East Bridgewater and Halifax are among nine Communities being sued for noncompliance with the MBTA Communities Law.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell filed the lawsuit on Thursday saying it “seeks to ensure that the towns comply with the law, which mandates that each community served by the MBTA adopts a zoning district in which multi-family housing is permitted as of right.”
The complaint is seeking a court order declaring that each community must create a zoning district that complies with Section 3A and submit a district compliance application to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
State Representatives Kenneth Sweezey of Duxbury and Alyson Sullivan-Almeida of Abington released a statement opposing the move saying it targets “cash strapped cities and towns” at a time when leaders on Beacon Hill have opposed “common-sense oversight measures like auditing the legislature.”
Dracut, Holden, Marblehead, Middleton, Tewksbury, Wilmington, and Winthrop were the other communities named in the lawsuit.
The Attorney General says 165 out of 177 MBTA Communities have come into compliance with the law.