Massachusetts Chapter 40R A Model For Incentive Based Land Use Planning And Affordable Housing Development
MASSACHUSETTS’S CHAPTER 40R: A MODEL FOR
INCENTIVE-BASED LAND USE PLANNING AND
AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
Karla L. Chaffee∗
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ...............................................................................................182
I. Massachusetts’s Housing Crisis............................................................184
II. Open Space Preservation and Affordable Housing are Conflicting Goals
Under Chapter 40R’s Predecessor, 40B ....................................................185
A. The Comprehensive Permit: A Rebuttable Presumption Against the
Environment..........................................................................................186
B. Market Driven Development Under Chapter 40B Encourages Sprawl
..............................................................................................................189
C. Chapter 40B’s Impact on Housing ..................................................191
III. Chapter 40R: The Basic Framework and the Incorporation of Land
Planning Principles....................................................................................192
IV. How Other States Have Approached Land Use and Affordable Housing
Goals .........................................................................................................197
A. Oregon.............................................................................................197
B. Vermont, Hawaii, & Connecticut....................................................200
V. Responses to Chapter 40R Criticism...................................................205
A. Chapter 40R Surrenders Local Control...........................................205
B. Chapter 40R Will Strain School Budgets and Future Funding Is Not
Secure....................................................................................................208
C. Repayment.......................................................................................210
INCENTIVE-BASED LAND USE PLANNING AND
AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
Karla L. Chaffee∗
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ...............................................................................................182
I. Massachusetts’s Housing Crisis............................................................184
II. Open Space Preservation and Affordable Housing are Conflicting Goals
Under Chapter 40R’s Predecessor, 40B ....................................................185
A. The Comprehensive Permit: A Rebuttable Presumption Against the
Environment..........................................................................................186
B. Market Driven Development Under Chapter 40B Encourages Sprawl
..............................................................................................................189
C. Chapter 40B’s Impact on Housing ..................................................191
III. Chapter 40R: The Basic Framework and the Incorporation of Land
Planning Principles....................................................................................192
IV. How Other States Have Approached Land Use and Affordable Housing
Goals .........................................................................................................197
A. Oregon.............................................................................................197
B. Vermont, Hawaii, & Connecticut....................................................200
V. Responses to Chapter 40R Criticism...................................................205
A. Chapter 40R Surrenders Local Control...........................................205
B. Chapter 40R Will Strain School Budgets and Future Funding Is Not
Secure....................................................................................................208
C. Repayment.......................................................................................210