A new report warns that understaffed town halls and outdated permitting rules could slow housing development in Needham and Dedham.
The Pioneer Institute released the white paper Thursday, Sept. 10, as first reported by Banker & Tradesman. Authored by chief housing economist Andrew Mikula, the report draws on 17 interviews with developers, consultants, government staff and land use attorneys statewide. It lays out 10 recommendations for towns to speed up residential permitting.
"A lot of developers said you needed local attorneys and architects just to understand where the pain points in the process were," Mikula said.
The recommendations include offering pre-application meetings with department heads, assigning a single point of contact for developers, posting clear zoning information online and codifying objective review standards in local bylaws. One interviewee described the ability of municipal officials to create rules on the fly as "the wild west."
The findings carry particular weight for Needham and Dedham. Both are commuter rail communities under the MBTA Communities Act (the state law requiring 177 cities and towns to expand multifamily zoning by right). Needham must zone for 1,784 multifamily units, with 90% of the zoning district within a half-mile of a commuter rail station. Dedham must zone for at least 1,569 units, with half within a half-mile of an MBTA station.
The report warns that site plan review, the main local approval for projects built under the MBTA Communities Act, "is the one potential process that could become too discretionary." That means how each town handles incoming applications matters as much as the zoning itself.
Dedham has already cleared the compliance hurdle. Planning Director Jeremy Rosenberger told the Planning Board at its Oct. 17, 2024, meeting that the state had confirmed Dedham's zoning district met the law's requirements. Board member James McGrail noted at the same meeting that Dedham was the third community in the state to approve compliant zoning.
The report also flagged practical inefficiencies. Some towns still require more than 20 physical copies of plans for certain projects. Third-party peer reviews can run into six figures. One interviewee admitted to using a 15-year-old print edition of the local zoning bylaw because parts of the online version were outdated.
In Dedham, the Planning Board's own fees have not been updated since 2011, according to Rosenberger's October 2024 presentation. McGrail said at that meeting he wanted Dedham to be seen as a place where developers want to do business.
Two pieces of state legislation align with the report's recommendations. The MassWins Act, filed by Gov. Maura Healey in April, would establish statewide standards for site plan reviews. A separate bill by state Sen. Julian Cyr, D-Provincetown, would provide free training for local boards that review development proposals. Neither bill's current status could be confirmed.
Pioneer Institute Executive Director Jim Stergios said in a statement that towns can adopt the report's practices without waiting for the legislature.
Needham and Dedham residents can contact their respective planning departments for information on upcoming development applications and public comment opportunities.
