Needham Says ‘No’ to Zoning Plan

January 15, 2025
• Residents overturned the zoning passed at October’s Town Meeting on Tuesday. The town will need to convene a Town Meeting to consider a replacement zoning plan to comply with the MBTA Communities Act.

Needham residents decisively struck down the controversial zoning plan, previously approved at October’s Town Meeting, in Tuesday’s referendum.

A total 11,819 people cast their ballots, with 6,904 voting “no” to overturn the adopted zoning and 4,914 voting “yes” to preserve it, according to unofficial results from the town clerk’s office. The opposition met the required 20% voter threshold of about 5,020.

Over the next month, town officials are expected to form another plan — likely one with fewer zoned units — before bringing it to another vote. Needham Residents for Thoughtful Zoning, the group who organized the petition that triggered the referendum, previously expressed a preference for the Base Plan, which met the minimum zoning requirement.

October Town Meeting overwhelmingly passed the less ambitious Base Plan, which zoned for 1,870 housing units, before adopting the Neighborhood Plan, which amended the Base Plan and zoned for 3,296 units. The NHP passed 118-90.

Reverting to the Base Plan, however, is not a guarantee. The Planning Board may submit a revised plan to Town Meeting for consideration.

Wielding a “Vote No” sign outside Town Hall, Judy McIntyre shared her concerns with overdevelopment in Needham, where she’s lived for seven years. The planning process and Town Meeting vote, she feels, “went through without the town knowing.” McIntyre said she supports zoning for the required 1,784 units — with plans for mitigating traffic.

Bringing the issue to a town-wide vote, she said, “is how things should be done.”

“To me, this is democracy at work,” McIntyre said.

For Needham Residents for Thoughtful Zoning, this effort “was a David vs. Goliath situation,” the group wrote in a statement Wednesday. NRTZ characterized their campaign as a grassroots one composed of passionate volunteers without political experience.

The results of the referendum indicate their message resonated with voters, they said, but “the fight to be heard goes on.”

“We hope that going forward, the process becomes more open. People do not like to be shut out. People do not like to be told their voice does not matter. The people of Needham want and deserve a seat at the table,” the statement read. “The citizens are our stakeholders.”

NRTZ members stood along Highland Avenue early Tuesday afternoon, while Yes for Needham — an advocacy group in support of the more ambitious plan — flanked two corners of Great Plain Avenue by Town Hall.

Paula Dickerman of the Needham Housing Coalition spoke about support for the NHP among local leaders.

“People with stewardship for this plan” — the Select Board, Planning Board and other officials — “people whose job it is to care about this town support this plan,” Dickerman said.

Town Meeting Member Jim Van Dyk voted “yes” to increase Needham’s housing stock over the next 10 to 20 years. Under the NHP, that would have looked like an 11% boost in inventory, he said.

“Housing opportunity is a human right,” Van Dyk said outside Town Hall. “It’s important for Needham to stand up and do its part.”

After the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling on Milton’s noncompliance, the state filed emergency regulations Tuesday that render the law enforceable. However, the state has extended the deadline for communities to comply with the mandate to July 14, granting Needham five more months to pass new zoning. Needham will still need to submit an action plan by Feb. 13.

The Select Board and Planning Board both will both meet Jan. 21, where they are expected to discuss next steps.

Needham Local and the Needham Channel will continue to cover this process as it unfolds.

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