Map from Mass.gov showing municipalities covered by the MBTA Communities Act.
BOURNE – The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is facing a lawsuit over the state’s “MBTA Communities Act”.
The law requires towns and cities that have MBTA transit stops, as well as neighboring municipalities, to create a multi-family housing district within a half-mile of the train station.
The Town of Middleboro is claiming that it is in compliance with the law and does not need to change its zoning further. The suit was filed Friday in Plymouth Superior Court, naming as defendants Governor Maura Healey, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.
This isn’t the first time the controversial law has come before the court. The Massachusetts Attorney General sued the Town of Milton over non-compliance. The state Supreme Judicial Court upheld the Communities Act in January.
The MBTA Communities Act included the Town of Bourne when it was passed in 2021. The subsequent closure of the T station in Plymouth made Kingston the closest stop to Cape Cod. However, Bourne officials have been moving forward with compliance efforts.
The T is starting new service on March 24th that will extend the Middleboro-Lakeville Line to Fall River and New Bedford.
RELATED: Legislators File To Extend Commuter Rail To Cape Cod
By Jim McCabe, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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