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“Tedesco is, like, a golf course?” resident David Modica asked Planning Board member Marc J. Liebman at Marblehead’s Annual Town Meeting on May 4. “So this is a way to comply with 3A without doing any of the 3A stuff.”
“Yes, it is,” Liebman replied. “We tried the other way, and it was rejected.”
Modica then asked whether the town was “kind of being pricks,” the Independent reported. He voted for the plan, then second-guessed it, a later profile said. Town Meeting approved it, 881-82.
On Oct. 16, Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office approved the zoning bylaw, Article 4, with one exception. It struck a sentence in Section 200-43(J) that barred construction until the office granted “final approval,” saying the town had shown no valid planning purpose for the delay.
The review tested only whether the bylaw, on its face, conflicts with state law. Section 3A of the state Zoning Act requires communities served by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to allow multifamily housing by right in at least one district. Whether Marblehead complies, including whether Tedesco Country Club’s golf course counts as developable land, is for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (HLC) to decide. HLC was reviewing the town’s application, the decision said.
The approval includes a Feb. 11 map of the Tedesco and Broughton Road subdistricts, posted with other Section 3A records. The bylaw took effect May 4, subject to required posting and publication, the decision says.
The struck sentence, absent from a Feb. 10 draft, appeared in the Feb. 26 warrant and a May 1 Finance Committee report.
Golf course holds 780 of 900 modeled units
Marblehead must zone at least 27 acres with capacity for 897 units, 10% of its 8,965 housing units. Its two subdistricts total 40.8 acres, according to the town.
Slides from a March 3 information session, posted with a recording, assign 780 units to Tedesco and 120 to Broughton Road. That is 900, three above the minimum.
On May 7, resident Nick Ward emailed Campbell’s office urging it to reject Article 4, the decision says.
He argued that the golf course is recreational land likely to remain undeveloped because of its use, a category that state regulations exclude from compliance calculations. Town Counsel Adam J. Costa countered July 31 that the course is privately owned, is not protected in perpetuity and may be sold or converted at the owner’s election.
“All we’re doing is creating a zone where you are allowed to build by right,” Liebman had told Town Meeting, according to the Independent. “If the golf course decides that they never want to sell it, then nothing will ever change.”
Campbell’s office found no basis in Ward’s arguments to disapprove the bylaw, noting that its review “does not and cannot include” the factual inquiry a court might make.
It warned that if the town has created a district where no multifamily housing can actually be built, “commonly referred to as a ‘paper district,’” it may face litigation under state and federal fair-housing laws. It made no finding that Marblehead violated either.
Two defeats, then a turn to Tedesco
Town Meeting rejected an earlier overlay, 410-377, in May 2024, then approved one covering Tioga Way, Pleasant Street and Broughton Road, 951-759, in May 2025. Voters repealed it, 3,642-3,297, in a July 8, 2025, referendum.
Those neighborhood plans were “the other way” Liebman meant. When the Planning Board named him liaison for a renewed effort Oct. 14, 2025, he said the board, not consultants, would lead.
“We’re trying to develop a plan that works and meets all the needs of compliance without really stimulating the pinch points that bother people,” he said.
Weeks later, Select Board Chair Dan Foxexplained Tedesco’s appeal. “The likelihood of it getting developed is very low,” he said. “However, if it did get developed, it would be in an area that would reduce traffic and would be more in character with that part of town.”
The plan sent to HLC for preliminary review Dec. 2, 2025, dropped Pleasant Street and Tioga Way, concentrating capacity on about 32 acres of private golf course. In a nonscientific Independent poll, most respondents called housing there “very unlikely.”
After HLC flagged six fixes in January, Liebman said the town had achieved “proof of concept that Tedesco will work, and there was no commentary on that.” On Feb. 5, the agency said adoption would put Marblehead “in a good position for compliance,” though it guaranteed no final determination. Liebman said the town had worked for a plan “not only compliant, but passable at Town Meeting.”
On May 4, presenters warned that rejection would revive Campbell’s January lawsuit against Marblehead and eight other communities, then on hold.
Approval leaves grants, lawsuit unresolved
A town worksheet dated Nov. 20, 2025, lists $3.77 million under “Grants Lost.” Only a $50,000 state 250th-anniversary grant is shown as awarded, then lost; about $2.98 million is marked ineligible and $735,000 “Not awarded.” An $11.25 million federal shipyard grant is marked at risk.
Presenters also said closed grant cycles cannot be recouped but compliance would make the town eligible for future rounds. The Oct. 16 decision is not that determination and does not mention the lawsuit.
Campbell’s office said it defers to HLC’s reading of its own regulations. If HLC rules against the district, the bylaw would stay in effect, but Marblehead would remain ineligible for programs such as MassWorks infrastructure grants, a town guide says.
By the town’s count, if HLC discounts more than three of the 780 units modeled at Tedesco, the district falls below the 897-unit minimum.
