planning agency out of state:

What are some examples of towns that have increased allowed density to allow for more housing and more housing types? Preferably of their own volition, more or less, not in response to any state mandates like 40B or 3A.

Thanks,

Jeff

Jeff Levine, AICP (he/him)
Lecturer of Economic Development and Planning
Program Head, Housing, Community & Economic Development
Department of Urban Studies & Planning
Room 9-511
jrlevine at mit.edu<mailto:jrlevine at mit.edu>
Personal Zoom Room: https://mit.zoom.us/my/jeff.levine<https://mit.zoom.us/my/jeff.levine>
Levine, J. (2021). Leadership in Planning: How to Communicate Ideas and Effect Positive Change (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429279287<https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429279287>
(617) 817-0424
[MIT]

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