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Town officials will hold a public information session March 3 on a revised multifamily zoning proposal that recently cleared a key state review, even as Marblehead faces a lawsuit from the attorney general over its failure to comply with the MBTA Communities Law.
The session is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Marblehead High School Library, 2 Humphrey St. It will also be available remotely via Zoom. The Community Development and Planning Department, Planning Board and Select Board members will present details of the proposed 3A Multifamily Overlay Zoning District, including the two sub-districts under consideration: Tedesco and Broughton Road.
The event comes less than a month after the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities gave the town's proposal a favorable pre-adoption review. In a Feb. 5 letter to planning director Brendan Callahan, undersecretary Caroline "Chris" Kluchman wrote that the proposed overlay district contained no items in conflict with state requirements and that adoption would put Marblehead in a good position for compliance.
"We worked very hard with a lot of different groups to come up with a plan that is not only compliant, but passable at Town Meeting," said Marc J. Liebman, the Planning Board member who led the zoning effort.
The revised proposal centers the required multifamily housing district on 32 acres of Tedesco Country Club, a shift from the residential neighborhoods that drew opposition to an earlier version. Marblehead, classified as an adjacent community with 8,965 existing housing units, must zone for capacity of at least 897 multifamily units on a minimum of 27 acres at a density of at least 15 units per acre.
The information session is part of the town's effort to build public support ahead of a May Town Meeting vote. The Planning Board voted Jan. 13 to place the revised zoning article on the warrant.
Marblehead's path to compliance has been contentious. Town Meeting voters approved an initial overlay district on May 6, 2025, by a vote of 951-759, but a citizen-initiated referendum two months later overturned the bylaw 3,642-3,297.
Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell filed a civil action Jan. 29 in Suffolk Superior Court against Marblehead and eight other municipalities for failing to comply with Section 3A of Chapter 40A. The MBTA Communities Law, signed by former Gov. Charlie Baker in January 2021, requires cities and towns served by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to allow multifamily housing as of right in at least one zoning district. Of the 177 communities subject to the law, 165 have already come into compliance.
Kluchman cautioned that the pre-adoption review does not guarantee a final compliance determination.
