Burlington Select Board Weighs First MBTA Communities Housing Proposal

Representatives from Nordblom, the real estate development firm that planned and is working to carry out the vision of the 3rd Ave planned development district (PDD) in Burlington, appeared before the Select Board on Monday to present their proposal for a new multifamily residential development on Middlesex Turnpike. If approved, the 188-unit complex would be the first to be built in Burlington under the MBTA Communities zoning that was approved by Town Meeting in May 2024 to comply with a 2021 state law.

The purpose of MBTA Communities is to increase multifamily housing availability near public transportation and, while the law only required zoning where such developments could be built "as of right" (meaning without a special permit), many Town Meeting Members were certain that once the zoning was in place, new developments were soon to follow.

Many towns and cities were reticent to create zoning under MBTA Communities – here in Burlington, the Planning Board didn't unanimously agree on establishing the zoning, with Member Joe Impemba questioning whether or not the mandate was even legal. (That argument was addressed by a Plymouth County judge earlier this year.) However, Town Meeting ultimately came down on the side of compliance with the law, passing a zoning overlay that includes many areas of town that already have multifamily housing and a handful of parcels that don't.

Nordblom owns some of these parcels, across Middlesex Turnpike from the 3rd Ave PDD, and is now presenting their vision ahead of September's Town Meeting of what a development could look like. The project, says the team, will take some "unproductive properties" at the corner of Middlesex Turnpike and Great Meadow Road and turn them into multifamily housing with an underground parking facility that will visually and physically connect to the 3rd Ave area across the street.

In order to support the underground parking, the management systems that need to be in place for such a development, and complement the stature of the Bancroft and Atria buildings across the street, Nordblom and its representatives are requesting an increase in density from 20 to 60 units per acre (the development is proposed to have 57 units per acre, they said, for a total of 188) and an increase in height to 44 feet at the front and 58 feet at the back.

The developers' fiscal analysis shows Burlington would gain approximately $375,000 annually in net tax benefits, not counting one-time construction fees. Attorney Bob Buckley argued that each year these properties remain underutilized represents lost tax revenue that can't be reclaimed.

Select Board member, Sarah Cawley, noted that if Town Meeting approves this up-zoning, the project would proceed by right under the MBTA Communities law without requiring a special permit. The developers' representatives also mentioned that communities cooperating with the state on MBTA Communities zoning are receiving substantial grants, citing Grafton's recent $9 million award from the Momentum Fund.

While Select Board members stopped short of saying they don't support the project, they did raise several concerns, including traffic impacts, parking availability, proximity to conservation land, water usage, and the absence of a commercial component to the project.

In the end, while the Board will vote on whether or not to place the proposed amendment on the Town Meeting Warrant, they agreed that it's up to Town Meeting whether or not the project is approved. View the proposal, which was pulled from May's Town Meeting warrant and updated for September, on the July 14 Select Board agenda beginning on page 20 (Item 147).

Town Meeting will begin on September 29, 2025.

Editor's Note: A previous version of this article stated the total number of units in the proposed development would be 57. The information above has been corrected to reflect the correct number.