Letter: Vote ‘Yes’ on 3A housing proposal

The best reason to vote yes is to protect our residential areas from apartment complexes.

The 3A proposal, unanimously supported by the Planning Board, Select Board, and Finance Committee, is clever in that it only realistically allows new housing on existing commercial property (133 Boston Post Rd, aka Boston Properties) and up to 38 additional apartments of badly needed affordable elderly housing in Merriam Village, which has a very long waiting list. The new Boston Properties housing will be invisible to abutters, and its traffic will flow out of town and not through town since it’s adjacent to the Rt. 20/I-95 interchange and next to the rail trail and a proposed relocated Kendal Green train station.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided twice that the 3A law is valid, the Attorney General can enforce it, and non-compliant towns will be penalized.

Some say the penalties are insignificant.

Since the Attorney General and Governor Healey have said the pain will increase until towns comply and the courts can impose their own 3A plan if we don’t, we think adopting our own plan now is best. A state-imposed 3A plan will likely be substantially worse for Weston. That’s why Engage Weston’s lawn signs say “Do 3A Weston’s Way”.

A citizens petition to repeal 3A is rumored. But a statewide vote to limit housing supply and thus keep prices high and take mainly ritzy suburbs off the hook doesn’t have any hope of winning across the state, in our opinion.

If we reject this proposal, the residential areas around Kendal Green station and the residential areas in the rest of town would be at risk for multifamily zoning. The existing plan protects residential areas of town.

Town Meeting votes are decided by the few folks who come. Please come! Vote to protect Weston.

On behalf of Engage Weston,

Alan Day, North Avenue