Regional planners outline Chapter 40Y "starter-home" zoning for Newbury

Ian Burns, a planner with the MVPC regional planning agency, told the Newbury Planning Board on June 17 that MVPC is helping the town explore Chapter 40Y, a state program enabling smaller single-family ‘‘starter’’ homes and offering incentive payments to towns that adopt the zoning.

"This is a state grant funded initiative," Burns said, introducing the one‑year assistance MVPC will provide in Newbury, North Andover and other communities. He said 40Y is optional, is intended to enable smaller new single‑family homes at a minimum density of four units per acre, and typically is implemented as an overlay district.

Kayla Renie of MVPC summarized technical requirements: the statute sets a maximum starter‑home size of 1,850 square feet, requires a minimum density of four units per acre, and—unusually for single‑family zoning—requires that 50% of homes in a project have three or more bedrooms. For projects of 12 or more units, a 10% set‑aside must be affordable to households at or below 110% of area median income; that affordability restriction must last at least 30 years, and communities can require longer terms.

Renie also described state incentives that make the program attractive to towns: a one‑time zoning incentive payment tied to the number of "incentive units" in the adopted district, and a production payment of $3,000 per "bonus" unit actually built under the 40Y rules. MVPC noted communities retain flexibility to set local standards within statutory limits—for example, to lower the maximum unit size or to impose objective design standards that do not render projects infeasible.

Board members focused questions on who benefits and on local infrastructure limits. Pete Pos asked for clarification on the income targeting and the 12‑unit threshold; Burns confirmed the 12‑unit threshold triggers the 10% affordable set‑aside, and that smaller projects would not be bound by that requirement. Steve Manian, Larry Murphy and others pressed MVPC on septic capacity, lot coverage and open‑space impacts, and whether the statutory 15% cap on total area in 40Y districts counts all town land (including salt marsh and protected areas). Renie said the 15% calculation is against total town land area and recommended the board consider locations and district scale carefully to maximize production and incentives.

Several members asked how deed‑restricted affordable units would be enforced. Burns and Renie said the state typically administers resale and monitoring through deed restrictions and partner agencies, but that towns can elect to play a larger role—often using CPA or similar local funds to support local administration. "If it's something Newbury wants to be more involved in, we can look at how you can best position the town to run and help administer that," Renie said.

MVPC described a tentative timeline under the grant: preliminary mapping and site identification over the summer, public engagement and draft bylaw work in the fall, and possible town‑meeting action next spring if the board and community choose to proceed. MVPC offered follow‑up assistance on locating candidate parcels, engaging developers and hosting public outreach.

The board did not take any formal action on 40Y at the meeting. Members asked MVPC to work with town planning staff on candidate locations and to return with more detailed recommendations and drafts for public review.