Planning Board asks Select Board to pick Weston's path on MBTA Communities mandate

WESTON — January 8, 2024 — Weston Planning Board sends Select Board a three-paths memo on MBTA Communities zoning. At a Jan. 8 special meeting, the board finalized a memo asking the Select Board to choose among full compliance, a tailored middle-ground bylaw, or watchful inaction in response to the state Section 3A mandate, which would require rezoning roughly 50 acres at 15 units per acre to allow about 750 multifamily units near the commuter rail by December 2024. Member Alicia, who authored the three-paths framework, said the Select Board should set strategy while the Planning Board "are the zoning and land use experts" and should draft the bylaw through a jointly appointed working committee. Vice Chair Alex Selvig called the approach "very nifty, very creative." Chair Leslie Glynn warned that "the town understands what's coming down the pike" only thinly and cited Attorney General pressure on noncompliant towns including Holden. Town Planner Imaikalani Aiu will present the memo at the Select Board's Jan. 9 meeting at 7 p.m.