With rail service comes responsibility — at least in Massachusetts. The 2021 MBTA Communities Act requires the 177 municipalities served by the transit system to approve a zone for multi-family housing.
Milton, however, is not playing ball. While the town did approve a zoning plan last year, residents voted it down at town meeting in February. That led Attorney General Andrea Campbell to sue the community, which lies just south of Boston’s city limits.
“I did not make a decision lightly to sue a municipality,” Campbell said. “For months we worked with Milton to assist them with compliance.”
But Milton’s attorney, Kevin Martin, said the attorney general does not have the authority to sue — because the legislature never gave it to her. He contends that the law, as written, includes only a financial penalty — the loss of state housing grants.
The case has gone all the way to the state Supreme Judicial Court, with lawyers making their arguments Monday.
“Under this court’s precedence, the attorney general lacks the ability to (sue) because the statute specifies a different consequence for non-compliance,” Martin told the justices. “The AG seems to be arguing that she can always seek injunctive relief in addition to statutory remedies — unless a particular statute forbids her from doing so. But that decision ignores the relevant precedence from this court.”