The “No” camp notched a clear victory, capturing 54 percent of the votes. Yet as I wrote then — and I still believe to be true today — there were no winners. (In full disclosure, I voted yes.)
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Voting no just set off another round of angst, handwringing — and, after Attorney General Andrea Campbell sued Milton for being out of compliance with the law, hefty legal fees. How much? Try $275,000 and counting. That’s real money for a town that had to plug a $415,000 school budget gap with federal pandemic funds last summer and is grappling with a potential $9.5 million deficit next fiscal year.
Milton’s dissent has been costly because Campbell took the Milton case to the Supreme Judicial Court. But the financial pain goes beyond legal bills. Governor Maura Healey also revoked and withheld grant money to Milton, notably $140,800 for sea wall and access improvements. Her administration even put out a press release about it!
Then last week at the SJC, Milton lost in court; the justices made clear the attorney general has the power to sue towns and cities to comply with the law.
Some Miltonites will frame it as something less than a total loss because the high court also ruled the state improperly issued guidelines related to the MBTA Communities Law and must re-do them. That will buy Milton, and 30-odd communities that have yet to pass an MBTA Communities plan, a little more time to fall in line. But I worry it will just extend my town’s attorney fees, by giving false hope to opponents of the law who think they’ll persuade the state to soften it.
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Indeed, two state lawmakers that represent Milton — State Senator Bill Driscoll Jr. and State Rep. Richard Wells — have made clear they have a beef with how the state classified Milton a rapid-transit community, which means it must zone for higher amount of housing units, based on the Mattapan Trolley slicing along the town’s northern edge.
Both issued statements following the ruling, arguing that Milton does not have subway service, because the trolley does not run as frequently as the Red Line or Orange Line, and should be placed in a lower classification.
“Milton is not within a half mile of any subway station,” Wells said. “Under the previous guidance, Milton was improperly classified as a rapid-transit community. It is my hope that this is corrected in future guidelines.”
Regardless, Milton now has to come up with a new zoning plan.
That’s because the town can’t just adopt the plan that was shot down at the ballot box; by law, it has to wait two years before it can re-introduce it. My hope is that the town won’t go completely back to the drawing board. So much time and energy have been already spent on developing zoning guidelines.
Any new plan has to go to through the Town Meeting process. While the next Town Meeting is end of February, it’s unlikely a new plan will emerge by then, says Cheryl Tougias, a member of the Milton Planning Board.
Tougias said she would like to have more public discussions so everyone is comfortable with the new plan before there is another vote. It’s more likely the issue will be taken up at the Town Meeting in May, but she acknowledged the process could drag on if the Planning Board and Select Board can’t reach a consensus.
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It’s been frustrating for Tougias, who supported the zoning plan that voters rejected. The state is facing a housing crisis, and she believes Milton needs to be part of the solution.
“Every community needs to do its part,” she said. “I know some people feel as if any change will be negative, but change can be positive. People are afraid of change, and I think they don’t look at it as opportunity.”
A day after the SJC ruling, I drove through Needham, wondering if this Route 128 suburb of about 32,000 knew what they were in for if they voted no. The referendum has divided this community, where the median sale price of a home last year was about $1.5 million.
I get it. Folks want to protect their investment. Increase supply and demand may fall and so may prices, then comes along traffic and crowded schools. But these zoning guidelines are just that. There’s no guarantee all the units will get built.
Like Milton, Needham is becoming a place where homes are increasingly out of reach for young middle class families. You hear the same troublesome trend all over Greater Boston: Kids who grew up here can’t afford to move back and raise their own families here.
All of this hurts the vibrancy of communities and the economic viability of our state to retain and attract a workforce.
It’s the reason why Jay Spencer put a “Yes” sign outside his French Press Bakery & Cafe in Needham. For small businesses like his to thrive, they need local customers and workers— and more housing means more people in town.
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Only two of his 20 employees live in Needham — both are college students who are on winter break and return to school next week. The rest travel as much as an hour-and-half from East Boston, Revere, Woburn, and beyond to work at the cafe.
“I’d love some of my employees and their families to be able to own their own place, control their own destiny, build financial freedom,” said Spencer. “It’s massive.”
So Needham residents, as you head to the polls on Tuesday, think about this: A meticulously-crafted plan is on the table to help another generation build their lives in Needham. Voting “yes” means Needham can help ease the state’s housing crisis — and save your town a lot of headaches.
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Shirley Leung is a Business columnist and host of the Globe Opinion podcast “Say More with Shirley Leung.” Find the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and globe.com/saymore. Follow her on Threads @shirley02186
Shirley Leung is a Business columnist. She can be reached at shirley.leung@globe.com.