Rockport residents challenge city’s plan to comply with MBTA zoning law

Local News

A group of Rockport residents has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city. A similar lawsuit was filed in Essex Superior Court in 2022.

A group of residents is challenging Rockport’s attempt to comply with a state law requiring commuter communities to rezone near transit stops to allow for more housing, according to a federal lawsuit.

Rockport is designated as a commuter rail community by the MBTA Communities Act, which was signed into law in 2021 by then-Gov. Charlie Boulanger. The beach city has until the end of this year to formally comply with the law by rezoning at least one neighborhood within a half-mile of public transportation to allow for multifamily housing.

John Kolackovsky, along with other citizens and advocacy organizations, filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Rockport on Sunday. It’s similar to another lawsuit Kolackovsky filed in Essex Superior Court, according to federal court documents, against the city, the Ministry of Housing and Community Development and Attorney General Andrea Campbell.

The federal lawsuit claims that when a town meeting vote approved a plan to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, it was by a simple majority, not two-thirds. When that plan was found to be “insufficient to comply with the requests” of the state, the suit said Rockport’s additional zoning changes would have to be subject to a two-thirds vote under state law , and not by a simple majority.

The suit also says Rockport’s plan creates zoning districts that are not uniform, which is not legal under state law. Kolackovsky and other residents say the initial plan should meet state requirements.

“The city deliberately chose to concentrate high-density housing in a narrow neighborhood,” the suit states, claiming that not all neighborhoods within a half-mile of the station were treated equally .

Milton and Marshfield will not comply and other communities follow suit

Three interested parties joined the lawsuit – which was originally filed in Essex Superior Court in 2022 – on Friday. Residents representing advocacy groups from Hamilton, Wayland and Wenham have all filed motions to intervene, calling the MBTA Communities Act “unconstitutional” and “illegally enforced.”

Wayland Neighbors for Responsible Zoning said on its website that they were joining 20 other cities in filing suit.

The MBTA Communities Act has already faced backlash across the state. Milton is the only one of 12 rapid transit communities not to comply with the law by 2023. Campbell filed suit against Milton, which will not receive state dollars until it complies.

Last week, voters in Marshfield – classified as an “adjacent community” – rejected a plan to comply with the law.

“(The Attorney General’s Office) also wanted to know why people were opposed and I reported what I heard,” the Marshfield City Council wrote in a statement after the vote. “I presented the views held by many that the state has been heavy-handed in moving to require this where the city has made significant progress toward affordable housing.”