Fitchburg 3A MBTA Communities Zoning Technical Assistance
Working with DREAM Collaborative has been a great experience. Navigating the new requirements was a daunting task, but their team was extremely knowledgeable about 3A.
DREAM helped the City of Fitchburg, through a grant with the Mass Housing Partnership, comply with the state law, 3A MBTA Communities, that requires creation of zoning districts that allow as-of-right multi-family residential. After exploring multiple locations, Fitchburg elected to strengthen its commitment to revitalizing the station area and Main Street by incorporating 3A’s new Mandatory Mixed-Use (MMU) option. DREAM revised the downtown zoning with higher intensities and lower parking requirements to make it more feasible to adaptively reuse historic buildings and attract new residential and mixed-use construction, helping to bring more activity and customers to support local businesses.
By proposing the first instance of 3A zoning atop an existing 40R Smart Growth district, DREAM and Fitchburg worked with the Executive Office of Housing & Livable Communities to clarify the relationship between these two important state programs.
